MARCH 18B/GOLD CLOSED UP $2.75 TO $2160.75/SILVER CLOSED DOWN 11 CENTS TO $XXXX/PLATINUM CLOSED DOWN $20.45 TO $920.55 WHILE PALLADIUM CLOSED DOWN $47.40 TO $1035.25//WORK IN PROGRESS/TO BE COMPLETED AT 4:30 PM//LIVE FROM THE VAULT WITH ANDREW MAGUIRE AND A SPECIAL GUEST//GERMAN FINANCE MINISTER: “WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF CASH”//ISRAEL VS HAMAS UPDATES/ISRAEL VS HEZBOLLAH//HOUTHIS UPDATES//IDF STRIKES THE SHIFA HOSPITAL WITH MANY TERRORISTS INSIDE: 20 KILLED//COVID UPDATES//VACCINE INJURY UPDATES//DR PAUL ALEXANDER/SLAY NEWS ETC/USA NEWS FROM PITTSBURG AND ILLINOIS WITH THEIR CRED CRISIS//SWAMP NEWS FOR YOU TONIGHT//FINALIZED
Bitcoin: afternoon price: $69,874 DOWN 120 dollars
Platinum price closing DOWN $20.05 AT $920.55
Palladium price; DOWN 47.40 AT $1035.25
END
SHANGHAI GOLD PREMIUM 47 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.
132 C SG AMERICAS 15 435 H SCOTIA CAPITAL 6 661 C JP MORGAN 62 70 686 C STONEX FINANCIA 1 737 C ADVANTAGE 2
TOTAL: 78 78
JPMORGAN STOPPED (RECEIVED) 70/78 CONTRACTS
FOR MARCH/2024
GOLD: NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR MAR/2024. CONTRACT: 78 NOTICES FOR 7800 OZ or 0.2426 TONNES
total notices so far: 5250 contracts for 525,000 Oz (16.345 tonnes)
FOR MARCH:
SILVER NOTICES: 8 NOTICE(S) FILED FOR 40,000 OZ/
total number of notices filed so far this month : 5122 for 25,610,000 oz
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END
GLD//WHAT!!!!!
BOTH GLD AND SLV ARE FRAUDULENT VEHICLES//THEY ARE NOW RAIDING GLD AND SLV FOR PHYSICAL
THE CROOKS ARE STEALING GOLD AND SILVER FROM THE GLD/SLV AND REPLACING THE PHYSICAL WITH PAPER DOLLARS.
WITH GOLD UP $2.75
INVESTORS SWITCHING TO SPROTT PHYSICAL (PHYS) INSTEAD OF THE FRAUDULENT GLD/ :
WOW!! HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A MASSIVE DEPOSIT OF 14.98 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD// /INVENTORY RESTS AT 831.84 TONNES
INVENTORY RESTS AT 831.84 TONNES
SLV//
WITH NO SILVER AROUND AND SILVER DOWN 11 CENTS AT THE SLV//
HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.378 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV.: INVENTORY REMAINS AT 415.488 MILLION OZ/
INVESTORS ARE SWITCHING SLV TO SPROTT’S PSLV.
CLOSING INVENTORY: 415.488 MILLION OZ
Let us have a look at the data for today
SILVER//OUTLINE
SILVER COMEX OI ROSE BY AN ULTRA HUMONGOUS SIZED 1964 CONTRACTS TO 150,487 AND CLOSER TO THE RECORD HIGH OI OF 244,710, SET FEB 25/2020 AND THIS HUGE SIZED GAIN IN COMEX OI WAS ACCOMPLISHED WITH OUR GAIN IN PRICE OF $0.32 IN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX ON FRIDAY. WE HAD ZERO LONG LIQUIDATION AT THE COMEX SESSION WITH AGAIN MAJOR SHORT COVERING DESPITE THE PRICE GAIN. WE HAD A HUMONGOUS 1348 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 FRIDAY NIGHT: 1348 CONTRACTS. DESPITE MANY COMPLAINTS THAT THE CROOKS HAVE VIOLATED POSITION LIMITS DUE TO THE FACT THAT THE TAS ISSUED HAVE A VALUE OF ZERO (AS TO POSITION LIMITS FOR OUR CROOKED BANKERS). THE PROBLEM OF COURSE IS THAT THE CROOKS DO NOT LIQUIDATE THE TAS TOGETHER BUT SELL THE BUY SIDE FIRST AND THEN LIQUIDATE THE SELL SIDE TWO MONTHS HENCE. IT IS OBVIOUS MANIPULATION TO THE HIGHEST DEGREE BUT IT NATURALLY FELL ON DEAF EARS WITH OUR REGULATORS (OCC) WHEN THEY RECEIVED OUR COMPLAINTS. IT THUS LOOKS LIKE THE FED (GOV’T) IS BEHIND ALL OF THESE TRADES.
WE HAVE NOW SET ANOTHER RECORD LOW AT 114,102 CONTRACTS ///JULY 3.2023// OUR BANKERS WITH THE HELP OF SPECULATORS AND HIGH FREQUENCY TRADERS WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING THE PRICE OF SILVER DOWN (IT ROSE BY $0.32),AND WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING ANY SILVER LONGS AS WE HAD A MEGA HUMONGOUS SIZED GAIN OF 4016 CONTRACTS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES WITH THE GAIN IN PRICE OF 32 CENTS.
WE MUST HAVE HAD:
A GIGANTIC SIZED 1631 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 0.080 MILLION OZ QUEUE JUMP //NEW TOTALS DECREASES TO : 27.000 MILLION OZ
//NEW STANDING FOR SILVER IS THUS 27.000 MILLION OZ
WE HAD:
/ HUMONGOUS SIZED COMEX OI GAIN/ GIGANTIC SIZED EFP ISSUANCE/ VI) HUMONGOUS SIZED NUMBER OF T.A.S. CONTRACT ISSUANCE 1348 CONTRACTS)/
I AM NOW RECORDING THE DIFFERENTIAL IN OI FROM PRELIMINARY TO FINAL -REMOVED A HUGE 421 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 12 days, total 20,351 contracts: OR 101.755 MILLION OZ (1695 CONTRACTS PER DAY)
TOTAL EFP’S FOR THE MONTH SO FAR: 101.755 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: 101.755 MILLION OZ//WILL BE MUCH LARGER THIS MONTH//MAYBE CLOSE TO A RECORD ISSUANCE
RESULT: WE HAD A HUGE SIZED INCREASE IN COMEX OI SILVER COMEX CONTRACTS OF 1964 CONTRACTS DESPITE OUR HUGE GAININ PRICE OF SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX//FRIDAY.,. THE CME NOTIFIED US THAT WE HAD A GIGANTIC EFP ISSUANCE CONTRACTS: 2385 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 SMALL 0.080 MILLION OZ QUEUE/ JUMP
//NEW TOTAL STANDING RISES TO 27.0000 MILLION OZ
WE HAVE A HUMONGOUS GAIN OF 3595 OI CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES DESPITE THE GAININ PRICE. THE TOTAL OF TAS INITIATED CONTRACTS TODAY: A HUGE SIZED 1348 CONTRACTS//HUGE FRONT END OF THE TAS CONTRACTS WERE LIQUIDATED DURING THE FRIDAY COMEX SESSION/// WITH MAJOR SHORT COVERING FROM OUR SPEC SHORTS
THE NEW TAS ISSUANCE FRIDAY NIGHT (1348) WILL BE PUT INTO “THE BANK” TO BE COLLUSIVELY USED AT A LATER DATE//PROBABLY TODAY., .
WE HAD 8 NOTICE(S) FILED TODAY FOR 40,000 OZ
THE SILVER COMEX IS NOW BEING ATTACKED FOR METAL BY LONDONERS ET AL.
GOLD//OUTLINE
IN GOLD, THE COMEX OPEN INTEREST FELL BY A GOOD SIZED 4297 CONTRACTS TO 535,274 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 719 CONTRACTS
WE HAD A GOOD SIZED DECREASE IN COMEX OI (4297 CONTRACTS) WITH OUR $5.20 LOSS IN PRICE//FRIDAY. 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 QUEUE JUMP OF 8600 OZ.
NEW TOTAL Of INITIAL GOLD STANDING RISES TO: 18.364 TONNES // ALL OF THIS HAPPENED WITH OUR $12.20 LOSS IN PRICE WITH RESPECT TO FRIDAY’S TRADING. WE HAD A FAIR SIZED LOSS OF 2039 OI CONTRACTS (6.342) PAPER TONNES) ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES.
E.F.P. ISSUANCE
THE CME RELEASED THE DATA FOR EFP ISSUANCE AND IT TOTALED A STRONG SIZED 2258CONTRACTS:
The NEW COMEX OI FOR THE GOLD COMPLEX RESTS AT 535,274
IN ESSENCE WE HAVE A FAIR SIZED DECREASE IN TOTAL CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 2039 CONTRACTS WITH 4297 CONTRACTS DECREASED AT THE COMEX// AND A FAIR SIZED 2258 EFP OI CONTRACTS WHICH NAVIGATED OVER TO LONDON. THUS TOTAL OI LOSS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 1370 CONTRACTS.. WE HAD THE FOLLOWING TAS CONTRACTS INITIATED (ISSUED): STRONG BUT SMALLER THAN BEFORE SIZED 2798 CONTRACTS,
CALCULATIONS ON GAIN/LOSS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES
WE HAD STRONG SIZED ISSUANCE IN EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS (2798 CONTRACTS) ACCOMPANYING THE FAIR SIZED LOSS IN COMEX OI (4297) //TOTAL LOSS FOR OUR THE TWO EXCHANGES: 2039 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 1.555 TONNES/NEW STANDING ADVANCES TO 18.6314 TONNES.
/ 3) SOME LONG LIQUIDATION // 4) GOOD SIZED COMEX OPEN INTEREST LOSS/ 5) FAIR ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL PAPER///6: STRONG T.A.S. ISSUANCE: 2798CONTRACTS//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: 61,939 CONTRACTS OR 6,193,900OZ OR 192.65 TONNES IN 12TRADING DAY(S) AND THUS AVERAGING: 5161 EFP CONTRACTS PER TRADING DAY
TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA AS TO THE SIZE OF THESE EFP TRANSFERS : THIS MONTH IN 12TRADING DAY(S) IN TONNES 192.65 TONNES
TOTAL ANNUAL GOLD PRODUCTION, 2022, THROUGHOUT THE WORLD EX CHINA EX RUSSIA: 3555 TONNES
THUS EFP TRANSFERS REPRESENTS 192.65/3550 x 100% TONNES 5.43% OF GLOBAL ANNUAL PRODUCTION
SEPT 142.12 TONNES FINAL ISSUANCE ( LOW ISSUANCE)_
OCT: 141.13 TONNES FINAL ISSUANCE (LOW ISSUANCE)
NOV: 312.46 TONNES FINAL ISSUANCE//NEW RECORD!! (INCREASING DRAMATICALLY)//SIGN OF REAL STRESS//SURPASSING THE MARCH 2021 RECORD OF 276.50 TONNES OF EFP
DEC. 175.62 TONNES//FINAL ISSUANCE//
TOTALS: 2,578.08 TONNES/2021
JAN:2022 247.25 TONNES //FINAL
FEB: 196.04 TONNES//FINAL
MARCH/2022: 409.30 TONNES //FINAL( THIS IS NOW A RECORD EFP ISSUANCE FOR MARCH AND FOR ANY MONTH.
APRIL: 169.55 TONNES (FINAL VERY LOW ISSUANCE MONTH)
MAY: 247.44 TONNES FINAL//
JUNE: 238.13 TONNES FINAL
JULY: 378.43 TONNES FINAL
AUGUST: 180.81 TONNES FINAL
SEPT. 193.16 TONNES FINAL
OCT: 177.57 TONNES FINAL ( MUCH SMALLER THAN LAST MONTH)
NOV. 223.98 TONNES//FINAL ( MUCH LARGER THAN PREVIOUS MONTHS//comex running out of physical)
DEC: 185.59 tonnes // FINAL
TOTAL: 2,847,25 TONNES/2022
JAN 2023: 228.49 TONNES FINAL//HUGE AMOUNT OF EFP’S ISSUED THIS MONTH!!
FEB: 151.61 TONNES/FINAL
MARCH: 280.09 TONNES/INITIAL (ANOTHER STRONG MONTH FOR EFP ISSUANCE)
APRIL: 197.42 TONNES
MAY: 236.67 TONNES (A VERY STRONG ISSUANCE FOR THIS MONTH)
JUNE: 172.667 TONNES (WEAKER ISSUANCE THIS MONTH)
JULY: 151.69 TONNES (WEAKER THAN LAST MONTH)
AUGUST: 195.28 TONNES (A STRONGER MONTH)//FINAL
SEPT: 254.709 TONNES (WILL BE LARGER THAN LAST MONTH AND A STRONG MONTH)
OCT. 248.09 TONNES. LIKE SILVER, THIS MONTH IS GOING TO BE A STRONG E.F.P. ISSUANCE.
NOV. 239.16 TONNES//WILL BE STRONG THIS MONTH,
DEC. 213.704 TONNES. A STRONG MONTH//
TOTAL FOR YEAR 2023: 2,569.57 TONNES VS 2578 TONNES LAST YEAR
JAN ’24: 291.76 TONNES (WILL BE MUCH GREATER THAN LAST MONTH.//3RD HIGHEST EVER RECORDED EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL)
FEB’24: 201.947 TONNES
MARCH 2024: 192.65 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 ROSE BY A HUGE SIZED 1964 CONTRACTS OI TO 150,497 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 1631 CONTRACTS
OUR CUSTOMARY MIGRATION OF COMEX LONGS CONTINUE TO MORPH INTO LONDON FORWARDS AS OUR BANKERS USED THEIR EMERGENCY PROCEDURE TO ISSUE:
MAY 1613 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 GAIN OF 2385 CONTRACTS AND ADD TO THE 1631 E.FP. ISSUED
WE OBTAIN A MEGA HUMONGOUS SIZED GAIN OF OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES OF 3595CONTRACTS
THUS IN OUNCES, THE GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES TOTAL 17.975 MILLION OZ
c) Commentaries from: Egon von Greyerz///Matthew Piepenburg via GoldSwitzerland.com, Pam and Russ Martens
ii a) Chris Powell of GATA provides to us very important physical commentaries
b. Other gold/silver commentaries
c. Commodity commentaries//
d)/CRYPTOCURRENCIES/BITCOIN ETC
2.ASIAN AFFAIRS//
MONDAY MORNING/SUNDAY NIGHT
SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 30.29 PTS OR 0.99% //Hang Seng CLOSED UP 16.23 PTS OR 0.10% / Nikkei CLOSED UP 1032.86 PTS OR 2.67%//Australia’s all ordinaries CLOSED UP 0.02% /Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed DOWN 7.1981 //OFFSHORE CHINESE YUAN CLOSED DOWN TO 7.2046 /Oil UP TO 81.53 dollars per barrel for WTI and BRENT UP AT 85.57/ Stocks in Europe OPENED ALL GREEN// ONSHORE YUAN TRADING ABOVE LEVEL OF OFFSHORE YUAN/ONSHORE YUAN TRADING WEAKER AGAINST US DOLLAR/OFFSHORE YUAN WEAKER
1. COMEX DATA//AMOUNTS STANDING//VOLUME OF TRADING/INVENTORY MOVEMENTS
GOLD
LET US BEGIN:
THE TOTAL COMEX GOLD OPEN INTEREST FELL BY A GOOD 4297 CONTRACTS TO 535,274 WITH OUR LOSS IN PRICE OF $5.20 WITH RESPECT TO FRIDAY 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.
EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE
WE ARE NOW IN THE NON ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF MARCH..… THE CME REPORTS THAT THE BANKERS ISSUED A FAIR SIZED TRANSFER THROUGH THE EFP ROUTE AS THESE LONGS RECEIVED A DELIVERABLE LONDON FORWARD TOGETHER WITH A FIAT BONUS.,
THAT IS 2258 EFP CONTRACTS WERE ISSUED: : APRIL 2258 & ZERO FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS:
TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 2258CONTRACTS
ON A NET BASIS IN OPEN INTEREST WE LOST THE FOLLOWING TODAY ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES: A FAIR SIZED TOTAL OF 2039 CONTRACTS IN THAT 2258 LONGS WERE TRANSFERRED AS EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS TO LONDON AND WE HAD A GOOD SIZED LOSS OF 4297 COMEX CONTRACTS..AND THIS LOSS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES HAPPENED WITH OUR FALL IN PRICE OF $5.20 FRIDAY COMEX. AS PER OUR NEWBIE TRADE AT SETTLEMENT (TAS) MANIPULATION OPERATION (WHICH CRAIG HEMKE HAS POINTED OUT HAPPENS DURING MID MONTH IN THE DELIVERY CYCLE), THE CME REPORTS THAT THE TOTAL T.A.S. ISSUANCE FOR FRIDAY NIGHT WAS A MUCH SMALLER SIZED 2728 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 (18.6314 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
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: 18.8314 TONNES
THE SPECS/HFT WERE SUCCESSFUL IN LOWERING GOLD’S PRICE( IT LOST $5.20 //// AND WERE SUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING SOME SPECULATOR LONGS AS WE HAD A FAIR SIZED LOSS OF1320 TOTAL CONTRACTS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES DESPITE OUR LOWER PRICE.
WE HAD A STRONG T.A.S. LIQUIDATION ON THE FRONT END OF FRIDAY’S TRADING . THE T.A.S. ISSUED ON FRIDAY NIGHT, WILL BE “PUT INTO THE BANK” TO BE USED AT A LATER DATE AT THE COLLUSIVE CHOOSING OF OUR BANKERS. THE HIGH T.A.S. ISSUANCE IS MEANT TO CONTROL THE PRICE OF GOLD (AS WELL AS INITIATE A RAID).
WE HAVE LOST A TOTAL OI OF 4.105 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 8600 OZ QUEUE JUMP//NEW STANDING INCREASES TO 18.6314 TONNES
ALL OF THIS WAS ACCOMPLISHED DESPITE OUR LOSS IN PRICE TO THE TUNE OF $5.20
WE HAD -REMOVED 719 CONTRACTS TO THE COMEX TRADES TO OPEN INTEREST (CROOKS)
NET LOSS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES 2039 CONTRACTS OR 203,900 OZ OR 6.342 TONNES. estimated volume today 250,523 fair
Total monthly oz gold served (contracts) so far this month
5250 notices 525,000 oz 16.345 TONNES
Total accumulative withdrawals of gold from the Dealers inventory this month
NIL oz
Total accumulative withdrawal of gold from the Customer inventory this month
x
0 dealer deposits:
total dealer deposits: nil oz
total customer withdrawals: 3
i) Out of Asahi: 22,434.194 oz
ii) Out of Brinks 450.120 oz (14 kilobars)
iii) Out of Manfra: 34,530.174 oz
total customer withdrawal: 57,414.488 oz
we had 0 customer deposit
total deposit nil oz
Adjustments: 0
CALCULATIONS FOR THE AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING FOR MAR.
For the front month of MARCH we have an oi of 818 contracts having GAINED 70 contracts. We had 16 contracts filed upon on Friday, so we gained a STRONG 86 contracts or an additional 8600 oz of gold(0.2675 tonnes) will stand at the comex in this non active delivery month of March. This queue jump inventory should show up in Monday’s inventory report. Friday’s queue jump did not.
APRIL LOST 13.206 CONTRACTS FALLING TO 236,050.
MAY EARNED 74 CONTRACTS TO STAND AT 785
JUNE INCREASED ITS OI BY 8047 CONTRACTS UP TO 239,302 CONTRACTS.
We had 78 contracts filed for today representing 7800 oz
Today, 0 notice(s) were issued from J.P.Morgan dealer account and 62 notices were issued from their client or customer account. The total of all issuance by all participants equate to 78 contract(s) of which 0 notices were stopped (received) by j.P. Morgan dealer and 70 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 (5250 x 100 oz ), to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of MARCH. (818 CONTRACTS) minus the number of notices served upon today 78 x 100 oz per contract equals 599,000 OZ OR 18.6314 TONNES
thus the INITIAL standings for gold for the MARCH. contract month: No of notices filed so far (5250) x 100 oz + (818) {OI for the front month} minus the number of notices served upon today (78) x 100 oz which equals 599,000 oz (18.6314 TONNES)
TOTAL COMEX GOLD STANDING FOR MARCH: 18.6314 TONNES WHICH IS HUGE FOR A NON ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH IN THE CALENDAR.
TOTAL OF ALL GOLD ELIGIBLE AND REGISTERED GOLD: 17,818,320.690 OZ
TOTAL REGISTERED GOLD 7,736,608.131 (240.64 tonnes).
TOTAL OF ALL ELIGIBLE GOLD: 10,081,712.559 OZ
REGISTERED GOLD THAT CAN BE SERVED UPON: 6,403443 oz (REG GOLD- PLEDGED GOLD) 199.17 tonnes/dropping like a stone
END
SILVER/COMEX
MARCH 18 THE IDES OF MARCH/INITIAL
//2024// THE MARCH 2024 SILVER CONTRACT//INITIAL
Silver
Ounces
Withdrawals from Dealers Inventory
NIL oz
Withdrawals from Customer Inventory
996,716.441 oz ASAHI Brinks CNT
.
Deposits to the Dealer Inventory
nil OZ
Deposits to the Customer Inventory
nil oz
No of oz served today (contracts)
8 CONTRACT(S) (40,000 OZ)
No of oz to be served (notices)
278 contracts (1.390 MILLION oz)
Total monthly oz silver served (contracts)
5122 Contracts (25.610 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/284.361 million or 45.42%
adjustment: 1/customer to dealer: 25,766.855 oz
Comex withdrawals: 3
i) Out of ASAHI 599,104.400 oz
ii) Out of Brinks 181,307.830 oz
iii) Out of CNT: 216,268.211 oz
total withdrawal: 996,716.441 oz
TOTAL REGISTERED SILVER: 48.239MILLION OZ//.TOTAL REG + ELIGIBLE. 284.361million oz
CALCULATIONS FOR THE NEW STANDING FOR SILVER FOR DECEMBER:
silver open interest data:
FRONT MONTH OF MARCH /2023 OI: 286 CONTRACTS HAVING GAINED 13 CONTRACT(S).
WE HAD 3 NOTICES FILED ON FRIDAY SO GAINED 16 CONTRACTS OR AN ADDITIONAL 80,000 OZ WILL STAND AT THE COMEX.
APRIL SAW A LOSS OF 14 CONTRACTS TO STAND AT 808
MAY SAW A GAIN OF 908 CONTRACTS UP TO 116,796.
TOTAL NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR TODAY: 8 for 40,000 oz
Comex volumes// est. volume today 49,491 fair
Comex volume: confirmed yesterday 80,937 strong
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 5122 x 5,000 oz = 25,610,000 oz
to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of MARCH. (286) and the number of notices served upon today 8 x (5000 oz) equals the number of ounces standing.
Thus the standings for silver for the MARCH/2024 contract month: 5122 (notices served so far) x 5000 oz + OI for the front month of MARCH. (286) – number of notices served upon today (8 )x 500 oz of silver standing for the MARCH contract month equates to 27.000 MILLION OZ.
New total standing: 27.000 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 18 WITH GOLD UP $2.75 TODAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD A MAMMOTH AND CRIMINAL PAPER DEPOSIT OF 14.98 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD/:INVENTORY RISES TO 831.84 TONNES
MARCH 15 WITH GOLD DOWN $5.20 TODAY; NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/:INVENTORY REMAINS AT 816.86 TONNES
MARCH 14 WITH GOLD DOWN $12.20 TODAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD A DEPOSIT OF 1.73 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD//:INVENTORY REMAINS AT 816.86 TONNES
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: 831.84 TONNES
Now the SLV Inventory/( vehicle is a fraud as there is no physical metal behind them
MARCH 18/WITH SILVER DOWN 11 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.378 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV: SLV INVENTORY RESTS AT 415.488 MILLION OZ
MARCH 15/WITH SILVER DOWN 9 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.006 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV: SLV INVENTORY RESTS AT 417.866 MILLION OZ
MARCH 14/WITH SILVER DOWN 9 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: SLV INVENTORY RESTS AT 418.872 MILLION OZ
MARCH 13/WITH SILVER UP 32 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 415.488 MILLION OZ//
PHYSICAL GOLD/SILVER COMMENTARIES
1:Peter Schiff/Mike Maharrey
end
2.Commentaries from: Egon von Greyerz///Matthew Piepenburg via GoldSwitzerland.com, Pam and Russ Martens/ SIMON WHITE..//
3. CHRIS POWELL//GATA
a must view:
On LFTV, Maguire and Kientz say collapse of paper gold and silver markets is imminent
Submitted by admin on Fri, 2024-03-15 21:59 Section: Daily Dispatches
9:36p ET Friday, March 15, 2024
Dear Friend of GATA and Gold (and Silver):
On this week’s episode of Kinesis Money’s “Live from the Vault” program, London metals trader Andrew Maguire interviews coin and bullion dealer and monetary metals advocate Rob Kientz about what they see as the imminent collapse of the paper gold and silver markets.
Signs of the collapse abound, Kientz says, asserting that manufacturers that require silver are already bypassing bullion bank brokers and purchasing metal directly from mines.
Kientz also discusses his involvement with the “sound money” movement in the United States.
The program is 58 minutes long and can be viewed at YouTube here:
CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc. CPowell@GATA.org
end
Please support us as we desperately need it
(Chris Powell/GATA)
Now that we may be winning, GATA asks for your support
Submitted by admin on Sat, 2024-03-16 10:28 Section: Daily Dispatches
10:27a ET Saturday, March 16, 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.
– 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
Gold beans all the rage with China’s Gen Z as deflation bites
Submitted by admin on Sat, 2024-03-16 10:36 Section: Daily Dispatches
From Bloomberg News via The Straits Times, Singapore Saturday, March 16, 2024
BEIJING — With China’s deflation at its worst in 15 years, a volatile stock market, and bank interest rates too low for her liking, 18-year-old Tina Hong is placing her financial security in gold beans.
Weighing as little as one gram each, the beans — and other forms of gold jewellery — are increasingly viewed as the safest investment bet for young Chinese in an era of economic uncertainty. It is part of a larger consumer trend for all things gold — from bullion to beans and bracelets — that has gripped the mainland.
“It’s basically impossible to lose money from buying gold,” reasoned Ms. Hong, a college freshman studying computer science in Fujian province. …
Robert Lambourne: How can interest cost of U.S. government’s ‘special debt’ be falling?
Submitted by admin on Sun, 2024-03-17 20:09 Section: Daily Dispatches
8:08p Sunday, March 17, 2024
Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:
GATA consultant Robert Lambourne has spotted a strange trend in the U.S. government’s report about its more than $7 trillion in “special debt,” money owed to the beneficiaries of various federal government trust funds.
Somehow, Lambourne writes, interest costs on the “special debt” are reported as falling even as the total amount of “special debt” has been holding steady and interest costs on the rest of U.S. government debt are rising.
He wonders if the U.S. government is manipulating the numbers to make the debt situation seem less catastrophic. If so, it wouldn’t be the government’s first attempt at financial manipulation.
Lambourne’s report is titled “How Can Interest Costs of U.S. Government’s ‘Special Debt’ Be Falling?” and it’s posted in Word format here:
CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc. CPowell@GATA.org
end
Crooks for the 6th time and the Fed continues to heap praises on this behemoth
JPMorgan’s Federally-Insured Bank Is Fined $348 Million for Losing Track of “Billions” of Trades
Pam Martens and Russ Martens: March 18, 2024
Jamie Dimon Sits in Front of Trading Monitor in his Office (Source: 60 Minutes Interview, November 10, 2019)
On Thursday of last week, two of JPMorgan Chase Bank’s federal regulators fined the riskiest bank in the United States $348 million dollars for engaging in “unsafe and unsound banking practices” for failing to supervise “billions” of trades on at least 30 global trading venues.
The key outrage embedded in these charges – that mainstream media failed to point out in its coverage last week – is that this “trading” activity did not occur at the registered brokerage firm of JPMorgan, which has properly licensed traders and trading supervisors. It occurred at the federally-insured bank, which is not allowed to have licensed traders – because casino banking brings on bank runs, bank panics and giant scandals that undermine Americans’ confidence in federally-insured banks.
Under Jamie Dimon at the helm of this federally-insured bank, as both Chairman and CEO, JPMorgan Chase Bank has turned giant scandals into an art form. Its rap sheet reads like that of an organized crime family and includes an unprecedented five criminal felony charges.
Just last year, its salacious activities with sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, to whom it doled out mountains of hard cash for more than a decade (which he then used to silence his underage victims and accomplices), generated news headlines around the world. The bank settled those charges last year, which had been brought in two civil lawsuits by his victims and by the Attorney General of the U.S. Virgin Islands, for a combined $365 million. (See JPMorgan’s Settlements Reach $365 Million Over Civil Claims It Banked Jeffrey Epstein’s Sex Trafficking of Minors; Criminal Charges Could Lie Ahead.)
Adding to the outrage over the mild slap on the wrist from these two regulators last week is that this federally-insured bank was previously charged with engaging in unsafe and unsound banking activities when it used depositors’ money from its federally-insured bank to engage in massive high-risk credit derivative trades in London in 2012 and lost $6.2 billion of depositors’ money. The case became infamously known as the London Whale scandal.
The OCC wrote as follows in its settlement document covering the London Whale matter in 2013:
“The credit derivatives trading activity constituted recklessly unsafe and unsound practices, was part of a pattern of misconduct and resulted in more than minimal loss, all within the meaning of 12 U.S.C. § 1818(i)(2)(B)”; and “The Bank failed to ensure that significant information related to the credit derivatives trading strategy and deficiencies identified in risk management systems and controls was provided in a timely and appropriate manner to OCC examiners.”
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also settled charges with the bank in the London Whale matter. The SEC focused on JPMorgan’s ineffective internal controls and failure to keep the Audit Committee of its Board informed in a timely manner as required under its own rules and under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The SEC also found the company violated securities laws by filing false information with the SEC: “As a result of its failure to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting as of March 31, 2012, and disclosure controls and procedures, and as a result of its filing of inaccurate reports with the Commission (specifically, the Form 8-K filed on April 13, 2012, and the Form 10-Q filed on May 10, 2012), JPMorgan violated Sections 13(a), 13(b)(2)(A), and 13(b)(2)(B) of the Exchange Act and Rules 13a-11, 13a-13, and 13a-15 there under,” the SEC said in its settlement document.
At the time of the London Whale scandal, a woman named Ina Drew was in charge of the unit of the federally-insured bank that oversaw the derivatives trading in London. That unit of the bank was called the Chief Investment Office. (That unit was created after Jamie Dimon took the helm at the bank.)
Ina Drew testified about the matter before the U.S. Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations on March 15, 2013. Drew told the hearing panel that beginning in 1999, she “oversaw the management of the Company’s core investment securities portfolio, the foreign-exchange hedging portfolio, the mortgage servicing rights (MSR) hedging book, and a series of other investment and hedging portfolios based in London, Hong Kong and other foreign cities.”
Drew told the Senate Subcommittee that the investment securities portfolio exceeded $500 billion during 2008 and 2009 and as of the first quarter of 2012 was $350 billion. But during the 13 years that Drew supervised massive amounts of securities trading, she had neither a securities license nor a principal’s license to supervise others who were trading securities.
At the time, we asked numerous Wall Street regulators to explain how this is possible at Wall Street mega banks. One regulator who spoke on background only told us that Drew could not hold a securities license because she worked for the federally-insured bank, not its broker-dealer (a/k/a brokerage firm). Only employees of broker-dealers are allowed to hold securities licenses. But apparently, not having a securities license does not stop one from supervising a $500 billion portfolio of securities that are, most assuredly, traded by someone.
It is a long-held requirement by U.S. securities regulators that if you are going to supervise persons holding a securities license, you must also hold the appropriate securities licenses yourself. Drew, without a license, was supervising traders in London who were registered with the Financial Services Authority (now Financial Conduct Authority).
In its 10-K (annual report) filing in February with the SEC, JPMorgan Chase indicated there is a third unnamed regulator that is currently investigating these billions of unsupervised trades. The bank said it was “also in advanced negotiations with a third U.S. regulator, but there is no assurance that such discussions will result in a resolution.”
That third regulator should closely examine what is going on in JPMorgan’s own Dark Pools, where the bank is preposterously allowed to trade large amounts of its own bank stock in its own Dark Pools. (See chart below as an example of what went on in the week of October 23, 2023.) Dark Pools are thinly regulated trading platforms inside the mega banks on Wall Street, and elsewhere, which lack the transparency of stock exchanges.
-END-
This is what I have been telling you for years:
James Turk/GoldMoney/KingworldNews
GoldMoney’s Turk still sees gold ETFs as central bank tools for price suppression
Submitted by admin on Sun, 2024-03-17 20:40 Section: Daily Dispatches
8:39p Sunday, March 17, 2024
Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:
At King World News, GoldMoney founder James Turk remarks on the decline of gold holdings claimed by major exchange-traded funds despite the upward trend of the gold price.
Turk writes: “There are so many loopholes in the prospectus of some of the gold ETFs, it has been my contention that they are used by central banks and their bullion bank agents to control the gold price. Their aim is to make fiat currency look better than it deserves by killing the canary in the coal mine, which is the role of an unfettered gold market.”
Turk’s analysis is headlined “What Is Happening In The Gold Market Is Shocking” and it’s posted at King World News here:
1.YOUR EARLY CURRENCY VALUES/GOLD AND SILVER PRICING/ASIAN AND EUROPEAN BOURSE MOVEMENTS/AND INTEREST RATE SETTINGSMONDAY MORNING.7:30 AM
ONSHORE YUAN: CLOSED DOWN 7.1981
OFFSHORE YUAN: DOWN TO 7.2046
SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 30.29 PPTS OR 0.99%
HANG SENG CLOSED UP 16.23 PTS OR 0.10%
2. Nikkei closed UP 1032.86 PTS OR 2.67%
3. Europe stocks SO FAR: ALL GREEN
USA dollar INDEX DOWN TO 102.99 EURO RISES TO 1.0904 UP 23 BASIS PTS
3b Japan 10 YR bond yield: FALLS TO. +.754 Japan buying 100% of bond issuance)/Japanese YEN vs USA cross now at 149.09/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 +2.4580***/Italian 10 Yr bond yield UP to 3.693* /SPAIN 10 YR BOND YIELD UP TO 3.249…**
3i Greek 10 year bond yield UP TO 3.290
3j Gold at $2160.30 silver at: 25.16 1 am est) SILVER NEXT RESISTANCE LEVEL AT $30.00
3k USA vs Russian rouble;// Russian rouble UP 0 AND 95 /100 roubles/dollar; ROUBLE AT 91.95//
3m oil into the 81 dollar handle for WTI and 85 handle for Brent/
3n Higher foreign deposits moving out of China// huge risk of outflows and a currency depreciation. This can spell financial disaster for the rest of the world/
JAPAN ON JAN 29.2016 CONTINUES NIRP. THIS MORNING RAISES AMOUNT OF BONDS THAT THEY WILL PURCHASE UP TO .5% ON THE 10 YR BOND///YEN TRADES TO 149.09// 10 YEAR YIELD AFTER FIRST BREAKING .54% LAST YEAR NOW EXCEEDS THAT LEVEL TO 0.754% 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 0.8824 as the Swiss Franc is still rising against most currencies. Euro vs SF: 0.9623 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: 4.304 UP 0 BASIS PTS…
USA 30 YR BOND YIELD: 4.431 DOWN 0 BASIS PTS/
USA 2 YR BOND YIELD: 4.713 DOWN 1 BASIS PTS
USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 32.30…(TURKEY SET TO BLOW UP FINANCIALLY)
GREAT BRITAIN/10 YEAR YIELD: DOWN 2 BASIS PTS AT 4.128
end
2.a Overnight: Newsquawk and Zero hedge
Futures Surge Led By Tech Meltup Ahead Of Fed, BOJ Decisions
MONDAY, MAR 18, 2024 – 08:18 AM
US stock futures and global markets are higher led by Tech with the Mag7 and semis higher pre-mkt while small-caps underperform ahead of two key central bank decisions – by the Fed, BOJ and BOE – while Nvidia has two key events this week which may be even more market-moving. As of 8:00am, S&P futures were 0.73% higher while Nasdaq futures gained 1.1%. Tech was boosted by news from Bloomberg that Apple may use Google’s woke AI chatbot Gemini to power the iPhone’s AI features. Bond yields and USD are flat, while commodity strength is seen in both Ags and Energy, where oil hit a fresh four-month high as macro-economic data from China came in ahead of expectations, and Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries heightened geopolitical risks. According to JPM’s weekly preview, this is a catalyst-heavy week as the markets may be approaching an inflection point with Mag7 appearing extended, positioning getting stretched, and the potential for bond yields to reprice higher as economic growth is elevated amid above-target inflation. Today’s US data calendar is light and keeps focus on Tuesday’s Bank of Japan meeting, where first rate hike in 17 years is expected, as well as Wednesday’s Fed policy announcement.
In premarket trading, Google parent company Alphabet rallied almost 4% in premarket trading after Bloomberg reported that Apple is in talks to build Google’s Gemini artificial intelligence engine into the iPhone; Nvidia and Tesla added more than 2%. Here are some other notable premarket movers:
B. Riley Financial (RILY US) fell 12% after the boutique investment bank failed to file its audited results after an extension period ended.
Nvidia (NVDA US) rose 2.3% after HSBC raised it price target on the chip giant. The bank says the company’s 2025 AI road map provides more pricing power and will help overcome 2H24 product transition risks.
PepsiCo (PEP US) advanced 1.7% after the beverage and snack company was upgraded to overweight from equal-weight at Morgan Stanley, which said the issues driving their downgrade of the stock last year have now played out.
Shift4 Payments (FOUR US) fell 9.0% after CEO Jared Isaacman said bids from potential suitors have failed to value firm adequately.
The Federal Reserve’s meeting on Wednesday is set to dictate the direction of global stocks for the next quarter, with policymakers likely to stick to forecasts for three interest-rate cuts in 2024. Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan is widely expected to hike interest rates tomorrow, potentially ending the world’s last negative interest rate regime. In the US, the main focus comes Wednesday, when Fed policy makers gather for a meeting that has the potential to set the tone for global stocks for the next quarter. While Fed Chairman Jerome Powell indicated the central bank was close to having the confidence to cut, bond traders appear to have painfully surrendered to a higher-for-longer reality. The 10-year Treasury yield held near a three-week high on Monday, having risen more than 20 basis points last week. A gauge of the dollar was steady.
“The recent market repricing has put policy expectations essentially at Fed estimates,” said Anthi Tsouvali, multi asset strategist at State Street Global Markets. The decision will likely provide “another signal that easing of economic conditions is coming, pushing equity markets higher,” Tsouvali said.
European stocks hover near record levels ahead of rate decisions from the US Federal Reserve and Bank of England later this week. The Stoxx 600 Index was largely unchanged, with autos, real estate and the energy sector among top gainers. Among individual stocks, Haleon falls after Pfizer said it plans to sell about £2 billion of its shares. Here are some of the biggest movers Monday:
Aston Martin gains as much as 11% in early trading as Bank of America upgrades the stock to buy from neutral, saying the British carmaker will turn the corner after a trough in 1Q24.
Reckitt Benckiser advances as much as 5.9%, rallying from Friday’s record drop triggered by a US verdict related to baby formula. Barclays says the move was a “substantial over-reaction.”
LPP gains as much a 11% after plunging 36% on Friday following a report by activist short-seller Hindenburg Research that said the company’s withdrawal from Russia was a “sham.”
Alstom gains as much as 10% after the French rail systems firm saw its rating upgraded to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank, which bets that the “worst is now behind the group.”
Signify gains as much as 8.5%, the most in almost five months, after Barclays double-upgrades the lighting manufacturer to overweight, citing a “compelling” risk-reward.
Discovery shares rise as much as 3.8% before turning negative, after the financial services company said it expects normalized profit from operations to increase by between 10% and 15% y/y.
Chemring rises as much as 5.9% after the defense market supplier won new work in Europe worth just under £90m, partly thanks to the EU’s efforts to boost supplies of ammunition to Ukraine.
Richemont shares fall as much as 2%, after ZKB cut its recommendation on the luxury firm to market perform from outperform, seeing risks from the high prior-year baseline.
Haleon shares fall as much as 3.2%, the most since Nov. 2, as biggest shareholder Pfizer plans to reduce its stake in the UK consumer health company to about 24% from 32%.
Logitech shares fall as much as 8.2% after the Swiss manufacturer of computer peripherals said CFO Chuck Boynton will step down after just 13 months in the role.
Meyer Burger shares fall as much as 18% after the solar panel maker announced a CHF200m rights issue, which is larger than the company’s market cap.
Hannover Re shares rose, recouping earlier losses, following a stronger-than-expected dividend and in-line results.
Earlier in the session, Asian stocks climbed, led by Japan and China, as investors brace for an event-heavy week that includes monetary policy outcomes in Japan and the US. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained as much as 0.8%, the most since March 8, with technology and industrial stocks contributing the most. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index climbed the most in a month and the yen traded weaker against the dollar, amid signs markets have priced in the potential for an interest-rate increase. “Japanese stocks are rising, driven by weakness of the yen, and expectations that the currency won’t strengthen even if the central bank hikes,” said Charu Chanana, a strategist at Saxo Capital Markets based in Singapore.
“The weaker yen from widening US-Japan rates and reduced uncertainty for the BOJ meeting should push Japanese stocks higher today,” said Shoji Hirakawa, chief global strategist at Tokai Tokyo Intelligence Laboratory. US yields have been gaining amid bets on fewer rate cuts this year. “Defensives are likely to rise, including electric power and gas, land transportation, materials, non-ferrous metals and steel.”
Mainland China pared early gains as data released on Monday pointed to continued troubles for the property sector and weakness consumer spending. Property development investments slid 9% from last year in February, while retail sales missed expectations.
In FX, the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index is also little changed. The yen falls 0.1% even as speculation mounts the Bank of Japan will raise interest rates on Tuesday.
In rates, treasuries are steady ahead of the Fed decision on Wednesday. US 10-year yields are flat at 4.3% with front-end outperforming, steepening the curve. US front-end yields richer by 1.3bp on the day with intermediate and long-end little changed, steepening 2s10s and 5s30s by 1bp-2bp; Bunds are underperforming by 2bp in the sector. Germany’s bond market sees bigger bear-steepening move, with long-end around 3bp cheaper on the day after erasing gains. Treasury auctions this week include $13b 20-year bond reopening Tuesday and $16b 10-year TIPS reopening Thursday.
In commodities, oil hit a fresh four-month high as macro-economic data from China came in ahead of expectations, and Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries heightened geopolitical risks. Morgan Stanley increased its Brent crude price forecast to $90 a barrel by 3Q, citing tightening supply-demand balances. Over the weekend, BHP is reported to have stood down around a quarter of the workers constructing its West Musgrave nickel and copper project in Western Australia, according to the Australian Financial Review. Spot gold is unchanged at $2,156/oz.
Bitcoin holds just above $68k after volatile price action over the weekend; Ethereum is also lower trading around $3,500.
The US economic data calendar includes March New York Fed services business activity (8:30am) and NAHB housing market index (10am); later this week are housing starts/building permits, manufacturing PMI and new home sales. Nvidia CEO Huang is set to speak on AI at 4pm ET. There are no Fed speakers scheduled before March 20 policy decision.
Market Snapshot
S&P 500 futures up 0.2% to 5,193.25
STOXX Europe 600 little changed at 504.60
MXAP up 0.9% to 176.23
MXAPJ up 0.3% to 534.99
Nikkei up 2.7% to 39,740.44
Topix up 1.9% to 2,721.99
Hang Seng Index little changed at 16,737.12
Shanghai Composite up 1.0% to 3,084.93
Sensex up 0.2% to 72,815.76
Australia S&P/ASX 200 little changed at 7,675.85
Kospi up 0.7% to 2,685.84
German 10Y yield little changed at 2.45%
Euro little changed at $1.0896
Brent Futures up 0.9% to $86.10/bbl
Gold spot down 0.2% to $2,152.61
US Dollar Index little changed at 103.39
Top Overnight News
China’s YTD (Jan/Feb) industrial production came in solidly ahead of plan (+7% vs. the Street +5.2%), and fixed asset investment beat expectations too, while retail sales were essentially inline (+5.5% vs. the Street +5.6%) and property investment remained in the doldrums. RTRS
China’s marriage rate rose in 2023, the first increase in nine years. SCMP
Brazil launches a slew of anti-dumping investigations into Chinese products (this is the latest sign of pushback by a government concerned about China responding to slow domestic growth by flooding the world with imports). FT
South Ossetia, a region that broke away from Georgia and calls itself an independent state, has discussed becoming part of Russia with Moscow officials, Russian news agency RIA cited the head of South Ossetia’s parliament as saying on Sunday. RTRS
Trump advisors presented him with three names to become Fed chair: Kevin Hassett, Arthur Laffer, and Kevin Warsh. WSJ
Mike Pence said he will not endorse Trump, reflecting the deep divisions between the two men. The Hill
Evidence is mounting that many Americans have reached their limit for tolerating higher prices, raising questions about how much consumer expenditures will continue to power US economic growth this year. FT
One of the most pressing issues facing Donald Trump is the financial disparity he and allied groups now face with Mr. Biden and the Democratic Party. Democrats have boasted of entering February with $130 million. The Trump operation did not release a full total, but his campaign account and the Republican National Committee had around $40 million. NYT
GOOGL is in talks to license its Gemini AI technology to Apple for use in the iPhone (Apple will incorporate some of its own AI technology in the next iPhone, but lacks the powerful generative AI models of Google and OpenAI). BBG
A more detailed look at global markets courtesy of Newsquawk
APAC stocks were somewhat mixed after quiet weekend newsflow and as participants brace for this week’s busy slate of central bank announcements including tomorrow’s crucial BoJ decision, while better-than-expected Chinese activity data had little lasting effect. ASX 200 traded cautiously with the index contained by underperformance in real estate and energy. Nikkei 225 outperformed despite weak Machinery Orders and with many anticipating a policy shift at tomorrow’s BoJ announcement, while momentum in the index was helped by currency weakness and softer yields. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp. were both ultimately positive after the Hang Seng pared earlier losses with the help of tech strength but with gains capped by weakness in property, while the mainland was gradually underpinned following better-than-expected Chinese Industrial Production and Retail Sales data.
Top Asian News
China’s NBS said with macro policy, the economy continued to recover but noted that the property market is still in the process of adjustment and stated that China can achieve this year’s growth target.
China’s Vice Commerce Minister said they are studying cutting new energy vehicle insurance premium rates and improving NEV maintenance service capabilities to reduce buyer worries, according to Yicai.
China’s air passenger numbers rose 44.6% Y/Y to 62.48mln trips in February with international passenger traffic up 593.4% Y/Y to 81.8% of 2019 levels and domestic air passenger traffic up 35.5% Y/Y in February.
India is to begin voting in the national elections on April 19th which will end on June 1st and India will count the votes in the national elections on June 4th.
China’s strong factory output and investment growth at the start of the year raised doubts over how soon policymakers will step up support still needed to boost demand and reach an ambitious growth target, according to Bloomberg
European bourses are mostly firmer, though with clear underperformance in the SMI (-0.6%), which is hampered by losses in Logitech (-7.5%). European sectors are mixed; Real Estate takes the top spot, whilst Telecoms is found at the foot of the pile. US equity futures (ES +0.3%, NQ +0.6%, RTY +0.2%) are entirely in the green, with clear outperformance in the NQ; Google (+2.5%) benefits from Apple/Gemini related news and Nvidia (+2.1%) gains ahead of its GTC
Top European News
EU is reportedly mulling joining the US in reviewing risks of Chinese legacy chips, according to Bloomberg sources; flagging potential risks to national security and supply chains.
UK PM Sunak’s strategists are planning another tax-cutting budget in September ahead of an election in October or November if he can survive amid doubts about his leadership spreading in the Conservative Party, while Sunak’s government is said to be facing the same levels of economic misery that led to the Conservative Party’s defeat in 1997, according to Bloomberg citing the Misery Index.
ECB’s de Cos said it is normal that they should begin cutting rates if their macroeconomic forecasts are met in the coming months and that June would be a good date to start, while he believes the current degree of consensus is very high and he hopes this will continue, according to an interview with Spanish newspaper El Periodico.
ECB’s Knot said the eurozone has avoided a recession and that he has pencilled in June to start cutting rates, while he added that where they take it from there will be data dependent.
Fitch affirmed Germany at AAA; Outlook Stable and affirmed Malta at A+; Outlook Stable, while S&P affirmed Spain at A; Outlook Stable.
FX
Contained trade for DXY within tight parameters of 103.36-51 with markets in “wait-and-see” mode ahead of a slew of risk-events (Fed, BoJ, RBA, BoE, PMIs).
EUR is touch firmer vs. the USD but in quiet newsflow with the pair running out of steam ahead ahead of Friday’s 1.0899 peak and the psych 1.09 mark.
GBP is flat vs. the Dollar and marginally softer vs. the EUR. UK newsflow over the weekend has been non-incremental ahead of a busy week of UK updates including, CPI, PMIs, Retail Sales and the BoE policy announcement. For now, Cable is stuck within Friday’s 1.2725-59 range.
JPY is a touch softer vs. the USD with USD/JPY back on a 149 handle. However, conviction in price action is likely to be limited ahead of the BoJ tomorrow, trading within a 149.32-148.92 range.
Antipodeans are both firmer vs. the USD alongside the favourable risk environment. AUD/USD went as high as 0.6574 but unable to test Friday’s peak of 0.6582. NZD/USD also edging higher but still shy of the 0.61 mark.
PBoC sets USD/CNY mid-point at 7.0943 vs exp. 7.1995 (prev. 7.0975)
Fixed Income
USTs are incrementally softer given the modestly constructive risk tone after China’s activity data while the US looks to the Nvidia keynote this evening and then the FOMC on Wednesday.
A contained start for Bunds ahead of a blockbuster week, including policy announcements from the Fed, BoJ and the BoE. Currently holds around 131.70 and garners support at 131.60 (1st March) and resistance at 132.78.
Gilts are similarly contained and slightly closer to the unchanged mark than EGB peers, perhaps given the relative underperformance seen in Gilts during the second half of last week; currently holds around 98.30.
Commodities
A firm session for the crude complex following constructive Chinese activity data coupled with a weekend of geopolitical headlines, including Ukraine ramping up its targeting of Russian oil facilities; Brent currently holds just above USD 86.00/bbl.
Subdued trade for precious metals with the market on standby ahead of this week’s major risk events; XAU trades within a tight range (2,146.15-2,157.60/oz).
Base metals are mostly subdued despite the constructive Chinese activity data overnight but following the notable run higher in prices last week.
Ukraine’s SBU security service attacked three Rosneft oil refineries in Russia’s Samara region with drones. It was separately reported that a fire broke out at the Slavyansk refinery in the Krasnodar region following a drone attack, while the Syzran oil refinery reportedly experienced a fire which was put out.
BHP said 30% of Australian nickel mines have shut and 30% more are under pressure on low prices, according to Reuters.
China’s NDRC maintained retail gasoline and diesel prices as of March 19th.
Geopolitics: Middle East
Israeli official says they will offer in Qatar a truce for 6 weeks in exchange for the release of 40 detainees, according to Reuters; the official estimated that negotiations could take at least two weeks
Israeli PM Netanyahu said US Senate Majority Leader Schumer’s speech commenting on Israeli elections was inappropriate and they will continue military pressure on Hamas. Netanyahu said Israel’s goal of eliminating Hamas battalions goes hand in hand with enabling civilians to leave Rafah.
Israel’s Mossad chief Barnea was expected to resume Gaza ceasefire talks with Qatar’s PM and Egyptian officials on Sunday with the meeting a direct response to the latest proposal from Hamas and talks will focus on the remaining gaps between Israel and Hamas, according to a source briefed on the talks cited by Reuters.
Israel is to send a delegation to Qatar for talks on achieving a hostage deal after Israeli security cabinet approval, according to Kann correspondent Amichai Stein.
Egyptian President El-Sisi said Egypt and EU leaders agreed on rejecting any Israeli military operation in Rafah, while EU’s von der Leyen said it is critical to achieve an agreement on a ceasefire in Gaza rapidly now and that Gaza is facing famine which they cannot accept. German Chancellor Scholz said they cannot stand by and watch Palestinians starve, while he added that lasting security for Israel lies in a solution with Palestinians, meaning a two-state solution.
A Syrian soldier was injured in an Israeli strike on the southern region, according to Syrian state TV.
Iran and the US held secret talks on proxy attacks and a ceasefire, according to the New York Times.
UKMTO noted an incident off Yemen’s Aden where an explosion was reported near the Master of Merchant vessel although there was no damage to the vessel and the crew were reported safe.
US offical says Houthis are unable to continue escalation, US can always escalate against the Houthis
OTHER
Russian President Putin won 88% of the votes in the Russian election where the opposition was banned, according to FT. Russian President Putin said Russia should be stronger and more effective and his win will allow Russia to consolidate society and shows how Russia was right to choose its current path.
Russian President Putin commented on the French proposal for a ceasefire during the Olympics in which he stated that they are ready for talks and will proceed from Russia’s interests on the front line, while he added they will think about with whom they can talk with about peace in Ukraine and he doesn’t rule out setting up a ‘sanitary zone’ in Ukraine-controlled territories amid Ukraine attacks.
White House commented the Russian election was not free nor fair given how Putin has imprisoned opponents and prevented others from running against him, while Ukrainian President Zelensky said there is no legitimacy in Russian imitation of elections and that Putin seeks to rule forever, according to Reuters.
Russian air defence systems downed 35 Ukraine-launched drones over eight regions, while Russia launched 14 drones against Ukraine’s Odesa which damaged agricultural enterprises and infrastructure.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry accused Ukraine of stepping up ‘terrorist activities’ during the Russian election to attract more aid and weapons from the West, while Russia said Ukraine dropped a shell from a drone on a polling station in the Zaporizhzhia region.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman commented on French President Macron’s idea of a ceasefire in Ukraine during the Olympics and proposed for him to stop weapons supplies to Ukraine, according to TASS.
Head of parliament in the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia said a possible inclusion into Russia is being discussed with Moscow, according to RIA.
SpaceX is building hundreds of spy satellites under a classified contract with the US National Reconnaissance Office, according to Reuters sources.
North Korea fired projectiles believed to be ballistic missiles which landed shortly after their firing outside of Japan’s exclusive economic zone. In relevant news, – North Korea’s leader Kim oversaw warfare drills and urged realistic preparation for combat, according to KCNA.
US Secretary of State Blinken told South Korean President Yoon that the two countries are to consult to upgrade extended deterrence and work together on the North Korean threat, according to Yonhap.
Japanese PM Kishida said North Korea’s missile launch threatens not only the peace and stability of the region but also of the international community and Japan strongly condemns North Korea’s actions. Kishida stated that Japan lodged a stern protest against North Korea and will further advance close trilateral cooperation with the US and South Korea.
US Event Calendar
08:30: March New York Fed Services Business, prior -7.3
10:00: March NAHB Housing Market Index, est. 48, prior 48
DB’s Jim Reid concludes the overnight wrap
This could be a landmark week in markets as the last global holdout on negative rates looks set to be removed as the BoJ likely hikes rates from -0.1% tomorrow. That could slightly overshadow the FOMC that concludes on Wednesday that will have its own signalling intrigue given recent strong inflation. We also have the RBA meeting tomorrow (DB preview here) and the SNB and BoE (DB preview here) meetings on Thursday to close out a big week for global central bankers with many EM countries also deciding on policy. We’ll preview the main meetings in more depth below but outside of this we have the global flash PMIs on Thursday as well as inflation reports in Japan (Thursday) and the UK (Wednesday). US housing data also permeates through the week as you’ll see in the full global day-by-day week ahead at the end as usual.
Let’s go into detail now, starting with the BoJ tomorrow. We’ve had negative base rates now for 8 years which if I have my history correct is the longest run ever seen for any country in the history of mankind. In fact I doubt pre-historic man was as generous as to charge negative interest rates on lending money prior to this! It also might be one of the longest global runs without any interest rate hikes given the 17 year run that could end tomorrow. So a landmark event.
Our Chief Japan economist previews the meeting here and e xpects the central bank to revise its policy and abandon both NIRP and the multi-tiered current account structure and set rates on all excess reserves at 0.1%. He also sees both the yield curve control (YCC) and the inflation-overshooting commitment ending, replaced by a benchmark for the pace of the bank’s JGB purchasing activity. Our house view forecast of 50bps of hikes through 2025 is more hawkish than the market but risks are still tilted to the upside. On Friday, the Japan Trade Union Confederation (Rengo) announced the first tally of the results of this year’s shunto spring wage negotiation. The wage increase rate, including the seniority-based wage hike, is 5.28%, which was significantly higher than expected. This year will probably see the highest wage settlements since 1991 which given Japan’s recent history is an incredible turnaround. This wage data news has firmed up expectations for tomorrow. See our economists’ piece on it here.
With regards to the FOMC which concludes on Wednesday, our economists (see their preview here) expect only minor revisions to the meeting statement that saw an overhaul last meeting. With regards to the SEP, the growth and unemployment forecasts are unlikely to change but the 2024 inflation forecasts potentially could. DB expect the Fed to revise up their 2024 core PCE inflation forecast by a tenth to 2.5%, although they see meaningful risks that it gets revised up even higher to 2.6%. In our economists’ view, a 2.5% core PCE reading would allow just enough wiggle room to keep the 2024 fed funds rate at 4.6% (75bps of cuts). However, if core PCE inflation were revised up to 2.6%, it would likely entail the Fed moving their base case back to 50bps of cuts, as this would essentially reflect the same forecasts as the September 2023 SEP.
Beyond 2024, DB expect officials to build in less policy easing due to a higher r-star. If two of the eight officials currently at 2.5% move up by 25bps, then the long-run median forecast would edge up to 2.6%. This could be justified by a one-tenth upgrade to the long-run growth forecast. After all this information is released the presser from Powell will of course be heavily scrutinised, especially on how Powell sees recent inflation data. Powell should also provide an update on discussions around QT but it is unlikely they are ready yet to release updated guidance.
One additional global highlight this week might be a big fall in UK inflation on Wednesday with our economists’ preview here suggesting that headline CPI will slow to 3.4% (vs 4% in January) and core to 4.5% (5.1%). Elsewhere there is plenty of ECB speaker appearances including President Lagarde on Wednesday. They are all highlighted in the day-by-day guide at the end.
Asian equity markets are climbing this morning with the Nikkei (+2.13%) rising sharply ahead of what could be the first baby step towards normalising policy tomorrow. Elsewhere, the CSI (+0.51%) and Shanghai Composite (+0.49%) are also moving higher after data showed that the world’s second biggest economy kicked off the year on a stronger note (more below). Meanwhile, the KOSPI (+0.60%) is also up while the Hang Seng is struggling to gain traction this morning. S&P 500 (+0.26%) and Nasdaq (+0.45%) futures are higher. US Treasury yields are fairly stable. .
Coming back to China, industrial production grew +7.0% in the first two months of 2024, well above Bloomberg’s forecast of +5.2% with businesses continuing to engage in strong capital spending as fixed asset investment grew +4.2% in the two-month period, more than the +3.2% expected. Meanwhile, retail sales advanced +5.5% YTD y/y, v/s +5.2% expected, indicating that the Chinese economy is performing better than expected helped by extra demand during the Lunar New Year period.
Elsewhere, in one of the more predictable electoral events of 2024, Vladimir Putin secured another term as Russia’s president. Peter Sidorov has published a short reaction on the result and on things to watch in its aftermath, here.
Recapping last week now, concerns about stubborn inflation proved to be at the forefront of investors’ minds. The main drivers of these renewed inflation worries were the stronger than expected US CPI and PPI reports, which showed that both consumer and producer prices were rising faster than expected. And markets found little relief in Friday’s data, with the University of Michigan’s preliminary consumer sentiment index falling to 76.5 in March (vs 77.1 expected), while the 5-10yr inflation expectations were unchanged at 2.9% as expected. Adding to the inflation fears, oil prices surged last week. Brent crude rose +3.97% (-0.09% on Friday) to $85.34/bbl, its highest weekly close since late October, and WTI crude jumped +3.88% ( -0.27% on Friday) to $81.04/bbl.
Off the back of this, markets revisited their expected timing of Fed cuts. For example, futures are now pricing only a 61% chance that the Fed will cut by June. At the start of March, markets had seen a 96% chance of a cut by June. The number of cuts expected by the December meeting were dialled back by -23.1bps last week (and -4.8bps on Friday), with just 72bps of cuts priced in for the year, the lowest this has been in four months.
The prospect of fewer rate cuts led to a strong upward move in global yields. US 2yr Treasury yields surged +25.3bps last week (and +3.4bps on Friday). Longer dated Treasuries also jumped. For example, 10yr yields rose +23.1bps to 4.31% (+1.6bps on Friday), bringing them back to their February levels. European fixed income was far from immune to these moves, as 10yr bunds gained +17.5bps (and +1.6bps on Friday). Increasing expectations that the BoJ was looking to cut at this week’s meeting also added to this upward pressure on global yields, with 10yr Japanese bond yields up +5.1bps (and +0.9bps on Friday).
The equity reaction was not as negative but they also struggled after last week’s hot inflation prints, as well as with the softer US retail data. The S&P 500 was down -0.13% last week, and fell -0.65% on Friday against a risk-off backdrop. The small cap Russell 2000 struggled the most, down -2.08% over the week, despite a +0.40% rise on Friday. Technology also underperformed on the week, as the NASDAQ fell -0.70% (and -0.96% on Friday). The Magnificent 7 were down -1.04% on Friday (-0.30% on the week), though Nvidia (+0.35% on the week) managed to narrowly secure 10 weeks of consecutive gains. Equity markets were more optimistic in Europe, with the STOXX 600 up +0.31% (-0.32% on Friday). The German DAX and French CAC outperformed, up +0.69% and +1.70% on the week, respectively.
2 B) NOW NEWSQUAWK (EUROPE/REPORT)
Equities firmer amid the constructive risk tone, JPY softer and Crude bid as geopols remains in focus – Newsquawk US Market Open
MONDAY, MAR 18, 2024 – 06:37 AM
Equities are in the green amid a constructive risk tone; Nvidia gains pre-market ahead of its GTC
Dollar is flat, JPY is modestly softer and back on a 149 handle ahead of BoJ on Tuesday
Bonds are incrementally weaker, though with price action contained
Crude is firmer following constructive Chinese activity data and heightening geopolitical tensions
2. Listen to this report in the market open podcast (available on Apple and Spotify)
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EUROPEAN TRADE
EQUITIES
European bourses are mostly firmer, though with clear underperformance in the SMI (-0.6%), which is hampered by losses in Logitech (-7.5%).
European sectors are mixed; Real Estate takes the top spot, whilst Telecoms is found at the foot of the pile.
US equity futures (ES +0.3%, NQ +0.6%, RTY +0.2%) are entirely in the green, with clear outperformance in the NQ; Google (+2.5%) benefits from Apple/Gemini related news and Nvidia (+2.1%) gains ahead of its GTC.
Click here and here for the sessions European pre-market equity newsflow, including earnings.
Contained trade for DXY within tight parameters of 103.36-51 with markets in “wait-and-see” mode ahead of a slew of risk-events (Fed, BoJ, RBA, BoE, PMIs).
EUR is touch firmer vs. the USD but in quiet newsflow with the pair running out of steam ahead ahead of Friday’s 1.0899 peak and the psych 1.09 mark.
GBP is flat vs. the Dollar and marginally softer vs. the EUR. UK newsflow over the weekend has been non-incremental ahead of a busy week of UK updates including, CPI, PMIs, Retail Sales and the BoE policy announcement. For now, Cable is stuck within Friday’s 1.2725-59 range.
JPY is a touch softer vs. the USD with USD/JPY back on a 149 handle. However, conviction in price action is likely to be limited ahead of the BoJ tomorrow, trading within a 149.32-148.92 range.
Antipodeans are both firmer vs. the USD alongside the favourable risk environment. AUD/USD went as high as 0.6574 but unable to test Friday’s peak of 0.6582. NZD/USD also edging higher but still shy of the 0.61 mark.
PBoC sets USD/CNY mid-point at 7.0943 vs exp. 7.1995 (prev. 7.0975)
USTs are incrementally softer given the modestly constructive risk tone after China’s activity data while the US looks to the Nvidia keynote this evening and then the FOMC on Wednesday.
A contained start for Bunds ahead of a blockbuster week, including policy announcements from the Fed, BoJ and the BoE. Currently holds around 131.70 and garners support at 131.60 (1st March) and resistance at 132.78.
Gilts are similarly contained and slightly closer to the unchanged mark than EGB peers, perhaps given the relative underperformance seen in Gilts during the second half of last week; currently holds around 98.30.
A firm session for the crude complex following constructive Chinese activity data coupled with a weekend of geopolitical headlines, including Ukraine ramping up its targeting of Russian oil facilities; Brent currently holds just above USD 86.00/bbl.
Subdued trade for precious metals with the market on standby ahead of this week’s major risk events; XAU trades within a tight range (2,146.15-2,157.60/oz).
Base metals are mostly subdued despite the constructive Chinese activity data overnight but following the notable run higher in prices last week.
Ukraine’s SBU security service attacked three Rosneft oil refineries in Russia’s Samara region with drones. It was separately reported that a fire broke out at the Slavyansk refinery in the Krasnodar region following a drone attack, while the Syzran oil refinery reportedly experienced a fire which was put out.
BHP said 30% of Australian nickel mines have shut and 30% more are under pressure on low prices, according to Reuters.
China’s NDRC maintained retail gasoline and diesel prices as of March 19th.
EU is reportedly mulling joining the US in reviewing risks of Chinese legacy chips, according to Bloomberg sources; flagging potential risks to national security and supply chains.
UK PM Sunak’s strategists are planning another tax-cutting budget in September ahead of an election in October or November if he can survive amid doubts about his leadership spreading in the Conservative Party, while Sunak’s government is said to be facing the same levels of economic misery that led to the Conservative Party’s defeat in 1997, according to Bloomberg citing the Misery Index.
ECB’s de Cos said it is normal that they should begin cutting rates if their macroeconomic forecasts are met in the coming months and that June would be a good date to start, while he believes the current degree of consensus is very high and he hopes this will continue, according to an interview with Spanish newspaper El Periodico.
ECB’s Knot said the eurozone has avoided a recession and that he has pencilled in June to start cutting rates, while he added that where they take it from there will be data dependent.
Fitch affirmed Germany at AAA; Outlook Stable and affirmed Malta at A+; Outlook Stable, while S&P affirmed Spain at A; Outlook Stable.
DATA RECAP
EU HICP Final MM (Feb) 0.6% vs. Exp. 0.6% (Prev. -0.4%); HICP-X F&E Final YY (Feb) 3.3% vs. Exp. 3.3% (Prev. 3.3%); HICP-X F, E, A, T Final MM (Feb) 0.7% vs. Exp. 0.7% (Prev. 0.7%); HICP-X F,E,A&T Final YY (Feb) 3.1% vs. Exp. 3.1% (Prev. 3.1%); HICP Final YY (Feb) 2.6% vs. Exp. 2.6% (Prev. 2.6%); Eurostat Trade NSA, Eur (Jan) 11.4B EU (Prev. 16.8B EU); HICP-X F&E MM (Feb) 0.6% (Prev. -0.6%) Unrevised
UK Rightmove House Price Index MM (Mar) 1.5% (Prev. 0.9%); Rightmove House Price Index YY (Mar) 0.8% (Prev. 0.1%)
Norwegian GDP Month Mainland (Jan) 0.4% (Prev. -0.1%); GDP Month (Jan) 0.0% (Prev. 0.5%)
NOTABLE US HEADLINES
Goldman Sachs adjusted its Fed rate cut forecast to 3 cuts this year from a previous view of 4 cuts, while JPMorgan now expects the Fed to deliver 75bps of cuts this year vs prev. forecast of 125bps of cuts.
DoJ is weighing antitrust probe of US Steel (X) takeover, via Politico.
Nasdaq says investigation issues with connectivity; says orders went using Rash fix engine will not be acknowledge at this time; continues to investigate matching engine issues which are affecting connectivity to the exchange.
Apple (AAPL) is in talks to let Google (GOOG) Gemini power iPhone AI features and is also in discussions with OpenAI regarding a deal, according to Bloomberg. Google +3.5% pre-market
Meta (META) Federal officials are investigating Co. over its role in selling illegal drugs, via WSJ.
Tesla (TSLA) Plans to raise prices for Model Y in Europe and Middle East regions by about EUR 2k. Tesla +3.1% pre-market
GEOPOLITICS
MIDDLE EAST
Israeli official says they will offer in Qatar a truce for 6 weeks in exchange for the release of 40 detainees, according to Reuters; the official estimated that negotiations could take at least two weeks
Israeli PM Netanyahu said US Senate Majority Leader Schumer’s speech commenting on Israeli elections was inappropriate and they will continue military pressure on Hamas. Netanyahu said Israel’s goal of eliminating Hamas battalions goes hand in hand with enabling civilians to leave Rafah.
Israel’s Mossad chief Barnea was expected to resume Gaza ceasefire talks with Qatar’s PM and Egyptian officials on Sunday with the meeting a direct response to the latest proposal from Hamas and talks will focus on the remaining gaps between Israel and Hamas, according to a source briefed on the talks cited by Reuters.
Israel is to send a delegation to Qatar for talks on achieving a hostage deal after Israeli security cabinet approval, according to Kann correspondent Amichai Stein.
Egyptian President El-Sisi said Egypt and EU leaders agreed on rejecting any Israeli military operation in Rafah, while EU’s von der Leyen said it is critical to achieve an agreement on a ceasefire in Gaza rapidly now and that Gaza is facing famine which they cannot accept. German Chancellor Scholz said they cannot stand by and watch Palestinians starve, while he added that lasting security for Israel lies in a solution with Palestinians, meaning a two-state solution.
A Syrian soldier was injured in an Israeli strike on the southern region, according to Syrian state TV.
Iran and the US held secret talks on proxy attacks and a ceasefire, according to the New York Times.
UKMTO noted an incident off Yemen’s Aden where an explosion was reported near the Master of Merchant vessel although there was no damage to the vessel and the crew were reported safe.
US offical says Houthis are unable to continue escalation, US can always escalate against the Houthis
OTHER
Russian President Putin won 88% of the votes in the Russian election where the opposition was banned, according to FT. Russian President Putin said Russia should be stronger and more effective and his win will allow Russia to consolidate society and shows how Russia was right to choose its current path.
Russian President Putin commented on the French proposal for a ceasefire during the Olympics in which he stated that they are ready for talks and will proceed from Russia’s interests on the front line, while he added they will think about with whom they can talk with about peace in Ukraine and he doesn’t rule out setting up a ‘sanitary zone’ in Ukraine-controlled territories amid Ukraine attacks.
White House commented the Russian election was not free nor fair given how Putin has imprisoned opponents and prevented others from running against him, while Ukrainian President Zelensky said there is no legitimacy in Russian imitation of elections and that Putin seeks to rule forever, according to Reuters.
Russian air defence systems downed 35 Ukraine-launched drones over eight regions, while Russia launched 14 drones against Ukraine’s Odesa which damaged agricultural enterprises and infrastructure.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry accused Ukraine of stepping up ‘terrorist activities’ during the Russian election to attract more aid and weapons from the West, while Russia said Ukraine dropped a shell from a drone on a polling station in the Zaporizhzhia region.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman commented on French President Macron’s idea of a ceasefire in Ukraine during the Olympics and proposed for him to stop weapons supplies to Ukraine, according to TASS.
Head of parliament in the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia said a possible inclusion into Russia is being discussed with Moscow, according to RIA.
SpaceX is building hundreds of spy satellites under a classified contract with the US National Reconnaissance Office, according to Reuters sources.
North Korea fired projectiles believed to be ballistic missiles which landed shortly after their firing outside of Japan’s exclusive economic zone. In relevant news, – North Korea’s leader Kim oversaw warfare drills and urged realistic preparation for combat, according to KCNA.
US Secretary of State Blinken told South Korean President Yoon that the two countries are to consult to upgrade extended deterrence and work together on the North Korean threat, according to Yonhap.
Japanese PM Kishida said North Korea’s missile launch threatens not only the peace and stability of the region but also of the international community and Japan strongly condemns North Korea’s actions. Kishida stated that Japan lodged a stern protest against North Korea and will further advance close trilateral cooperation with the US and South Korea.
CRYPTO
Bitcoin holds just above USD 68k after volatile price action over the weekend; Ethereum (-1.1%) is lower and around USD 3.5k.
AI-related coins: Nvidia CEO Huang is set to speak on AI at 20:00 GMT / 16:00 EDT.
APAC TRADE
APAC stocks were somewhat mixed after quiet weekend newsflow and as participants brace for this week’s busy slate of central bank announcements including tomorrow’s crucial BoJ decision, while better-than-expected Chinese activity data had little lasting effect.
ASX 200 traded cautiously with the index contained by underperformance in real estate and energy.
Nikkei 225 outperformed despite weak Machinery Orders and with many anticipating a policy shift at tomorrow’s BoJ announcement, while momentum in the index was helped by currency weakness and softer yields.
Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp. were both ultimately positive after the Hang Seng pared earlier losses with the help of tech strength but with gains capped by weakness in property, while the mainland was gradually underpinned following better-than-expected Chinese Industrial Production and Retail Sales data.
NOTABLE ASIA-PAC HEADLINES
China’s NBS said with macro policy, the economy continued to recover but noted that the property market is still in the process of adjustment and stated that China can achieve this year’s growth target.
China’s Vice Commerce Minister said they are studying cutting new energy vehicle insurance premium rates and improving NEV maintenance service capabilities to reduce buyer worries, according to Yicai.
China’s air passenger numbers rose 44.6% Y/Y to 62.48mln trips in February with international passenger traffic up 593.4% Y/Y to 81.8% of 2019 levels and domestic air passenger traffic up 35.5% Y/Y in February.
India is to begin voting in the national elections on April 19th which will end on June 1st and India will count the votes in the national elections on June 4th.
China’s strong factory output and investment growth at the start of the year raised doubts over how soon policymakers will step up support still needed to boost demand and reach an ambitious growth target, according to Bloomberg
DATA RECAP
Chinese Industrial Production YY (Feb) 7.0% vs. Exp. 5.0% (Prev. 6.8%); Retail Sales YY (Feb) 5.5% vs. Exp. 5.2% (Prev. 7.4%); Urban Investment (YTD)YY (Feb) 4.2% vs. Exp. 3.2% (Prev. 3.0%); Unemployment Rate Urban Area (Feb) 5.3% (Prev. 5.1%)
Japanese Machinery Orders MM (Jan) -1.7% vs. Exp. -1.0% (Prev. 2.7%, Rev. 1.9%); Machinery Orders YY (Jan) -10.9% vs. Exp. -11.2% (Prev. -0.7%)
Singapore Non-Oil Exports MM (Feb) -4.8% vs. Exp. -0.4% (Prev. 2.3%); Non-Oil Exports YY (Feb) -0.1% vs. Exp. 4.7% (Prev. 16.8%)
2C ASIA AFFAIRS
MONDAY MORNING/SUNDAY NIGHT
SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 30.29 PTS OR 0.99% //Hang Seng CLOSED UP 16.23 PTS OR 0.10% / Nikkei CLOSED UP 1032.86 PTS OR 2.67%//Australia’s all ordinaries CLOSED UP 0.02% /Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed DOWN 7.1981 //OFFSHORE CHINESE YUAN CLOSED DOWN TO 7.2046 /Oil UP TO 81.53 dollars per barrel for WTI and BRENT UP AT 85.57/ 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
3 CHINA
CHINA/
END
4.EUROPEAN AFFAIRS//UK /SCANDINAVIAN AFFAIRS
EUROPE/RUSSIA
Europeans are nuts: they are using the profits generated from seized Russian assets held in Belgium to finance more weaponry to the corrupt Ukrainians
(zerohedge)
Europe To Arm Ukraine Using Profits From Seized Russian Funds
SUNDAY, MAR 17, 2024 – 07:35 AM
In a significant shift from prior policy, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday endorsed a plan to buy weapons for Ukraine using profits generated from seized Russian assets.
He made the announcement in Berlin at a press conference alongside French President Emmanuel Macron and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. “We will use windfall profits from Russian assets frozen in Europe to financially support the purchase of weapons for Ukraine,” Scholz said.
The Biden administration has also of late been increasingly on board with transferring of seized Russian funds to Ukraine. But it remains that Germany, France and Italy have so far opposed giving the underlying assets to Ukraine to Kiev, but only the profits generated via investments.
The Wall Street Journaldetails, “Two-thirds of the roughly $300 billion in reserves were sitting in European banks and clearinghouses. As those assets mature and are reinvested, they have generated profits that EU officials say could reach 15 billion euros, equivalent to more than $16 billion, over the next four years.”
The report notes further that “The bulk of the European assets were held by Belgium’s Euroclear clearinghouse.”
The Western allies have out of recent desperation over Ukraine’s diminished ammo been getting creative, and seeking to find loopholes in order to free up extra funds that could be used in the war effort.
Britain has meanwhile been at the forefront of countries arguing that the total of all underlying Russian assets should be fully confiscated and used for Ukraine.
“Our view is simple: One day, Russia will have to pay reparations and it doesn’t make sense to wait for those reparations. It makes better sense to use the frozen assets and to make that money available now,” UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said last week.
This is a point of view that the Biden administration has also slowly come to support. But division remains within the G7, also because what many countries would view as outright theft could sow mistrust of keeping their assets in Western financial institutions, leading to a weakening of international confidence in the euro and dollar.
end
GERMANY
Germany in trouble financially:
a must read…
(Remix)
Germany Is Running Out Of Money And Debt Levels Are Exploding, Finance Minister Warns
German Finance Minister Christian Lindner is warning his own government that state finances are quickly growing out of hand, and the government needs to change course and implement austerity measures. However, the dispute over spending is only expected to escalate, with budget shortfalls causing open clashes among the three-way left-liberal coalition running the country.
With negotiations kicking off for the 2025 budget, much is at stake. However, the picture has been complicated after the country’s top court ruled that the government could not shift €60 billion in money earmarked for the coronavirus crisis to other areas of the budget, with the court noting that the move was unconstitutional.
Since then, the government has been in crisis mode, and sought to cut the budget in a number of areas, including against the country’s farmers. Those cuts already sparked mass protests, showcasing how delicate the situation remains for the government.
Lindner, whose party has taken a beating in the polls, is desperate to create some distance from his coalition partners and save his party from electoral disaster. The finance minster says the financial picture facing Germany is dire, and that the budget shortfall will only grow in the coming years if measures are not taken to rein in spending.
“In an unfavorable scenario, the increasing financing deficits lead to an increase in debt in relation to economic output to around 345 percent in the long term,” reads the Sustainability Report released by his office. “In a favorable scenario, the rate will rise to around 140 percent of gross domestic product by 2070.”
Under EU law, Germany has limited its debt levels to 60 percent of economic output, which requires dramatic savings. A huge factor is Germany’s rapidly aging population, with a debt explosion on the horizon as more and more citizens head into retirement while tax revenues shrink and the social welfare system grows — in part due to the country’s exploding immigrant population.
Lindner’s partners, the Greens and Social Democrats (SPD), are loath to cut spending further, as this will harm their electoral chances. In fact, Labor Minister Hubertus Heil is pushing for a new pension package that will add billions to the country’s debt, which remarkably, Lindner also supports.
Every year, migrants and refugees transfer billions of euros from Germany to family members in their home countries, with the Bundesbank estimating this to be at least €6.8 billion per year.
Now, some German political parties want to crack down on this development, with the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) seeking to “reduce poverty migration to zero” with restrictions on cash payments and social benefits.
Some of the money sent abroad is earned from work, but a substantial amount is likely from social welfare payments transferred to migrants, who then send it out of the country to support their families across the world. Since many of these social welfare benefits are distributed as cash, there is little oversight in how this money is used and transferred by migrants.
These foreigners have a substantial incentive to send this money overseas, where due to exchange rates and different standards of living, the euro can go far further than it can in Germany. However, these social welfare payments were never designed to be sent overseas, and are meant to provide the necessary support for migrants within Germany.
The debate on these remittances is only growing, with pro-migration parties working to stop efforts to disburse social welfare through electronic cards rather than cash. There is an awareness that if migrants stop receiving this money in cash, it may even serve as an incentive to leave the country. Not only would cash remittances become far more difficult, but prostitutes, drugs, and alcohol could also face restrictions.
However, so-called vices such as alcohol and cigarettes may still be freely available with the new bank cards for migrants, with the Alternative for Germany (AfD) working to enact restrictions on certain products.
“Established politics is once again misleading the German public. The goal of all reforms of asylum seeker benefits must be to reduce poverty migration to Germany to zero. To achieve this, all false incentives must be eliminated immediately. This is not feasible with a payment card for asylum seekers that continues to provide cash benefits and does not even exclude things like alcohol or cigarettes,” said AfD parliamentary group spokesperson, René Springer.
“We need a strict principle of benefits in kind for asylum seekers — bread, bed, and soap. There should be nothing more. Only then can we really assume that people who ask for asylum here are actually seeking protection. Asylum is only intended for this purpose and not as an access portal to German social benefits,” he continued.
It is not just the AfD working to abolish cash benefits. Free Democrats (FDP) parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr said these cash benefits have been a “real pull factor. A lot of money was then sent home. We don’t want that.”
However, other pro-migrant politicians such as the Green Party’s Erik Marquardt claim that migrants sending this tax money home is actually a good thing, saying that it is an “important part of development cooperation.” The argument is that these migrants are helping their families out of poverty.
Fatah slams Hamas: Responsible for the current ‘Nakba’
Rival faction accuses Hamas of bringing upon a ‘worst catastrophe than 1948,’ pointing out the bloody 2007 coup and wondering if Hamas would be interested in appointing a Prime Minister from Iran.
By OHAD MERLINMARCH 16, 2024 21:59Updated: MARCH 16, 2024 22:4
Head of Hamas delegation Saleh Arouri and Fatah leader Azzam Ahmad sign a reconciliation deal in Cairo, Egypt, October 12, 2017.(photo credit: REUTERS/AMR ABDALLAH DALSH)
Marking the first time in which a formal Palestinian voice has blamed Hamas for the disastrous outcomes of the October 7 massacre, Fatah said that “those who were responsible for the return of the occupation to Gaza Strip and caused the Nakba [catastrophe] which our Palestinian people live… have no right to dictate national priorities.”
The accusations came in response to Hamas’s critique of the appointment of new Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa, described as a close partner of President Mahmoud Abbas.
Hamas said this appointment was an “individual decision,” claiming that the PA is “being preoccupied with formal steps devoid of substance,” and arguing that the new Palestinian government would lack national consensus.
Hamas also rejected what they called a “policy of exclusivity and a deepening of division at a pivotal historic moment,” calling for national consensus and unity, as well as the formation of a unified leadership and the holding of “free, democratic elections.”
In its reply published on Friday, Fatah slammed Hamas, demanding: “Did Hamas consult the Palestinian leadership or any Palestinian national party when it made its decision to carry out the ‘adventure’ of last October 7, which led to a catastrophe more horrific and crueler than the Nakba of 1948?
Palestinians parade during celebrations after Hamas said it reached a deal with Palestinian rival Fatah, in Gaza City, October 12, 2017. (credit: REUTERS/SUHAIB SALEM)
“And did Hamas consult the Palestinian leadership that is now negotiating with Israel and offering it concessions after concessions, which have no goal other than securing guarantees of personal security for its leadership to receive, and to try to reach an agreement with [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu to maintain its divisive role in Gaza and the Palestinian arena?” it asked.
Fatah and Hamas: A bloody history of rivalry
Fatah also referred to Hamas’s bloody takeover of Gaza in 2007 after winning the election, questioning whether “Hamas consulted anyone when it carried out its black coup against Palestinian national legitimacy in 2007, and refused all initiatives to end the division?”
As for the appointment of Mustafa, Fatah mocked Hamas, saying he “is armed with the national agenda and not with false agendas that have brought nothing but woes to the Palestinian people and have not achieved anything for them,” also asking cynically if Hamas would rather they “appoint a prime minister from Iran, or let Tehran appoint a prime minister for the Palestinians,” pointing at Hamas’s alliance with the Islamic Republic.
The Fatah statement also made a point to refer to the lavish lifestyles led by Hamas leadership in Qatar, noting that “it seems that the comfortable life that this leadership lives in seven-star hotels has blinded it from what is right.”
Fatah also wondered why they and their families fled Gaza and left the Palestinian people to face a “brutal war of extermination” without any protection.
Hamas has shown increased popularity in the Palestinian street, recording major successes in local and student elections. According to a poll conducted by Khalil Shikaki during the temporary ceasefire of December 2023, the terrorist group has enjoyed more popularity since the October 7 massacre.
The poll showed that 57% of respondents in Gaza and 82% in the West Bank believed that Hamas was correct in launching the massacre.
end
ISRAEL/HAMAS/
IDF: Hamas weapons depot destroyed, over 250 terrorists killed in recent weeks
The Nahal Brigade joined forces with the 601st Engineering Battalion to destroy important weapon-making infrastructure.
Brigade operating in combat in the Gaza Strip, March 15, 2024. (CREDIT: IDF spokesperson’s unit)
In the last two weeks, the Nahal Brigade of the military has carried out a continued operation in the center of the Gaza Strip, leading to the death of over 250 terrorists and the destruction of weapons infrastructure crucial to Hamas’s attacks on Israel, the IDF revealed Saturday morning.
Over the last two weeks, the IDF and Israel Air Force (IAF) have killed hundreds of terrorists in battle, aerial attacks, and tank fire.
The Nahal Brigade carried out an operation in the Netzer Corridor in the center of the Gaza Strip, working in conjunction with the 601st Engineering Battalion to locate and destroy several parts of critical Hamas infrastructure.
In their collaboration, the teams destroyed rockets, ammunition depots, launchers, and many operating systems used by Hamas in their terrorist operations, the IDF reported.
Nahal Brigade in combat in the Gaza Strip, March 15, 2024. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON UNIT)
In the last few days, the 601st Engineering Battalion destroyed a weaponry depot located between rocket launch sites.
The site was identified as a launch point for rockets fired from Gaza into the State of Israel.
END
IDF chief says Israel in ‘multi-front war,’ urges vigilance amid Ramadan tensions
Halevi says Israeli forces fighting both near and ‘more distant’ enemies, warns events in one area can spillover; IDF: 250 Hamas operatives killed in central Gaza the past 2 weeks
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi speaks to Border Police officers in the West Bank, March 15, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi warned Israel is in a multi-front war and that incidents on one front can impact others, with the military fighting in Gaza, the West Bank and along the northern borders.
Speaking Friday to Border Police officers in the West Bank, Halevi noted security forces were on heightened alert due to the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, with Hamas trying to stoke unrest in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
“We are more alert this month. Really be very vigilant, very careful, with very good security,” Halevi said in a video released Saturday by the IDF. “We are in a multi-front war, Lebanon, Syria, Judea and Samaria [West Bank], and Gaza, and more distant things.”
“Everyone, every soldier… has responsibility for all the arenas, because every incident that happens in one of the arenas really affects and can cause [developments] in other areas as well,” he added.
War erupted when Hamas-led terrorists rampaged through southern communities on October 7, slaughtering some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 253 captives to Gaza, where over half remain. The devastating onslaught and the resulting Israeli offensive — aimed at eliminating Hamas and returning the hostages — have sparked fears of a regional conflagration.
The IDF said Saturday that the Nahal Infantry Brigade killed more than 250 Hamas operatives in the central Gaza Strip over the past two weeks, in gun battles and by calling in strikes by tanks and aircraft.
The Nahal Brigade is operating in the so-called Netzarim Corridor, which crosses Gaza from the Kibbutz Be’eri area to the coast. The corridor has enabled the IDF to carry out raids in northern and central Gaza.
Nahal troops with the 601st Combat Engineering Battalion have destroyed numerous Hamas assets in the area in recent weeks, including rockets, launchers, and weapons depots, the IDF said.
The IDF also said some 15 terror operatives holed up in a Hamas site in central Gaza’s Nuseirat were killed in an airstrike Friday.
The airstrike was directed by the 215th Artillery Regiment, following intelligence information about the operatives. The IDF said the regiment directed a separate airstrike, killing a Hamas sniper squad commander and another operative.
In central Gaza, the IDF said the Nahal Brigade killed some 10 gunmen over the past day.
Meanwhile, in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, the IDF said fighter jets struck and destroyed a Hamas weapons depot spotted by the 7th Armored Brigade.
Also in Khan Younis, the Givati Brigade directed strikes on two Hamas operatives spotted entering and exiting a site known to be used by the terror group, the IDF said.
Soldiers operating in the Gaza Strip in an undated photo released for publication by the military on March 16, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
The health ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza said at least 63 people had been killed over the previous 24 hours. The numbers cannot be independently verified.
Earlier Saturday, ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra reported 36 deaths from a strike on a house sheltering displaced people in Nuseirat, central Gaza.
AFPTV images showed a building blown apart. Yussef Tabatibi said survivors were trying to recover the dead with only their bare hands.
“What should we do? God help us,” he said.
Witnesses reported air strikes and fighting in Khan Younis, as well as parts of the north.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 31,500 people in the Strip have been killed in the fighting so far, a figure that cannot be independently verified, and includes those killed by the terror groups’ failed rocket launches and some 13,000 Hamas terrorists Israel says it has killed in battle. Israel also says it killed some 1,000 gunmen inside Israel on October 7.
The war has devastated the enclave, forcing nearly all the inhabitants from their homes, leaving much of the territory in rubble, and triggering a massive hunger crisis that has alarmed even Israel’s allies.
Western countries have called on Israel to do more to allow in aid, with the UN saying it faced “overwhelming obstacles,” including crossing closures, onerous vetting, restrictions on movement and unrest inside Gaza.
World Central Kitchen boat off the coast of Gaza on March 15, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
Israel says it puts no limit on humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza and blames slow aid delivery on incapacity or inefficiency among UN agencies.
Air and sea relief deliveries into Gaza have started, but aid agencies say these are no substitute for bringing in supplies by land.
A first delivery into Gaza by the World Central Kitchen, pioneering a new sea route via Cyprus, arrived on Friday and was off-loaded, the charity said, with another ship ready. The United States and Jordan said they carried out an airdrop on Saturday.
Also Saturday, Hebrew media reports said tourists found a crashed hostile drone near the Sea of Galilee in recent days.
The Kan public broadcaster reported the drone was found in Ramat Sirin, south of the Sea of Galilee.
If launched by Hezbollah, it would mark the southernmost point that one of the Lebanese terror group’s drones has reached since it began attacking Israel after the Hamas onslaught, the broadcaster said.
Police later destroyed the drone, according to the Ynet news site, and the military was probing the matter.
Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, causing loss of life and widespread damage with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war there.
The IDF said Saturday fighter jets struck two buildings used by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon’s Mays al-Jabal and Marwahin.
Another observation post in Marwahin was also struck, the IDF said.
The strikes came after projectiles were fired from Lebanon at the Mount Dov, Malkia and Misgav Am areas on the border. The IDF also said it shelled the launch sites with artillery.
Earlier, the IDF said fighter jets struck overnight a building used by the Hezbollah terror group in southern Lebanon’s Tayr Harfa and another infrastructure in Labbouneh.
So far, the skirmishes on the border have resulted in seven civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of ten IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
Hezbollah has named 244 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon, but some also in Syria. In Lebanon, another 41 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and at least 30 civilians, three of whom were journalists, have been killed.
Israel has repeatedly warned 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.
Lebanon sees a French proposal meant to end hostilities with Israel and settle a border dispute as a possible “significant step” towards peace, according to a letter by Lebanon’s foreign ministry dated Friday and seen by Reuters.
The French plan was submitted to Lebanon last month and the details were first reported by Reuters. It outlines three phases in which military operations would cease, Lebanese terror groups would withdraw combat forces and Lebanese regular army troops would be deployed in the south.
To succeed, any deal would need approval from the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, which holds significant sway over the Lebanese state. Hezbollah says it will not stop clashing with Israel until an Israeli-Hamas ceasefire is reached in Gaza.
IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari gives a statement on an operation at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, March 18, 2024, following intelligence on Hamas terror activity in the compound. (Screenshot)
The Israel Defense Forces says troops are operating overnight at the Al-Shifa hospital complex in Gaza City amid intelligence that senior Hamas officials were in the area and using the hospital to plan and carry out terror activity.
In a statement overnight, the military says troops at the hospital were “briefed in advance regarding the importance of preventing harm to civilians, patients, medical teams, and medical equipment” and that Arabic speakers were with the security forces to facilitate communication with patients and staff.
IDF doctors were also on hand, according to the announcement.
The patients and the medical teams were not ordered to evacuate the hospital but the military created pathways for civilians to leave the area, the IDF says.
Once the operation at the hospital is over, “the IDF will continue the humanitarian effort and provide food, water and additional supplies to the patients and civilians in the complex,” the military says.
Israeli soldiers stand outside Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, November 22, 2023. (Victor R. Caivano/AP)
In an accompanying video message, IDF Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari says the IDF is conducting a “high-precision operation in limited areas of Shifa Hospital, following concrete intelligence that demanded immediate action.”
“We know that senior Hamas terrorists have regrouped inside the hospital,” he says, “and are using it to command attacks against Israel.”
He says forces have undergone “specified training to prepare them for the sensitive environment and the complex scenarios they may encounter” at the hospital.
“We seek no harm to the civilians Hamas is hiding behind,” he says, adding that the IDF will conduct its operation “with caution and care while ensuring that the hospital continues its important functions.”
Hagari says IDF doctors were with the troops “to assist those in need.”
“We call upon all Hamas terrorists hiding in [the] hospital, surrender immediately. Medical facilities should never be exploited for terror. Hamas must be held accountable,” he says.
The IDF has repeatedly accused Hamas of deliberately operating from civilian areas, including hospitals, schools, mosques, and shelters.
Israel has presented evidence to back up long-standing allegations that Hamas used Al-Shifa Hospital as a major operational hub and command center and that the hospital sat atop tunnels housing headquarters for Hamas fighters using patients as shields. The US has previously corroborated the evidence presented by Israel.
Last month, the New York Times reported that a tunnel underneath Al-Shifa was used extensively by Hamas for military operations and is nearly twice as long as the IDF had previously revealed.
END
A senior Hamas operative killed in a hospital raid. His name is Faiq Mabhouh
(Times Of Israel)
Top Hamas operative killed in hospital raid, army says
The IDF says troops killed a senior Hamas operative during this morning’s raid on Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital.
Faiq Mabhouh, who served as the head of operations in Hamas’s internal security force, was armed and hiding inside the Shifa complex, “from which he was working to advance terror activity,” the IDF says.
Mabhouh was killed amid an exchange of fire during an attempt to arrest him, the IDF says.
In a nearby room, the IDF says troops recovered a cache of weapons.
Mabhouh, according to the IDF and Shin Bet, was responsible for the “synchronization” of various Hamas units in the Gaza Strip, including during the war.
As head of operations for internal security, he played a key role in a secret police force largely engaged in quashing political dissent within the Strip, according to the European Council on Foreign Relations.
END
IDF states that 20 Hamas gunmen killed in the Shifa hospital. It became a death trap for the terrorists.
IDF says 20 Hamas gunmen killed in Shifa; Gallant: We turned it into a ‘death trap’ for terrorists
Weapons found at Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, March 18, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
The IDF and Shin Bet security agency say Israeli troops have so far killed some 20 Hamas gunmen during the ongoing raid at Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant saying that troops turned the hospital into a “death trap” for the terrorists.
The operation began early this morning.
Dozens of suspects have also been detained for questioning, the IDF says.
At the hospital, the IDF says troops found weapons and money provided by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad to its operatives at the hospital.
Speaking to troops, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says the raid is another step toward bringing down Hamas.
“The place that the Hamas terrorists thought was their hiding place and a safe place immediately became, with a rapid raid, a death trap for the terrorists in Shifa,” Gallant says.
“In this, we have taken another step to defeat Hamas, another brick, another blow. This will continue and strengthen until we eliminate the Hamas organization and everything it represents,” he says.
No 3 Hamas operative confirmed killed and buried under rubble plus a Hamas commander
(Jerusalem Post)
Hamas confirms Marwan Issa killed, buried under rubble – report
According to the sources, the number three in Hamas’s high command was killed in the IDF strike in Nusirat, in central Gaza, while he was hiding in one of Hamas’s terror tunnels.
By YAEL HALFONMARCH 17, 2024 07:42Updated: MARCH 17, 2024 11:22
Marwan Issa circled in red.(photo credit: SCREENSHOT VIA YOUTUBE)
Hamas stated behind closed doors that Marwan Issa, deputy to Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif, who was targeted in an Israeli strike last week, has been killed, according to a Sunday Kan News report, citing Palestinian sources.
According to the sources, the number three in Hamas’s high command was killed in the IDF strike in Nusirat, in central Gaza, while he was hiding in one of Hamas’s terror tunnels.
Hamas number three still buried under terror tunnel
The sources further told Kan that his body was still buried underneath the rubble.
According to the report, Razi Abu Tomeh, Commander of a Hamas Brigade, was also killed in the strike.
Palestinian Hamas militants take part in an anti-Israel rally in Gaza City May 22, 2021 (credit: REUTERS/MOHAMMED SALEM)
The military confirmed, however, that no hostages had been in the vicinity of the attack.
According to a report published by the Guardian on Sunday, following the attack, Hamas’s communications went silent for 72 hours.
Intelligence expert Avi Melamed told the British newspaper that only “a human asset,” or rather an official in the terror group, could have confirmed “where and when Issa was hiding, [and] that he would remain there with time for the cabinet to approve” the operation and the IDF to launch it.
Israel “would have needed to confirm that no Israeli captives were being held near him as human shields,” he added.
Following the attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video, “We are on our way to complete victory,” “We have already killed number four in the Hamas; three, two, and one are on the way.”
“We will reach everyone,” he concluded.
END
ISRAEL HAMAS/GAZA/RAFAH
END
ISRAEL/HAMAS/THE REJECTED DEAL
end
ISRAEL/HAMAS/RAFAH
end
ISRAEL/.LEBANON/HEZBOLLAH
end
WESTBANK//ISRAEL/SUNDAY
IDF troops arrest suspects in West Bank in overnight operation
IDF troops, along with Shin Bet forces, arrested seven suspects throughout the West Bank in an overnight operation, the military said on Sunday.
In an operation in Hebron, troops arrested three suspects and found parts of a bomb.
In the village of Ya’bad, the forces arrested an additional three suspects, while in the village of Dheisha, they arrested another suspect.
The suspects who were arrested and the weapons that were confiscated were transferred to the security forces for further treatment, the military added.
END
HOUTHIS/USA
Houthis claim US, British strikes targeted Yemen’s Al-Durayhimi District
Today, 11:00 pm
The Houthi-owned Al Masirah news outlet in Yemen reports four airstrikes were carried out by US and British forces in the Al-Durayhimi District, south of the port city of Hodeidah a short while ago.
There was no immediate comment from either US or British forces in response to the claims made by the Iran-backed rebel group.
END
/RUSSIA/UKRAINE
end
6.Global Issues//COVID ISSUES
COVID ISSUES/VACCINE ISSUES//DRUG ISSUES
Cancers have spiked higher in the latest data from 2021 and 2022 and in large excess over trend. The cause: the vaccine;
(zerohege)
“Extreme Events”: US Cancer Deaths Spiked In 2021 And 2022 In “Large Excess Over Trend”
SATURDAY, MAR 16, 2024 – 04:55 PM
Cancer deaths in the United States spiked in 2021 and 2022 among 15-44 year-olds “in large excess over trend,” marking jumps of 5.6% and 7.9% respectively vs. a rise of 1.7% in 2020, according to a new preprint study from deep-dive research firm, Phinance Technologies.
Extreme Events
The report, which relies on data from the CDC, paints a troubling picture.
“We show a rise in excess mortality from neoplasms reported as underlying cause of death, which started in 2020 (1.7%) and accelerated substantially in 2021 (5.6%) and 2022 (7.9%). The increase in excess mortality in both 2021 (Z-score of 11.8) and 2022 (Z-score of 16.5) are highly statistically significant (extreme events),” according to the authors.
That said, co-author, David Wiseman, PhD (who has 86 publications to his name), leaves the cause an open question – suggesting it could either be a “novel phenomenon,” Covid-19, or the Covid-19 vaccine.
“The results indicate that from 2021 a novel phenomenon leading to increased neoplasm deaths appears to be present in individuals aged 15 to 44 in the US,” reads the report.
The authors suggest that the cause may be the result of “an unexpected rise in the incidence of rapidly growing fatal cancers,” and/or “a reduction in survival in existing cancer cases.”
They also address the possibility that “access to utilization of cancer screening and treatment” may be a factor – the notion that pandemic-era lockdowns resulted in fewer visits to the doctor. Also noted is that “Cancers tend to be slowly-developing diseases with remarkably stable death rates and only small variations over time,” which makes “any temporal association between a possible explanatory factor (such as COVID-19, the novel COVID-19 vaccines, or other factor(s)) difficult to establish.”
That said, a ZeroHedge review of the CDC data reveals that it does not provide information on duration of illness prior to death – so while it’s not mentioned in the preprint, it can’t rule out so-called ‘turbo cancers’ – reportedly rapidly developing cancers, the existence of which has been largely anecdotal (and widely refuted by the usual suspects).
While the Phinance report is extremely careful not to draw conclusions, researcher “Ethical Skeptic” kicked the barn door open in a Thursday post on X – showing a strong correlation between “cancer incidence & mortality” coinciding with the rollout of the Covid mRNA vaccine.
Phinance principal Ed Dowd commented on the post, noting that “Cancer is suddenly an accelerating growth industry!”
provides a chart below showing US Cancer treatment in constant dollars with a current growth rate of 14.8% (6.3% New CAGR) versus long term trend of 1.78% CAGR or $33.8 billion in excess cancer treatment dollars since the rollout of vax. Big Pharma has responded and are paying premiums for cancer companies. We just issued a report that corroborates Ethical Skeptic’s work in the US. So who are you going to believe? Big Pharma’s feeding frenzy coupled with our work or the entrenched institutions that say nothing is going on? https://researchgate.net/publication/378869803_US_-Death_Trends_for_Neoplasms_ICD_codes_C00-D48_Ages_15-44…
@EthicalSkeptic
·
Mar 14
The argument is over. The Covid mRNA Vaxx has caused a sizeable 2021 inflection, and now novel-trend elevation in terms of both cancer incidence & mortality. Now you know who the liars were all along.
Bottom line – hard data is showing alarming trends, which the CDC and other agencies have a requirement to explore and answer truthfully – and people are asking #WhereIsTheCDC.
We aren’t holding our breath.
Wiseman, meanwhile, points out that Pfizer and several other companies are making “significant investments in cancer drugs, post COVID.”
Phinance
We’ve featured several of Phinance’s self-funded deep dives into pandemic data that nobody else is doing. If you’d like to support them, click here.
Yes, Chicago Department of Public Health reports three new cases now for a total of 8 under Biden & his insane illegal invasion of USA; no papers, no checks, no vaccines, COME ON IN! shelter in Pilsen
Measles ‘among the new arrivals shelter in Pilsen as the agency continued to coordinate a comprehensive, city-wide response to the first measles cases in Chicago in five years.’
You illegals, just come on in, bring your rape mind, you jihadist intent, your murderous intent…those among you, bring it, bring all the filthy diseases and yes, the illegals bring massive disease for they are allowed to but a LEGAL immigrant need to take their balls out and allow the public health department to massage it, you need prostate examines, cervical exams, all kinds of invasive exams, chest x-rays, all kinds of vaccines to get in…yet illegals can come in and bring diseases that end up killing Americans…
end
Harvard Medical School Professor Was Fired Over Not Getting COVID Vaccine
Martin Kulldorff declined to take a shot because he recovered from COVID-19.
A Harvard Medical School professor who refused to get a COVID-19 vaccine has been terminated, according to documents reviewed by The Epoch Times.
Martin Kulldorff, an epidemiologist, was fired by Mass General Brigham in November 2021 over noncompliance with the hospital’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate after his requests for exemptions from the mandate were denied, according to one document. Mr. Kulldorff was also placed on leave by Harvard Medical School (HMS) because his appointment as professor of medicine there “depends upon” holding a position at the hospital, another document stated.
Mr. Kulldorff asked HMS in late 2023 how he could return to his position and was told he was being fired.
“You would need to hold an eligible appointment with a Harvard-affiliated institution for your HMS academic appointment to continue,” Dr. Grace Huang, dean for faculty affairs, told the epidemiologist and biostatistician.
She said the lack of an appointment, combined with college rules that cap leaves of absence at two years, meant he was being terminated.
Mr. Kulldorff disclosed the firing for the first time this month.
“While I can’t comment on the specifics due to employment confidentiality protections that preclude us from doing so, I can confirm that his employment agreement was terminated November 10, 2021,” a spokesperson for Brigham and Women’s Hospital told The Epoch Times via email.
Mass General Brigham granted just 234 exemption requests out of 2,402 received, according to court filings in an ongoing case that alleges discrimination.
The hospital said previously, “We received a number of exemption requests, and each request was carefully considered by a knowledgeable team of reviewers.”
“A lot of other people received exemptions, but I did not,” Mr. Kulldorff told The Epoch Times.
Mr. Kulldorff was originally hired by HMS but switched departments in 2015 to work at the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, which is part of Mass General Brigham and affiliated with HMS.
“Harvard Medical School has affiliation agreements with several Boston hospitals which it neither owns nor operationally controls,” an HMS spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email. “Hospital-based faculty, such as Mr. Kulldorff, are employed by one of the affiliates, not by HMS, and require an active hospital appointment to maintain an academic appointment at Harvard Medical School.”
HMS confirmed that some faculty, who are tenured or on the tenure track, do not require hospital appointments.
SLAY NEWS
The latest reports from Slay News
Boeing Whistleblower Warned before Death: ‘It’s NOT Suicide’The sudden death of Boeing whistleblower John Barnett is continuing to grow even more suspicious after his close friend just revealed the bone-chilling warning he made shortly before he was found dead of an apparent “suicide.”READ MORE
LATEST REPORTS FOR NEWS JUNKIESWEF Demands ‘Less Souls on the Planet’Unelected globalists at the World Economic Forum (WEF) have unveiled their new agenda which involves pushing to ensure there are “less souls on the planet.”READ THE FULL REPORTTop Critical Care Physician: Covid Vax Deaths Are ‘Crime Against Humanity’A leading critical care physician has issued an alert about the soaring sudden deaths he’s witnessing and warned that those responsible for pushing Covid mRNA shots, which he says are causing the “soaring mortality rates,” are guilty of “crimes against humanity.”READ THE FULL REPORTBombshell Testimony Catches Biden In Big LieSpecial Counsel Robert Hur is standing by his remarks regarding President Joe Biden’s memory. In the midst of a hearing concerning his inquiry into the president’s management of classified documents, as well as his report outlining the rationale behind not pursuing charges, Hur maintained that he was not unjustly criticizing Biden’s memory. “The evidence — and the president himself — …READ THE FULL REPORTRand Paul CLASHES With Fox New Host During Heated ArgumentRepublican Senator Rand Paul from Kentucky engaged in a heated exchange with Fox News host Brian Kilmeade on Thursday as Paul reiterated his stance against a proposed legislation that could potentially result in a ban on the popular social media platform TikTok. According to Newsweek, the House of Representatives passed a bill on Wednesday that mandates TikTok to restructure its …READ THE FULL REPORTCNN Legal Expert Rips DA Fani Willis ApartCNN’s resident legal expert criticized Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her team for their lackluster performance, resulting in the dismissal of charges against former President Donald Trump and his co-defendants by Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee. Elie Honig, an expert and former federal prosecutor, pointed out that Willis’ mistakes were the reason behind McAfee’s decision, labeling it as …READ THE FULL REPORT
LATEST REPORTS FOR NEWS JUNKIES RED ALERT: Democrats Move to BLOCK Veterans From Purchasing Guns Over 140 House Democrats are urging for the reinstatement of the provision in the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act that allows for the restriction of veterans from purchasing or owning firearms under specific circumstances. For many years, the VA has been reporting veterans with mental health concerns to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). … READ THE FULL REPORT
REPORT: US Middle Schoolers Facing ‘Hate’ Charges for Online Chat Six students in Massachusetts are currently facing charges related to “hate” for their involvement in an online chat conversation that reportedly involved discussing a “mock slave auction.” These students, aged between 13 and 14, attend Southwick Regional School in Massachusetts, as reported by WBTS. The alleged incidents of “hate speech and race-based bullying” took place on February 8, according to … READ THE FULL REPORT
Judge Issues Final Ruling Against Anti-Trump DA Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has been deemed eligible to proceed with prosecuting her election interference case against former President Donald Trump. Judge Scott McAfee’s ruling on Friday allowed Willis to move forward with the case, albeit with a condition in place. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that “Willis must either step aside or cut ties with her special prosecutor … READ THE FULL REPORT
Lara Trump Make BIG Announcement After Taking Over As RNC Lara Trump made an announcement stating that the Republican National Committee achieved an unprecedented success in fundraising just one week after she assumed the role of co-chair for the organization. “I am proud to announce that last weekend the GOP had the largest digital fundraising weekend since 2020. Much more to come…we are just getting started!” Lara Trump announced. Lara … READ THE FULL REPORT
MICHAEL EVERY/PHIL MAREY/OR OTHER EXECS //RABOBANK
Macron’s Long Telegram
MONDAY, MAR 18, 2024 – 12:50 PM
By Benjamin Picton, Senior Macro Strategist at Rabobank
The focus of markets last week was, quite rightly, on US inflation figures. US 2-year yields posted gains every day to close the week just over 25bps higher at 4.73%. The move was prodded along by stronger-than-expected US CPI on Tuesday, strong PPI on Thursday, and then rising prices for goods imports on Friday.
So, it was a trio of bad news on the inflation front, with the goods imports inflation providing the cherry on top because disinflation in internationally-traded goods has been doing the heavy lifting for the Fed (and others) up until now. Perhaps unsurprisingly, market pricing on the quantum of cuts expected from the Fed this year fell from 4.2 last Monday to 3.3 as of this morning. The S&P500 picked up on the vibe by closing lower for the second week in a row. That hasn’t happened since October of last year, which happened to be the cyclical low before Jerome Powell’s ‘pivot’ lit the fuse on a whopping Santa rally that has survived well into 2024.
This week will be dominated by central bank actions, even though we fully expect that actual action in the form of shifting policy rates will be pretty thin on the ground. The BOJ will be a major point of interest on Tuesday, with markets now pricing in a 55% probability of an end to the negative interest rates policy (NIRP). A return to ZIRP (zero interest rates policy) is seen as a 70% probability by the April meeting, or 96% by June.
Markets have been gradually bidding up the implied path of the BOJ’s policy rate for weeks as Japanese unions deliver strong wage gains for their members. Rengo, Japan’s largest labour union, last week secured wage increases of ~5.25% for members. That’s the first time in more than 30 years that wage gains have exceeded 5%. BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda has stressed in the past that he would need to see evidence of persistent wage growth to be convinced that inflation will converge on the 2% target. Given the events of last week, a lift in the policy rate tomorrow is a certainly a possibility but given past dovishness it seems more likely that the BOJ will hold fire until April.
Tomorrow also brings the RBA’s March policy meeting. We expect no change to the policy rate or the bank’s slight hawkish bias, especially since the RBA meeting will predate the February labour market report by two days. We’re forecasting the unemployment rate to dip to 4%, and for the economy to have added 24,500 jobs last month. That will be sufficient to trigger the Sahm Rule, which might explain why Aussie Treasurer Chalmers has recently started the softening-up process for a more growth-oriented budged in May. The RBA’s Financial Stability Review on Friday will also make for interesting reading, especially with regards to Australia’s gravity-defying mortgage market.
Of course, the main event for the week will be the outcome of the March FOMC meeting on Wednesday. Our Senior US Strategist Philip Marey expects no change to the Fed Funds rate this week and maintains our call for the first cut of the cycle to arrive in June. Philip notes that the Fed will give in-depth consideration to the pace of balance sheet runoff at this week’s meeting. Any lowering of $95bn ‘passive QT’ combined monthly cap for Treasuries, MBS and agency debt would be an encouragement for equity managers looking for a fresh round of monetary stim.
The Bank of England also meets this week and will publish their decision on the Bank Rate on Thursday. We’re expecting no changes there either. Stefan Koopman, our Senior Macro Strategist covering the UK thinks that the BOE will trail both the Fed and the ECB in delivering any policy easing, despite signs of softening in labour markets.
If equity markets do take encouragement from central bankers this week, it will be in defiance of a geopolitical environment threatening escalation. Crude oil last Thursday joined other asset classes making year-to-date highs. That coincided with Russian state media reporting claims that the Houthis now have a hypersonic missile, and comments from Houthi Supreme leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi where he said that the group will begin targeting ships heading around the Cape of Good Hope at Africa’s Southern tip.
If the Houthis DO possess a hypersonic missile (a big ‘if’), it could only have come from Russia (by way of Iran) and would pose a worrying risk to US and allied navies operating in the area. The targeting of commercial shipping taking the long route to Europe via the Cape of Good Hope would be a further detriment for insurance costs and would deal a blow to prospects of an ECB rate cut in June.
Last week also saw a stunning interview delivered by French President Emmanuel Macron. We touched on this on Friday, but it bears repeating that Macron is now taking a much firmer line on the War in Ukraine. Macron’s interview follows Vladimir Putin’s well-publicized history lecture of Tucker Carlson, and news that Russia has shifted tactical nuclear weapons westward into Belarus. It also came just before the weekend’s Russian elections, where Putin dubiously secured 88% of the vote. In this context, there are echoes of George Kennan’s ‘Long Telegram’ that established the US policy of Soviet containment in the 1940s.
Macron’s speech reads like a greatest hits of Realpolitik. Europe must do ”whatever it takes”. “If Russia wins this war, Europe’s credibility will be reduced to zero.” “If Ukraine were to fall, our security is threatened. And so, the time has come to resist.” “If the situation were to deteriorate, we have to be ready, and we will be ready. We will be ready to make the decisions to ensure that Russia never wins.”
These comments arrive in the context of Macron’s earlier refusal to rule out committing French troops to fighting in Ukraine. That was met with threats from Putin and denials from European counterparts that “boots on the ground” could ever happen. Seemingly addressing this, Macron said: “Two years ago we said we would never send a tank. We did. Two years ago we said we would never send medium-range missiles. We did. We said we would never send planes. Some are now in the process. We set too many limits.”
Christine Lagarde is famously on the record saying that the ECB’s commitment to the Euro has “no limits”. Macron is making the same commitment on security.
END
7//OIL ISSUES//NATURAL GAS ISSUES//ELECTRICAL GRID ISSUES// RENEWABLE ENERGY ISSUES//USA AND GLOBE//GLOBAL SHIPPING
Biden, the Magnificent does it again, doing his utmost to destroy the uSA and the rest of the world
(zerohedge)
“Dramatic Picture For History Books”: LNG Tankers Still Absent From Red Sea
MONDAY, MAR 18, 2024 – 04:15 AM
Ongoing attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels on commercial vessels navigating through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait have forced all liquefied natural gas tankers with destinations to Europe and the US to divert routes, which means longer and more expensive routes.
Alhajji posted a map showing no LNG tankers transiting the Red Sea, Suez Canal, or the Gulf of Adan.
Using Bloomberg data, Alhajji’s map is correct when searching for LNG tankers with an end destination in North America, South America, Central America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Australia, and Oceania.
Alhajji explained LNG tankers are avoiding the southern Red Sea for two reasons:
Carries are super expensive and fairly new relative to average oil tankers
Insurance premium is very high
Analyst Andreas Steno Larsen responded to Alhajji’s post, “Not really news? It has been like that for a while.”
However, continuous Houthi attacks disrupting the critical shipping lane, which accounts for 12-15% of global trade and 20% of international container shipping, only indicates that shipping companies must continue to rejigger routes that are more costly and longer. These extra costs will only feed into global inflation.
With President Biden’s Operation Prosperity Guardian mission failing, there is no immediate solution to resolve the Red Sea crisis.
In a recent interview, former Supreme Allied Commander at NATO, Adm. James Stavridis, told Goldman’s Allison Nathan, “In my career, I’ve never seen a higher level of maritime risk than I do today. That owes first and foremost to the return of great power competition, which we thought was basically over when the Soviet Union collapsed.”
Three decades after the Cold War ended, conflicts rage across Ukraine, Gaza, the Red Sea, Myanmar, the Sahel, Sudan, and potentially Taiwan and Iran. The rules-based system of international relations modeled on America’s liberal-democratic values is crumbling as the world stumbles into a nascent multipolar era.
Oil Hits New Cycle High After China Data, Russian Refinery Attacks, Iraq Supply Cuts
MONDAY, MAR 18, 2024 – 08:37 AM
Oil prices hit a fresh four-month high as macro-economic data from China came in ahead of expectations, Iraq said it has reduced its oil exports for the coming months to absorb the oversupply from Jan. and Feb, while Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries heightened geopolitical risks and reduced the amount of distilled product produced in Russia. As a result, WTI broke out to test $82 overnight, hitting a five month high, while Brent breached $86, a level that seemed inconceivable in late December when the price was in the low $70s.
Source: Bloomberg
Turning to the catalysts, China’s January-February activity data came in above market expectations. Industrial production growth edged up in January-February, against market expectation of a slowdown, as the boost from computer and ferrous smelting industries more than offset the drag from automobile and electric machinery industries.
Fixed asset investment growth also accelerated in January-February, thanks to faster growth in manufacturing and “other” (mostly services and agriculture-related sectors) investment.
However, it wasn’t all rainbows for China as year-on-year growth in retail sales and services industry output both slowed in January-February on a high base last year (when pent-up demand was released right after China reopening).
Additionally, the big kahuna showed no signs of improvement as property-related activity worsened broadly and meaningfully in year-on-year terms in January-February, reflecting either unfavorable base effects or sequential weakness.
Labor market statistics remained largely stable. The nationwide unemployment rate (not seasonally adjusted) moved slightly higher to 5.3% in January-February from 5.1% in December, in line with its seasonal patterns, while the 31-city metric remained unchanged at 5.0%.
Argaam News reported that China’s crude oil refining volume at the beginning of this year reached its highest levels ever, with increasing demand for fuel, according to government data issued today, March 18.
The volume of oil refined in January and February rose 3% year-on-year to a record level of 118.76 million tons, which is equivalent to 14.51 million barrels per day, Bloomberg calculations showed. This is due to the rise in Chinese demand for fuel during the Lunar New Year holiday, which began in mid-February.
According to the data, the demand for oil rose during the first two months of this year by 6.1% to 14.36 million barrels per day.
All of these factors combined to push WTI to new four month highs…
“It’s mostly driven by Chinese data,” said Giovanni Staunovo, a commodity analyst at UBS Group AG who said that “Chinese macroeconomic data — including refinery runs and apparent oil demand — have come in on the positive side.”
Meanwhile, in Russia, drone strikes over the weekend hit multiple plants, some deep within the country’s territory. Overnight, Goldman’s commodities team published a “chart of the week” (available to pro subs in the usual place) which showed a jump in “unplanned Russian refinery maintenance” to 0.7mb/d after March 13 drone attacks at Rosneft’s 0.4kb/d refinery, which is the largest crude-processing facility in Russia.
As consequence, Russian diesel exports have been falling for weeks after the drone attacks on Russian refineries that first started in January. This supports Goldman’s “structurally bullish view on refinery margins as we see refinery disruptions as an upside risk and initiated a long diesel margin trade.”
Vandana Hari, founder of Vanda Insights in Singapore, echoed Goldman’s optimism: “The strikes on Russian refineries added $2 to $3 a barrel of risk premium for crude last week, which remains in place as we start this week with more attacks over the weekend.”
And with prices surging, Wall Street’s penguins weren’t far behind and Morgan Stanley promptly raised its Brent crude price forecast to $90 a barrel by 3Q, citing tightening supply-demand balances.
“Underpinning the gains is persistent, gradual declines in US oil inventories since the start of the year, together with the latest bullish IEA report indicating higher need for oil from OPEC and thus likely continued global deficit and inventory declines,” said Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst at SEB AB.
Finally, Bloomberg reports that in the coming days, traders will get plenty of market insights from the CERAWeek conference in Houston, which starts on Monday. Among speakers scheduled on the opening day are the chief executive officers of Exxon Mobil Corp., Saudi Aramco, Shell Plc and TotalEnergies SE.
8. EMERGING MARKETS//AUSTRALIA NEW ZEALAND ISSUES//
Haiti
Haitian Migrant Boat With Guns, Drugs & Night Vision Intercepted Off Florida As Caribbean Crisis Spreads
SATURDAY, MAR 16, 2024 – 12:15 PM
Haiti’s domestic security has rapidly deteriorated as widespread gang violence and civil unrest plague the failed state. A warning from the US Department of Defense on Tuesday explained that a “mass migration” wave from Haiti to South Florida is imminent.
The ‘Caribbean crisis’ appears to be in the early stages of spreading to the US. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced Friday that a migrant boat with dozens of Haitians, firearms, and drugs, along with night vision, was recently intercepted by Florida Fish and Wildlife agents just off the Florida coast, according to Fox News.
“Our Florida Fish and Wildlife offices interdicted a vessel that had 25 illegal immigrants, potential illegal immigrants from Haiti in their boat. In their vessel, they had firearms, they had drugs, they had night vision gear, and were boating very recklessly, which would potentially endanger other folks,” DeSantis said at a press conference where he signed three pieces of legislation to deter illegal immigration.
“That vessel was interdicted near the Sebastian Inlet and those illegal aliens were turned over to the Coast Guard for deportation,” the governor said.
FLORIDA OFFICERS FIND GUNS AND DRUGS ON HAITIAN REFUGEE BOAT “In their vessel, they had firearms, they had drugs, they had night vision gear, and were boating very recklessly, which would potentially endanger other folks.” The footage of the seizure that took place two weeks ago was released after Gov. DeSantis announced a crackdown on illegal immigrants in Florida. Source: Fox News
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
·
299.5K Views
The announcement comes after the New York Post leaked an internal memo from Border Patrol that revealed agents in South Florida are preparing for an influx of Haitian migrants.
“One landing will cripple the station and our ability to respond to other traffic,” the memo said.
Meanwhile, Biden administration officials warned last week in a House Armed Services Committee that they’re preparing for a surge in Haitian migrants to enter the US.
And the countdown to the next migration flood has already begun.
Biden admin officials secretly cheer as these migrants will possibly be future Democrat voters.
END
CUBA
Lack of food causes protests to erupt in Cuba
(zerohedge)
Caribbean-Spring? Protests Erupt In Cuba Amid Food Shortages, Blackouts
MONDAY, MAR 18, 2024 – 11:10 AM
A wave of anti-government protests, uprisings, and armed rebellions reminiscent of the ‘Arab Spring’ in the Middle East more than a decade ago is starting to emerge across the Caribbean region, triggered by the ascent of civil war in Haiti.
This past weekend, the latest uprising unfolded in Santiago, Cuba, about 800 kilometers (500 miles) from Havana. Hundreds of residents took to the streets, decrying hours-long power blackouts and food shortages. PROTESTS BREAK OUT IN CUBA CHANTING “FREEDOM”
According to Reuters, Cuba has plunged into an “unprecedented economic crisis” in recent years, “stoking a record-breaking exodus that has seen upwards of 400,000 people migrate to the United States.”
On X, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel confirmed the social unrest:
“Several people have expressed their dissatisfaction with the situation of electrical service and food distribution.
“The disposition of the authorities of the Party, the State and the Government is to attend to the complaints of our people, listen, dialogue, explain the numerous efforts that are being carried out to improve the situation, always in an atmosphere of tranquility and peace.”
Díaz-Canel then blamed anti-government “terrorists” based in the US for causing trouble:
On Facebook, the US Embassy urged the communist government to respect the protests:
“We are aware of reports of peaceful protests in Santiago, Bayamo, Granma and elsewhere in Cuba.
“We urge the Cuban government to respect the human rights of the protesters and attend to the legitimate needs of the Cuban people.”
State-run media outlet CubaDebate said police had arrived in Santiago to “control the situation” and “prevent” further violence.
The key question is whether the uprising will spread, especially considering it’s unfolding in America’s backyard.
YOUR EARLY CURRENCY/GOLD AND SILVER PRICING/ASIAN CLOSING MARKETS AND EUROPEAN BOURSE OPENING AND CLOSING/ INTEREST RATE SETTINGS MONDAY MORNING 7;30AM//OPENING AND CLOSING
EURO VS USA DOLLAR: 1.0904 UP .0023
USA/ YEN 149.09 UP 0.181 NOW TARGETS INTEREST RATE AT 1.00% AS IT WILL BUY UNLIMITED BONDS TO GETS TO THAT LEVEL…//YEN STILL FALLS//
GBP/USA 1.2737 UP .0020
USA/CAN DOLLAR: 1.3538 UP .000\6 (CDN DOLLAR DOWN 6 BASIS PTS)
Last night Shanghai COMPOSITE CLOSED UP 30.29 PTS OR 0.99%
Hang Seng CLOSED UP 16.23 POINTS OR 0.01%
AUSTRALIA CLOSED UP .02% // EUROPEAN BOURSE: ALL GREEN
Trading from Europe and ASIA
I) EUROPEAN BOURSES: ALL GREEN
2/ CHINESE BOURSES / :Hang SENG CLOSED UP 16.23 PTS OR 0.10%
/SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 30.29 PTS OR 0.99%
AUSTRALIA BOURSE CLOSED UP .02%
(Nikkei (Japan) CLOSED UP 1032.86 PTS OR 2.67%
INDIA’S SENSEX IN THE GREEN
Gold very early morning trading: 2160.35
silver:$25.17
USA dollar index early MONDAY morning: 102.99 DOWN 7 BASIS POINTS FROM FRIDAY’s CLOSE.
The USA/Yuan, CNY: closed ON SHORE CLOSED DOWN AT 7.1982
THE USA/YUAN OFFSHORE: (YUAN CLOSED (UP)…. (7.2052)
TURKISH LIRA: 32.30 EXTREMELY DANGEROUS LEVEL/DEATH WATCH/HYPERINFLATION TO BEGIN.//ON DEATH WATCH
the 10 yr Japanese bond yield at +0.753…
Your closing 10 yr US bond yield UP 3 in basis points from FRIDAY at 4.334% //trading well ABOVE the resistance level of 2.27-2.32%) very problematic
USA 30 yr bond yield 4.461 UP 3 in basis points /12.00 PM
USA 2 YR BOND YIELD: 4.738 UP 2 BASIS PTS.
GOLD AT 11;30 AM 2158.25
SILVER AT 11;30: 25.11
Your 12:00 AM bourses for Europe and the Dow along with the USA dollar index closing and interest rates: MONDAY CLOSING TIME 12:00 PM//
London: CLOSED DOWN 4.79 PTS OR 0.06%
German Dax : CLOSED DOWN 3.84 PTS OR 0.02%
Paris CAC CLOSED DOWN 19.70 PTS OR 0.24%
Spain IBEX CLOSED DOWN 7.00 PTS OR 0.07%
Italian MIB: CLOSED DOWN 2.44 PTS OR 0.01%
WTI Oil price 81.40 12: EST/
Brent Oil: 86.00 12:00 EST
USA /RUSSIAN ROUBLE /// AT: 91.73 ROUBLE UP 1 AND 17/100
GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD; +2.4600 UP 3 BASIS PTS
UK 10 YR YIELD: 4.122 DOWN 6 BASIS POINTS
CLOSING NUMBERS: 4 PM
Euro vs USA: 1.0871 DOWN .0011 OR 11 BASIS POINTS
British Pound: 1.2728 UP .0011 or 11 basis pts
BRITISH 10 YR GILT BOND YIELD: 4.128 DOWN 5 BASIS PTS//
JAPAN 10 YR YIELD: 0.753%
USA dollar vs Japanese Yen: 149.15 UP 0.235//YEN DOWN 24 BASIS PTS//
USA dollar vs Canadian dollar: 1.3534 DOWN .0002 CDN dollar UP 2 basis pts)
West Texas intermediate oil: 83.00
Brent OIL: 87.02
USA 10 yr bond yield UP 3 BASIS pts to 4.334%
USA 30 yr bond yield UP 3 BASIS PTS to 4.461%
USA 2 YR BOND: UP 1 PTS AT 4.736%
USA dollar index: 103.26 UP 20 BASIS POINTS
USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 32.30 (GETTING QUITE CLOSE TO BLOWING UP/
USA DOLLAR VS RUSSIA//// ROUBLE: 91.92 UP 0 AND 99/100 roubles
GOLD 2160.80 3:30 PM
SILVER: 25.05 3:30 PM
DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE: UP 75.66 PTS OR 0.20%
NASDAQ UP 176,76 PTS OR 0.99%
VOLATILITY INDEX: 14.65 UP 0.00 PTS OR 0.00%
GLD: $200.03 UP 0.32 OR 0.16%
SLV/ $22.91 DOWN 0,12 OR 0.52%
end
USA AFFAIRS
TODAY’S TRADING IN GRAPH FORM
Big-Tech & Black Gold Surge As Bonds & Bitcoin Purged Ahead Of Fed
MONDAY, MAR 18, 2024 – 04:00 PM
After last week’s data and down-trend, Monday started fresh and shiny for BTFDers ahead of this afternoon’s “most important event in the world” – NVDA CEO Jensen Huang’s Keynote at GTC.
NVDA has not made a new high since March 8th!!!! Shock horror, and sold off intraday today from earlier juicy gains… before after dip-buyers stepped in…
Nasdaq and S&P led the day with The Dow lagging and Small Caps red. The last 10 minutes saw some selling pressure spoil the party as at least some got a little nervous ahead of Jensen…
The flip-flopping of NDX/RTY continues… so tomorrow should be a RTY >> NDX day?
Source: Bloomberg
‘Most Shorted’ stocks opened down but were immediately squeezed – though still closed red…
Source: Bloomberg
Treasury yields were higher across the board again today with the long-end underperforming…
Source: Bloomberg
…but rate-cut expectations continued to tumble (now only 70bps of cuts priced in for 2024)…
Source: Bloomberg
…as Breakevens continue to soar (helped by oil)…
Source: Bloomberg
Bitcoin drifted lower today, back below $68,000…
Source: Bloomberg
…as BTC ETF volumes were very low…
Source: Bloomberg
The dollar extended last week’s gains…
Source: Bloomberg
Despite dollar strength, gold managed gains also, back above $2160 (spot)…
Source: Bloomberg
Oil prices soared on China growth hope (macro data overnight), and Russian refinery supply issues (Ukraine drone attacks), as well as Iraq promising to abide by OPEC+ production cuts. WTI topped $83 for the first time sine the first week of November…
Source: Bloomberg
Finally, there’s no way this happens again, right?
Source: Bloomberg
Over to you, Jensen!!
END
MORNING TRADING/
AFTERNOON TRADING/
II USA DATA
TUCKER CARLSON…
III USA ECONOMIC COMMENTARIES
The state of the union is not strong at all:
(Michael Snyder)
What Will Happen When They Give The Green Light To Millions Of Radicals To Cause Widespread Chaos All Over America?
Violence and crime are already completely out of control all over the United States. In fact, you definitely wouldn’t want to be caught in the streets when hordes of our lawless young people are running wild. If things are this bad already, what is going to happen if the election in November does not go the way that leaders on the left want and they give the green light to millions of radicals to cause widespread chaos all over America? I think that we got a small preview of what this could look like during the riots of 2020. Unfortunately, since that time the open border policies of the Biden administration have allowed millions of extremely desperate people to come pouring into this country. The stage is being set for civil unrest on a scale that we have never seen before, and it certainly isn’t going to take much to push our society over the edge.
Just look at what is happening in New York City. Crime in the subway system is so bad that Governor Kathy Hochul has decided to call in the National Guard…
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is sending in the state National Guard to New York City to help police curb a surge in crime in the city’s subways.
Announcing a five-point plan on Wednesday, the Democratic governor said she was deploying 750 members of the National Guard to the subways to assist the New York Police Department with bag searches at entrances to busy train stations.
“For people who are thinking about bringing a gun or knife on the subway, at least this creates a deterrent effect. They might be thinking, ‘You know what, it just may just not be worth it because I listened to the mayor and I listened to the governor and they have a lot more people who are going to be checking my bags,’” Hochul said at a news conference in New York City.
Have things gotten so bad that we need to bring in soldiers with guns to keep order on the subways?
Apparently so.
Mass transit crime is also a major problem in Philadelphia, and it is being suggested that the National Guard should be deployed there too…
Transit Workers Union Local 234 President Brian Pollitt is demanding accountability from Gov. Josh Shapiro, Mayor Cherelle Parker, and SEPTA officials after a string of violent crimes on and around Philadelphia mass transit over the last few weeks.
In fact, he says he has been calling for National Guard deployment on SEPTA – similar to how New York City has deployed the National Guard on MTA – for four years, according to WKYW.
“I think that governor needs a round of applause because they’re going through the very same thing that we’re going through,” Pollitt said of New York City.
I thought that dealing with crime was what the police were supposed to do.
Unfortunately, police departments in major cities all over the country are now severely underfunded and understaffed.
WPXI Channel 11 out of Pittsburgh reports that police will no longer be responding to calls that are not deemed to be “in-progress emergencies,” meaning theft, harassment, criminal mischief, and burglary alarms will essentially be ignored.
Such calls will Instead be redirected to an answer machine, according to the report which also notes that from 3 am to 7 am, the city’s six police stations will operate without desk officers present.
Only around 20 officers will be available for overnight shifts to cover the entire city, the report further notes, stating that the decision has been taken due to “understaffing.”
Seriously?
So if you own a home in Pittsburgh and someone is robbing you, what are you supposed to do?
We really have reached a point in our societal decline where the wheels are coming off right in front of our eyes.
Taco Bell restaurants in Oakland, California have been forced to suspend indoor dining indefinitely after being subjected to a series of robberies amid an unrelenting crime surge in the city, DailyMail.com can reveal.
Four of the five Taco Bell locations across the Bay Area city now have large signs hanging from their windows advising: ‘DINING ROOM CLOSED.’
Business has been restricted to drive-thru service only – a sad new reality for many customers and families hoping to sit down for a peaceful meal.
It may not be easy for a lot of people to admit, but we are rapidly becoming a third world country.
Theft is absolutely rampant in America today. Organized retail crime has become a multi-billion dollar industry in the United States, and according to CNBC some of these groups actually have very sophisticated facilities that are “indistinguishable from other e-commerce distribution centers”…
But federal agents with Homeland Security Investigations, the Department of Homeland Security’s law enforcement branch, said some crime groups are even more elaborate — and theft is just one facet of their enterprises.
“We’re talking about operations that have fleets of trucks, 18-wheelers that have palletized loads of stolen goods, that have cleaning crews that actually clean the goods to make them look brand new,” said Adam Parks, an assistant special agent in charge at HSI, which is the main federal agency investigating retail crime.
“Just like any business, they’ve invested their capital into business assets like shrink wrap machines, forklifts,” Parks, who works out of HSI’s Baton Rouge, Louisiana, office, told CNBC in an interview. “That is what organized theft looks like, and it actually is indistinguishable from other e-commerce distribution centers.”
We have never seen anything like this before.
If you follow my work on a regular basis, you know that I have been saying that a lot lately.
The Missouri Attorney General is calling on the 15-year-old girl who beat another teen’s head into concrete to be tried as an adult.
The teenage victim is fighting for life in critical condition after her head was repeatedly smashed into the ground during a brawl near a Missouri high school.
AG Andrew Bailey announced on X: ‘This evil and complete disregard for human life has no place in Missouri, or anywhere. I am praying for the victim.
‘The criminal should be charged and tried as an adult. If the victim dies, that offense should rise to a homicide.’
Our streets are stained with blood from coast to coast, and more violent predators are being allowed in on a continual basis.
Earlier today, I came across an article about the 50 most violent cities in the world.
The country with the most violent cities on the list was our neighbor to the south, Mexico, with 16. In second place was Brazil, with 10 cities, followed by Colombia with eight.
The United States of America was #4 on the list with six cities.
With such extreme violence raging just across our southern border, you would think that our leaders would be doing all that they can to keep us safe.
But instead the Biden administration has been allowing millions upon millions of people to come pouring in.
Our migration crisis is fueling a growth explosion for criminal gangs all over the nation.
We are already experiencing a crime wave of epic proportions, but I am extremely concerned about what will happen if things go a certain way in November.
If they don’t win the election, leaders on the left may decide to make it very clear that it is time for “civil disobedience” on a massive scale.
I have been warning about civil unrest that would completely and utterly tear this country apart for many years, and I believe that we are now right on the brink of seeing that happen.
Many of our major cities have reached a point where they are literally on the verge of being ungovernable, and America is becoming a little bit more lawless with each passing day.
end
SAN FRANCISO/4 SEASONS HOTEL:
Default: San Francisco Four Seasons Hotel Investors $3 Million Late On Loan As Foreclosure Looms
SUNDAY, MAR 17, 2024 – 06:05 PM
Westbrook Partners, which acquired the San Francisco Four Seasons luxury hotel building, has been served a notice of default, as the developer has failed to make its monthly loan payment since December, and is currently behind by more than $3 million, the San Francisco Business Times reports.
Westbrook, which acquired the property at 345 California Center in 2019, has 90 days to bring their account current with its lender or face foreclosure.
As SF Gate notes, downtown San Francisco hotel investors have had a terrible few years – with interest rates higher than their pre-pandemic levels, and local tourism continuing to suffer thanks to the city’s legendary mismanagement that has resulted in overlapping drug, crime, and homelessness crises (which SF Gate characterizes as “a negative media narrative).
Last summer, the owner of San Francisco’s Hilton Union Square and Parc 55 hotels abandoned its loan in the first major default. Industry insiders speculate that loan defaults like this may become more common given the difficult period for investors.
The 155-room Four Seasons San Francisco at Embarcadero currenly occupies the top 11 floors of the iconic skyscrper. After slow renovations, the hotel officially reopened in the summer of 2021.
“Regarding the landscape of the hotel community in San Francisco, the short term is a challenging situation due to high interest rates, fewer guests compared to pre-pandemic and the relatively high costs attached with doing business here,” Alex Bastian, President and CEO of the Hotel Council of San Francisco, told SFGATE.
Heightened Risks
In January, the owner of the Hilton Financial District at 750 Kearny St. – Portsmouth Square’s affiliate Justice Operating Company – defaulted on the property, which had a $97 million loan on the 544-room hotel taken out in 2013. The company says it proposed a loan modification agreement which was under review by the servicer, LNR Partners.
Meanwhile last year Park Hotels & Resorts gave up ownership of two properties, Parc 55 and Hilton Union Square – which were transferred to a receiver that assumed management.
In the third quarter of 2023, the most recent data available, the Hilton Financial District reported $11.1 million in revenue, down from $12.3 million from the third quarter of 2022. The hotel had a net operating loss of $1.56 million in the most recent third quarter.
Occupancy fell to 88% with an average daily rate of $218 in the third quarter compared with 94% and $230 in the same period of 2022. –SF Chronicle
According to the Chronicle, San Francisco’s 2024 convention calendar is lighter than it was last year – in part due to key events leaving the city for cheaper, less crime-ridden places like Las Vegas.
END
PITTSBURG PA AND ILLINOIS:
Half Of Downtown Pittsburgh Office Space Could Be Empty In 4 Years
Confidential real estate information obtained by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette estimates that 17 buildings are in “significant distress” and another nine are in “pending distress,” meaning they are either approaching foreclosure or at risk of foreclosure. Those properties represent 63% of the Downtown office stock and account for $30.5 million in real estate taxes, according to the data.
It also calculates the current office vacancy rate at 27% when subleases are factored in — one of the highest in the country.
And with an additional three million square feet of unoccupied leased space becoming available over the next five years, the vacancy rate could soar to 46% by 2028, based on the data.
Property assessments on 10 buildings, including U.S. Steel Tower, PPG Place, and the Tower at PNC Plaza, have been slashed by $364.4 million for the 2023 tax year, as high vacancies drive down their income.
Another factor has been the steep drop — to 63.5% from 87.5% — in the common level ratio, the number used to compute taxable value in county assessment appeal hearings.
The assessment cuts have the potential to cost the city, the county, and the Pittsburgh schools nearly $8.4 million in tax refunds for that year alone. Downtown represents nearly 25% of the city’s overall tax base.
In response Pittsburgh City Councilman Bobby Wilson wants to remove a $250,000 limit on the amount of tax relief available to a building owner or developer as long as a project creates at least 50 full-time equivalent jobs.
It’s unclear if the proposal will be enough. Annual interest costs to borrow $1 million have soared from $32,500 at the start of the pandemic in 2020 to $85,000 on March 1. Local construction costs have increased by about 30% since 2019.
But the city is doomed if it does nothing. Aaron Stauber, president of Rugby Realty said it will probably empty out Gulf Tower and mothball it once all existing leases expire.
“It’s cheaper to just shut the lights off,” he said. “At some point, we would move on to greener pastures.”
Where’s There’s Smoke There’s Unions
In addition to the commercial real estate woes, the city is also wrestling with union contracts.
It’s only March, and Pittsburgh’s 2024 house-of-cards operating budget is already falling down. That’s the clear implication of a letter sent by new City Controller Rachael Heisler to Mayor Ed Gainey and members of City Council on Wednesday afternoon.
The letter is a rare and welcome expression of urgency in a city government that has fallen in complacency — and is close to falling into fiscal disaster.
The approaching crisis was thrown into sharp relief this week, when City Council approved amendments to the operating budget accounting for a pricey new contract with the firefighters union. The Post-Gazette Editorial Board had predicted that this contract — plus two others yet to be announced and approved — would demonstrate the dishonesty of Mayor Ed Gainey’s budget, and that’s exactly what’s happening: The new contract is adding $11 million to the administration’s artificially low 5-year spending projections, bringing expected 2028 reserves to just barely the legal limit.
But there’s still two big contracts to go, with the EMS union and the Pittsburgh Joint Collective Bargaining Committee, which covers Public Works workers. Worse, there are tens — possibly hundreds — of millions in unrealistic revenues still on the books. On this, Ms. Heisler’s letter only scratched the surface.
Similarly, as we have observed, the budget’s real estate tax revenue projections are radically inconsistent with reality. Due to high vacancies and a sharp reduction in the common level ratio, a significant drop in revenues was predictable — but not reflected in the budget. Ms. Heisler’s estimate of a 20% drop in revenues from Downtown property, or $5.3 million a year, may even be optimistic: Other estimates peg the loss at twice that, or more.
Left unmentioned in the letter are massive property tax refunds the city will owe, as well as fanciful projections of interest income that are inconsistent with the dwindling reserves, and drawing-down of federal COVID relief funds, predicted in the budget itself. That’s another unrealistic $80 million over five years.
Pittsburgh exited Act 47 state oversight after nearly 15 years on Feb. 12, 2018, with a clean bill of fiscal health.
Pittsburgh’s tax structure was a much-complained-about topic leading up to the Act 47 declaration. The year following Pittsburgh’s designation as financially distressed under Act 47 it levied taxes on real estate, real estate transfers, parking, earned income, business gross receipts (business privilege and mercantile), occupational privilege and amusements. The General Assembly enacted tax reforms in 2004 giving the city authority to levy a payroll preparation tax in exchange for the immediate elimination of the mercantile tax and the phase out of the business privilege tax. The tax reforms increased the amount of the occupational privilege tax from $10 to $52 (this is today known as the local services tax and all municipalities outside of Philadelphia levy it and could raise it thanks to the change for Pittsburgh).
The coordinators recommended an increase in the deed transfer tax, which occurred in late 2004 (it was just increased again by City Council) and in the real estate tax, which increased in 2015.
Legacy costs, principally debt and underfunded pensions, were the primary focus of the 2009 amended recovery plan. The city’s pension funded ratio has increased significantly from where it stood a decade ago, rising from the mid-30 percent range to over 60 percent at last measurement.
The obvious question? Will the city stick to the steps taken to improve financially and avoid slipping back into distressed status? If Pittsburgh once stood “on the precipice of full-blown crisis,” as described in the first recovery plan, hopefully it won’t return to that position.
The Obvious Question
I could have answered the 2018 obvious question with the obvious answer. Hell no.
No matter how much you raise taxes, it will never be enough because public unions will suck every penny and want more.
On top of union graft, and insanely woke policies in California, we have an additional huge problem.
Hybrid work has put office building owners in a bind and could pose a risk to banks. Landlords are now confronting the fact that some of their office buildings have become obsolete, if not worthless.
Hybrid Work Leaves Offices Empty and Building Owners Reeling
Meanwhile, in Illinois …
Chicago Teachers’ Union Seeks $50 Billion Despite $700 Million City Deficit
Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue combat the fire at the Florida Las Olas Chabad Jewish Center. March 18, 2024.(photo credit: Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue)
The Florida Las Olas Chabad Jewish Center was ravaged by a fire in an act of arson early Saturday morning, causing damage to the synagogue, Hebrew school, and community center, Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue and Las Olas Chabad said.
The Chabad Center said in statements on Sunday night that the fire was deliberately and intentionally set.
“It was a clearly targeted attack on our facility and our Community,” said the Chabad.
The South Florida Sun Sentinel reported that police were not investigating the incident as a hate crime. The alleged arsonist, Scott Hannaford, 50, was a transient who had previously trespassed on the property, according to the report. Hannaford has been charged with arson, criminal mischief, and possession of cocaine.
The Fort Lauderdale Police did not immediately respond to The Jerusalem Post‘s requests for comment.
Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue combat the fire at the Florida Las Olas Chabad Jewish Center. March 18, 2024. (credit: Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue)
Fire Rescue said on Saturday on social media that the fire started with a vehicle next to the building and which later extended into the facility.
Chabad center seeks to raise a million dollars
Las Olas Chabad said that just on Friday night, as the Jewish Sabbath began, they “sat in the shul surrounded by our Hebrew School students and families, we were filled with pride! We were horrifyingly awakened Shabbos morning to the news of the Shul burning!”
The Jewish Center said it was saddened that the center was established ten years ago and was damaged, leaving no home for its various community projects.
“The loss that we feel right now isn’t just a loss of property but a loss to all those who count on us,” said the Chabad.
Las Olas Chabad seeks to raise a million dollars to rebuild the center.
“Despite the tremendous setback this will cause, we will rebuild our home!” said the Chabad.
end
iiiC USA COVID //VACCINE ISSUES
This will be huge!
(Ozimek/EpochTimes)
Supreme Court To Hear Arguments In Biden Admin’s Censorship Of Social Media Posts
The U.S. Supreme Court will soon hear oral arguments in a case that concerns what two lower courts found to be a “coordinated campaign” by top Biden administration officials to suppress disfavored views on key public issues such as COVID-19 vaccine side effects and pandemic lockdowns.
The Supreme Court has scheduled a hearing on March 18 in Murthy v. Missouri, which started when the attorneys general of two states, Missouri and Louisiana, filed suit alleging that social media companies such as Facebook were blocking access to their platforms or suppressing posts on controversial subjects.
The initial lawsuit, later modified by an appeals court, accused Biden administration officials of engaging in what amounts to government-led censorship-by-proxy by pressuring social media companies to take down posts or suspend accounts.
Some of the topics that were targeted for downgrade and other censorious actions were voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election, the COVID-19 lab leak theory, vaccine side effects, the social harm of pandemic lockdowns, and the Hunter Biden laptop story.
The plaintiffs argued that high-level federal government officials were the ones pulling the strings of social media censorship by coercing, threatening, and pressuring social media companies to suppress Americans’ free speech.
‘Unrelenting Pressure’
In a landmark ruling, Judge Terry Doughty of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana granted a temporary injunction blocking various Biden administration officials and government agencies such as the Department of Justice and FBI from collaborating with big tech firms to censor posts on social media.
Later, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit agreed with the district court’s ruling, saying it was “correct in its assessment—‘unrelenting pressure’ from certain government officials likely ‘had the intended result of suppressing millions of protected free speech postings by American citizens.’”
The judges wrote, “We see no error or abuse of discretion in that finding.”
The ruling was appealed to the Supreme Court, and on Oct. 20, 2023, the high court agreed to hear the case while also issuing a stay that indefinitely blocked the lower court order restricting the Biden administration’s efforts to censor disfavored social media posts.
Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Clarence Thomas would have denied the Biden administration’s application for a stay.
“At this time in the history of our country, what the Court has done, I fear, will be seen by some as giving the Government a green light to use heavy-handed tactics to skew the presentation of views on the medium that increasingly dominates the dissemination of news,” Justice Alito wrote in a dissenting opinion.
“That is most unfortunate.”
The Supreme Court has other social media cases on its docket, including a challenge to Republican-passed laws in Florida and Texas that prohibit large social media companies from removing posts because of the views they express.
Oral arguments were heard on Feb. 26 in the Florida and Texas cases, with debate focusing on the validity of laws that deem social media companies “common carriers,” a status that could allow states to impose utility-style regulations on them and forbid them from discriminating against users based on their political viewpoints.
The tech companies have argued that the laws violate their First Amendment rights.
The Supreme Court is expected to issue a decision in the Florida and Texas cases by June 2024.
‘Far Beyond’ Constitutional
Some of the controversy in Murthy v. Missouri centers on whether the district court’s injunction blocking Biden administration officials and federal agencies from colluding with social media companies to censor posts was overly broad.
In particular, arguments have been raised that the injunction would prevent innocent or borderline government “jawboning,” such as talking to newspapers about the dangers of sharing information that might aid terrorists.
But that argument doesn’t fly, according to Philip Hamburger, CEO of the New Civil Liberties Alliance, which represents most of the individual plaintiffs in Murthy v. Missouri.
In a series of recent statements on the subject, Mr. Hamburger explained why he believes that the Biden administration’s censorship was “far beyond anything that could be constitutional” and that concern about “innocent or borderline” cases is unfounded.
For one, he said that the censorship that is highlighted in Murthy v. Missouri relates to the suppression of speech that was not criminal or unlawful in any way.
Mr. Hamburger also argued that “the government went after lawful speech not in an isolated instance, but repeatedly and systematically as a matter of policy,” which led to the suppression of entire narratives rather than specific instances of expression.
“The government set itself up as the nation’s arbiter of truth—as if it were competent to judge what is misinformation and what is true information,” he wrote.
“In retrospect, it turns out to have suppressed much that was true and promoted much that was false.”
The suppression of reports on the Hunter Biden laptop just before the 2020 presidential election on the premise that it was Russian disinformation, for instance, was later shown to be unfounded.
Some polls show that if voters had been aware of the report, they would have voted differently.
END
FREIGHT ISSUES/USA
END
VICTOR DAVIS HANSON
END
SWAMP STORIES
special thanks to Robert H for sending this to us:
Hunter’s partners: a rogue gallery of corruption, indictments and charges of treason
Hunter Biden’s partners: A rogues’ gallery of corruption, indictments, and charges of treason
Hunter Biden and his associates, in their foray into the world of international deal-making, worked with a rogue’s gallery of foreign partners who were under investigation in their home countries or were convicted in the United States.
In certain cases, the Biden team appeared to use this to their advantage, extracting concessions in exchange for assistance in the United States.
“The Biden’s would do anything they could to try to obtain money from desperate people. If you look, the one thing everyone has in common, who wired…Hunter Biden or Jim Biden money, the one thing they all had in common is they were in trouble,” House Oversight Chairman James Comer said on the “Just the News, No Noise” TV show Wednesday.
“They were being investigated for corruption in a foreign country, or they were needing a pardon, or they were in fear of being indicted in the United States. Every single person that sent the Biden’s money was in trouble. And I think that they use that in their marketing and the marketing of the Biden brand,” he explained.
Hunter Biden’s team has long defended his foreign ventures as normal business.
“Hunter Biden did not involve his father in, nor did his father assist him in, his business” and “it’s been five years of investigations into Hunter Biden and his legitimate business activities, and still Republicans have nothing to show for it,” Biden’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, told The Washington Post in November.
However, a review of Hunter Biden’s main foreign partners show at least three were under investigation for corruption, two were indicted by U.S authorities, and one was arrested under suspicion of treason in his country.
“So you give us enough money, and we’ll make your troubles go away,” Comer said of the business model. “I mean, that’s what it appears. The Biden’s tried to do and a lot of it is is that the only way you could explain the money because they weren’t selling anything? They weren’t manufacturing anything. And they didn’t have a legitimate business,” he asserted.
Here are those foreign business partners and the allegations against them:
Mykola Zlochevsky
Whether or not the founder of the energy company Burisma was under investigation by Ukrainian authorities when then-Vice President Joe Biden forced the firing of that country’s prosecutor general has remained a point of contention. However, evidence uncovered by the GOP’s impeachment probe and emails from Hunter Biden’s laptop show Burisma knew the investigation was active when Hunter Biden served on the board of the company.
After the Prosecutor General seized Zlochevsky’s property in February 2016 in connection with the investigation, Ukrainian news media reported the ex-government minister and Burisma owner was suspected of violating a statute against “illicit enrichment.” He reportedly helped to award his own company oil exploration rights during his tenure in government.
Zlochevsky was also previously under investigation by British authorities under suspicion of money laundering, although he was accquited in a London court. The London-based Serious Fraud Office told the Kyiv Postthat the discharge was decided by the judge since “there was insufficient evidence to meet the threshold required.”
Dmitry Firtash
One former business partner of the first son testified to Congress that Hunter Biden sought a $5 million payment to quash a U.S. indictment of oligarch Dmitry Firtash while his father was vice president, Just the News previously reported.
Firtash is a controversial Ukrainian figure who was indicted by the Obama-Biden Justice Department in 2014 over corruption allegations. His high-powered lawyers have argued that the U.S. charges against Firtash are unwarranted.
Hunter Biden also told the Oversight Committee Firtash, who was closely connected to the state-owned gas company in Ukraine, was tied to Russia—citing it as one of the reasons he joined the board of Burisma.
Gabriel Popoviciu
Gabriel Popoviciu, a Romanian businessman who was being investigated by anti-corruption prosecutors in his country, retained Hunter Biden to represent him in 2015. The House Oversight Committee identified several transactions between Popoviciu and entities connected to Hunter Biden from 2015 to 2017 totaling $3 million according to bank records. Popoviciu was ultimately convicted in 2016 of “complicity in abuse of power” and was also charged with bribery shortly after, NBC News reported.
Patrick Ho
Patrick Ho, the now infamous associate of CEFC China energy which paid Hunter Biden millions, was arrested in New York in charged in a bribery scheme to secure favorable energy rights for his company in Africa. He was ultimately convicted of violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act and money laundering.
Shortly before his arrest, Hunter Biden was paid a $1 million retainer to represent Ho. One of the first phone calls that Ho placed after his arrest was to James Biden—Joe Biden’s brother—who believed that Ho was trying to get in contact with his nephew, Hunter. Though he did not directly represent Patrick Ho during his trial, emails from Hunter Biden’s laptop reveal that he played an instrumental role in organizing Ho’s defense.
Ho was also accused by the government during trial of conspiring to evade U.S. sanctions on Iran and helping to broker illicit arms deals with Arab countries while he was funded by Ye’s energy company, though he was not charged with or convicted of these purported violations.
Ye Jianming
According to his own—now-defunct—plea deal with the Justice Department, Hunter Biden raked in just over $5 million from CEFC China Energy from 2017 to 2019. His cooperation was born from his relationship with Chinese tycoon Ye Jianming, which began in late 2015, while Hunter Biden’s father was still vice president.
In addition to his deputy being arrested in the United States, Ye Jianming eventually disappeared in China under mysterious circumstances. He was reportedly under investigation by the Chinese government. His name subsequently appeared in graft trials of senior Chinese Communist Party officials, according to Reuters, indicating that Ye may have been under scrutiny for financial crimes or corruption.
Karim Massimov
A former Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, Karim Massimov interacted frequently with Hunter Biden in 2014 and 2015 through fellow oligarch Kenes Rakishev. Contrary to Joe Biden’s insistent denials of ever meeting his son’s business partners, Massimov reportedly attended at least one dinner at Cafe Milano in Washington, D.C. with Vice President Biden. In addition, Massimov visited the official vice presidential residence at least once for a meeting with Hunter Biden and his partners to discuss his aspirations to be the U.N. General Secretary.
Kenes Rakishev, with whom Massimov is closely associated, famously wired $142,300 to a Biden-connected firm which was used to purchase a Porsche sports car for the future first son.
In 2022, Massimov fell from grace in Kazakhstan when he was arrested by the National Security Committee, a body he chaired until his arrest. The committee suspected him of treason amid widespread protests in the country which left more than one hundred people dead, according to local media reports. He was convicted in a secret trial.
More charges were later brought against him for money laundering and bribery, according to local media.
END
Figures that this will happen with great frequency
(EpochTimes)
Haitian National Arraigned For Rape Of 14-Year-Old Girl At Massachusetts Hotel
A 26-year-old Haitian national has been charged with raping a 14-year-old girl at a Massachusetts hotel being used to house illegal immigrants under the Gov. Maura Healey administration.
Cory Alvarez was arraigned on the charges of child rape on Thursday, March 14, at the Hingham District Court. The alleged assault took place at the Comfort Inn in Rockland, according to a press release issued by police. Rockland is located about 22 miles south of Boston.
Patrol Lt. Thomas MacDonald of the Rockland Police Department told The Epoch Times that since the state secured the 100-room hotel as a shelter for illegal immigrants in October, the police have taken on a heavy volume of calls related to the property.
“We’re there a lot, he said.
Lt. McDonald said that Mr. Alvarez, the victim, and her family are among the illegal immigrants being housed at the Rockland hotel.
The attack in Massachusetts has drawn national outrage with some levying blame against President Joe Biden for it.
“Biden flew this illegal dirtbag into our Country,” Congressman Tim Burchett (R-Tennessee) wrote on X. “No border, no budget. Shut it down.”
Others place blame more locally such as state Rep. Peter Durant (R-Spencer) who berated Ms. Healey and her administration for the assault.
“I am appalled and deeply sadded by the news of rape at the migrant shelter in Rockland,” Mr. Durant told The Epoch Times. “This heinous act with the shelter is not only acceptable, but also indicates systemic failures of the Healey Administration.”
Gov. Healey did not respond to inquiries from The Epoch Times about the girl’s rape.
Her administration has been under fire, mostly by conservatives, for flooding the state with unvetted illegal immigrants and overusing taxpayers money to buy up hotels and other housing to shelter them,
The Democratic governor claims that she is mandated to provide housing for migrants under the state’s right-to-shelter laws. Republicans disagree, saying the 1973-enacted law was intended to house U.S. citizens only.
Mr. Durant, who has led efforts to pass amendments clarifying the that right to shelter law applies to U.S. citizens only, said the governor’s claims are disingenuous since she has been part of efforts to block such measures.
Ms. Healey, who declared a state of emergency last year when the state hit its 7,500 cap as more illegal immigrants poured into the state, has called for sympathy for them, saying most are good people, escaping brutal conditions and needing the support of Americans.
Last August, her administration even asked Bay Staters to consider opening up their homes to sponsor migrants.
“If you have an extra room or suite in your home, please consider hosting a family. Housing and shelter is our most pressing need to become a sponsor family,” said Lt. Governor Kim Driscoll in a press release.
Mr. Durant told The Epoch Times that the rape at the Rockland hotel is a tragic sign that the flow of illegal immigrants into the state needs to be stopped, instead of looking for more places to put them.
He said he has received countless reports that demonstrate migrant shelters across Massachusetts are plagued with a pandemonium of serious problems—including drug and sex trafficking, violent crimes, outbreaks of fires, and the spread of diseases.
Last week, Massachusetts health officials confirmed that there was a “small” outbreak of chickenpox at a 400-person capacity migrant shelter recently set up in a popular rec center in Boston’s historic black neighborhood of Roxbury.
The recent March 13 rape of a 14-year-old girl in Massachusetts at a state-run migrant shelter falls on the same week Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) agents from the Boston division of the U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) apprehended several migrants living illegally in the state with sexual assault convictions in their native countries.
On the same day Mr. Alvarez is alleged to have raped the 14-year-old girl at the Rockland hotel, ICE officials arrested a Brazilian fugitive found living illegally in Framingham.
According to a statement from the Boston ICE office, the 51-year-old is wanted on charges of raping a 14-year-old last July in Brazil.
In just a one-week sweep conducted nationwide in January, ERO agents report that they arrested 171 “noncitizens” with pending charges or convictions for murder, homicide, and assault of children. A similar one-week sweep conducted last month turned up 275 migrants with sex convictions living illegally in the country.
The sweep results come amid the release of the Department of Homeland Security U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement 2025 Budget Overview, showing that the Biden administration proposes to cut in half the number of deportations conducted in the United States.
It also comes amid outrage over last month’s brutal murder of 22-year-old Laken Riley, allegedly at the hands of a Venezuelan man found to be living in the U.S. illegally.
A week prior to the rape of the Massachusetts girl, President Joe Biden flubbed up Ms. Riley’s name when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) heckled him to “ say her name” during his annual State of the Union address.
Instead, President Biden said the name Lincoln Riley.
Prior to Ms. Riley’s murder was the 2022 rape and murder of 20-year-old Kayla Hamilton in Aberdeen, Maryland, reportedly by a 16-year-old MS-13 gang member from El Salvador found to be living illegally in the United States.
Because he was a minor, he was placed in foster care housing by health and human services workers.
The migrant, who had visible MS13 tattoos, according to ERO from Maryland, was placed in the same group home as Ms. Hamilton—described by her mother as “functionally autistic.” It is where he is alleged to have raped, then murdered her.
Members of the violent gang have also been discovered living illegally in Massachusetts.
On Feb. 19, Boston ICE agents arrested a 44-year-old MS-13 gang member, also from El Salvador, found to be living illegally in Foxboro.
Other child rapists have also been previously arrested in Massachusetts.
In November, Saulo Cardona Ferreira, wanted for raping a 5-year-old in his home country of Brazil, was arrested by ICE on the swanky atoll of Martha’s Vineyard, a self-proclaimed sanctuary community.
In addition to hotels, rec centers, and offices, Ms. Healey has housed illegal immigrants in places that include Boston’s Logan Airport where two of the planes involved in the 9/11 attack departed from. The attacks were found to be carried out by Islamic terrorists from Saudi Arabia living in America unlawfully under expired temporary visas.
William Gheen, Founder of Americans For Legal Immigration PAC (ALIPAC), told The Epoch Times that the saddest part of the rape of the 14-year-old girl in Massachusetts is that it is probably just “the beginning.”
“The number of victims of these open-border government policies, corrupt politicians, and sinister power groups are increasing and things are about to get worse with Venezuelan prisoners and Haitian cannibal gangs on their way!” he said.
end
jerk!!
Biden Blames Trump For Derailing The Border Deal… But Are Voters Buying It?
The border crisis is putting President Joe Biden in a tough spot. His approval ratings have suffered due to the ongoing problem, but he’s now trying to leverage the failure of the Senate border bill to blame former President Donald Trump for the crisis.
“Every day between now and November, the American people are going to know that the only reason the border is not secure is Donald Trump and his MAGA Republican friends,” President Biden said in early February after Republicans in Congress tanked a bipartisan border bill he was prepared to sign into law.
However, recent polls show that the president’s message doesn’t appear to be resonating with independent voters and many of his supporters, who are concerned about his failure to address the border issue.
In his recent State of the Union address, President Biden continued to shift the blame to his predecessor and Republicans in Congress, saying “politics have derailed” his recent border deal.
“We can fight about the border, or we can fix it. I’m ready to fix it. Send me the border bill now,” he said in a fiery address.
However, Democrats are divided on the issue. Progressives are against any potential limitation on asylum. They want to safeguard the ability of illegal immigrants to seek asylum at the border. In the early days of the Biden administration, they played a significant role in shaping the immigration policy of the president and reversing the Trump administration’s border measures.
Meanwhile, Democrats in red or swing states and districts express concern about the surge in illegal crossings. They call on President Biden to take executive action to address the problem.
Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), a rare red state Democrat in the Senate, sent a letter to President Biden on Feb. 29 urging him to to secure the border.
“What’s happening at the southern border is unacceptable, plain and simple,” he wrote in the letter. “I respectfully urge you to use all of the remaining tools at your disposal to strengthen border security where executive action is possible.”
The Majority Wants Trump’s Border Wall
More than 6 in 10 Americans describe illegal immigration as a very serious problem, a new Monmouth University poll found.
The same poll showed 53 percent of Americans support building a border wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. This marks the first time a majority of respondents have backed the measure since the polling institute began asking the question in 2015. During the Trump administration, support for building a wall didn’t rise above 44 percent.
Republicans and independents showed strong support for a border wall in the most recent survey, with 86 percent and 58 percent in favor, respectively. In contrast, only 17 percent of Democrats supported the idea.
“Illegal immigration has taken center stage as a defining issue this presidential election year. Other Monmouth polling found this to be Biden’s weakest policy area, including among his fellow Democrats,” Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute, said in a statement.
Meanwhile, 61 percent of respondents support President Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” program, according to the same poll. The Trump administration implemented the program, which requires would-be asylum-seekers to remain in Mexico while their claims are processed.
On his first day in office, President Biden stopped adding illegal immigrants to the “Remain in Mexico” program and began releasing more illegal immigrants into the United States. In October 2021, Secretary Mayorkas issued a memo repealing the program in its entirety. Mr. Mayorkas claimed that asylum seekers had been “exposed to harm while waiting in Mexico” under the scheme.
However, the program has been touted by border security advocates for its effectiveness in curbing illegal immigration because it ended “catch-and-release,” the practice in which illegal immigrants are released into the United States with a court date far in the future.
‘Too Little, Too Late’
Just a week before his State of the Union address, President Biden made a trip to the southern border to amplify his message that Republicans thwarted his border deal. His visit to Brownsville, Texas, coincided with former President Trump’s trip to Eagle Pass, Texas.
The National Border Patrol Council, which supported the border agreement, slammed the president’s planned trip to Brownsville as a tactic to rescue his presidency, calling it “too little, too late.”
Brownsville was once a hot spot for illegal immigration on the southern border. The city declared a state of emergency in May 2023.
John Cowen, mayor of Brownsville, stated that his city, with fewer than 200,000 residents, has helped more than 240,000 illegal immigrants since 2021.
The illegal crossings have decreased notably in recent months, thanks partly to the Texas governor’s initiatives to prevent illegal immigration, including building anti-climb barriers and turning illegal immigrants back to Mexico. It had been the busiest region for illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border for about a decade.
Pedro Cardenas, a commissioner for the city of Brownsville, believes that the influx is not over. He says there are thousands of migrants in Matamoros, Mexico, on the other side of the border waiting for their appointment under the new U.S. government’s phone app program.
As part of President Biden’s expanded parole program, asylum seekers can schedule an appointment using the Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) phone app, known as CBP One, while waiting outside the country.
Migrants who obtain an appointment can enter the United States via a port of entry and apply for a work permit after being released from U.S. custody. Conservatives have slammed the president’s decision to expand the program, accusing him of misusing the administration’s immigration authority.
Mr. Cardenas, who voted for Joe Biden in 2020, told the Epoch Times that the president’s visit was overdue.
“I think he should have been here a little earlier,” he said. “When we had thousands of people crossing daily, he was not here.”
Mr. Cardenas said that he would wait to see how things unfold in the coming months before deciding on whether to vote for President Biden in November. He said he wants to see a shift in policy and concrete steps from the president to address the border problem.
Martin Aguilera, 50, is the son of migrants from Mexico. He was born and raised in Brownsville.
He blames both President Biden and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador for the border crisis.
“I voted for President Biden. I thought he was going to be a good president. But I don’t see that,” he told The Epoch Times. “I’m a Democrat, but I’m going to vote for Trump.”
Mr. Aguilera said that the 2024 election will be his first time voting for a Republican president.
“My mother and father came from Mexico, and they came to work legally,” Mr. Aguilera said.
He’s upset about how his and other taxpayers’ money is being spent on illegal immigrants. He criticized, for example, the Southwest Key program in his county, which receives funding from the federal government to offer shelter for unaccompanied minors through the Department of Health and Human Services.
“Those kids misbehave. They do whatever they want. They fight with other people. Nobody can do anything about it because the government is protecting those kids. They get the best food. They get the best clothes. Who pays? We’re paying for them,” he said.
“They receive special treatment, including psychologists, doctors, and eye doctors. They get everything for free. If I want to see a doctor, I have to pay a lot of money.”
Treasuries Slump as Traders Push Fed Rate-Cut Bets Out to July – BBG 11:59 ET “The biggest risk for next week is that we all look at the 2024 dot, and it says 50, not 75 basis points worth of rate cuts, and that is what triggers a more dramatic bear flattening,” said Ian Lyngen, head of US rates strategy at BMO Capital Markets… Swaps pricing Friday also showed less than 75 basis points of easing — or three quarter-point cuts — priced by December of this year… https://finance.yahoo.com/news/treasuries-slump-traders-push-fed-145423456.html
ESHs traded mostly negative but in a 10-handle range from the Nikkie opening until they rallied at 5 ET. The rally pushed ESHs to a daily high of 5230.75 at 6:55 ET. ESHs then flatlined until they commenced a decline at 7:50 ET that took ESHs to a daily low of 5172.75 at 10:03 ET.
Traders aggressively bought the opening decline in expectation of the Friday Rally and one last manipulation to squeeze the trillions of dollars of expiring March call options. Alas, there has been a tone change in the market. Sellers returned; ESHs sank to a new daily low of 5167.75 at 12:51 ET.
But bullishness has been ingrained in the masses over the many years. So, the usual suspects bought stuff. ESHs plodded to 5190.50 at 14:39 ET and then traded sideways until they broke lower at 15:40 ET. A final modest upward move appeared one minute before the NYSE closed.
Lyft, Uber plan to leave Minneapolis after city council forces them to hike driver payhttps://t.co/23dVTMgnUj
Tyson Foods Hiring Migrants Sparks Calls to Boycott Outrage was also fueled by Tyson announcing on Monday that it would close a plant in Perry, Iowa, that had about 1,200 employees amid a drop in demand for some products, according to Reuters. Tyson has shut down six plants in the past year… https://www.newsweek.com/tyson-foods-migrants-boycott-1879615
@BreannaMorello: Tyson Foods is closing its Perry, Iowa pork plant. This will cost the town 1,200 jobs. The current population in Perry is 7,928. Tyson Foods is currently looking to fill 52,000 factory jobs and it’s planning on doing so by hiring illegal aliens in NYC over the next 2 years.
Tyson Foods Hiring Illegal Migrants In New York, Wants More: ‘They’re Very, Very Loyal’ The company has already hired dozens of migrants who obtained work permits Tyson already employs about 42,000 immigrants and refugees, although it is not clear how many are in the country illegally. “We would like to employ another 42,000 if we could find them,” Garrett Dolan, a human resources leader at Tyson, told Bloomberg. (‘Tis why unlikeable cad DJT has fervid loyalists!) https://www.dailywire.com/news/tyson-foods-hiring-illegal-migrants-in-new-york-wants-more-theyre-very-very-loyal
GOP Sen. @HawleyMO: Tyson Foods – dedicated to screwing American workers in Missouri and Iowa while employing illegal child labor and migrants. This is the worst of corporate America.
(ex-Treasury Sec and big-time Dem) @LHSummers Feb 27: We show that if we make an effort to reconstruct the CPI of Okun’s era—which would have had inflation peak last year around 18%, we are able to explain 70% of the gap in consumer sentiment we saw last year. 8/N https://twitter.com/LHSummers/status/1762607548828360798
Tech icon Marc Andreessen @pmarca: My entire professional life, anyone who challenges official inflation statistics is condemned by experts as a crank. Now Dr. Summers, an unquestioned pillar of the field of economics, does it. Official inflation stats the latest institutional authority to crumble…
For decades, we have relentlessly harped that CPI methodology was constantly revised to NOT show inflation. Ergo, CPI is bogus. Now, even Democrat icons like Larry Summers admit CPI is bogus!
The Stock Market Bubble Is Bullying the Fed into Keeping Rates HighThe S&P 500 has surged 25% since October despite stagnant earnings, driven by Fed pivot hopes and investor interest in AI, weight loss drugs, and high P/E blue-chip stocks.AI has not caused corporate profits to increase significantly, with negative earnings guidance outweighing positive guidance in Q1 for the S&P 500.Coincident economic indicators are showing a weakening labor market and economy for the Eastern Seaboard and Midwest US. Leading indicators have been negative for much longer.The Fed is caught between a weakening labor market on one hand and a stock market bubble and resurgent inflation on the other.https://seekingalpha.com/article/4678696-the-stock-market-bubble-is-bullying-the-fed-into-keeping-rates-high
Perceived Fed conduit, WSJ’s @NickTimiraos: How tight is the Fed’s policy? Economic growth suggests it’s not as tight as many would have imagined two years ago, but it’s possible a supply side boomlet has merely shielded the economy from higher rates in ways that might not last. (Nick has been stridently advocating for rate cuts for many moons. This should alarm traders!) https://t.co/f59PuaYkK7
@RadicalAdem: Since 2020, nominal US GDP has grown roughly 25%. But M1 (the most liquid measure of money supply) has grown 450%. This is financialization. Good news: it cushions economy. Bad news: all that excess money sloshing around keeps widening wealth inequality and lowering returns https://t.co/1EVKAsc0k1
@Mayhem4Markets: Financial stress is the lowest since the Fed began raising rates, which begs the question — why cut this year?https://t.co/DNO6tndaRp
Positive aspects of previous session Blatant and supposedly illegal manipulation forced ESHs 32 handles higher during the last 25 minutes
Negative aspects of previous session Gasoline and oil rallied again Stocks sank, led by Mag 7 and Fangs The S&P 500 Index, and Nasdaq 100 finished negative for the second straight week Bonds decline modestly
Ambiguous aspects of previous session Does the Fed have the integrity to arrest inflation in an election year?
First Hour/Last Hour Action [S&P 500 Index]: 1st Hour from NYSE Open: Up; Last Hour: Down
Pivot Point for S&P 500 Index [above/below indicates daily trend to traders]: 5119.43 Previous session S&P 500 Index High/Low: 5136.86; 5104.35
@RNCResearch: REPORTER: “You guys are issuing this warning to Iran TWO DAYS after renewing a waiver that unlocked $10 billion in frozen funds…” KIRBY: “Can’t speak for the Mullahs…” https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1768718758279782638
@visegrad24:Biden speaking in 1992 on how bad it was that Pres. Bush was pressuring Israeli PM Yitzhak Shamir to make peace with the Arabs: “There’s no incentive for the Arabs to compromise if they know they must only wait — for USA will do their bargaining for them.” (Obamaites handle Joe!) https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1768952410762821984
PM Netanyahu’s Remarks at the Start of the Government Meeting “Since the start of the war, we have been fighting on two fronts – military and diplomatic… In the international community, there are those who are trying to stop the war now, before all of its goals have been achieved… They are doing so by means of an effort to bring about elections now, at the height of the war. They are doing this because they know that elections now will halt the war and paralyze the country for at least six months. Then let it be clear: If we stop the war now, before all of its goals are achieved, this means that Israel will have lost the war, and this we will not allow. Therefore, we cannot, and will not, succumb to this pressure… Eliminating Hamas, freeing all of our hostages and ensuring that Gaza never again constitutes a threat to Israel. In order to do this, we will operate in Rafah. This is the only way to eliminate Hamas’s murderous brigades, and this is the only way to use the military pressure necessary to free all of our hostages… Instead of pressuring Israel, which is fighting a war, the justice of which is unparalleled, against an enemy of unparalleled brutality, apply your pressure to Hamas and its patron – Iran. It is they who constitute a danger to the region and to the entire world… (Bibi rebukes Obama-Biden!) https://www.gov.il/en/departments/news/spoke-start170324
@AFP: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that civilians crammed into the southern Gaza Strip would be able to leave before troops enter in pursuit of Hamas militants.
@elonmusk: A friend of mine suggested that I clarify the nature of the danger of woke AI, especially forced diversity. If an AI is programmed to push for diversity at all costs, as Google Gemini was, then it will do whatever it can to cause that outcome, potentially even killing people.
GOP @RepThomasMassie: A fishy thing: The mRNA vaccine was trialed within 2 months of COVID appearing in the U.S., but it took a year to come up with a vaccine to target a slight variant. Inference: The original variant was built by humans to develop the vaccine; that’s how we had its blueprint.
@FischerKing64: I can explain Boeing quickly. It attained a market dominant position in the USA following the merger with McDonnell Douglas. This made it lazy. It then got new management, which emphasized financial chicanery over top flight engineering, symbolized in its move of its corporate HQ from Seattle to Chicago. The financial geniuses then worked to break the union, shift production away from its trained Seattle work force… and outsource production of most plane components abroad – the American work force was left to assemble all these disparate parts rather than produce them here. Software was also outsourced. The end result was lower quality of aircraft, delays in development and production, and even fatalities from crashes. But rest assured the management in Chicago did very well. Meanwhile, by focusing on MBAs and JDs rather than engineers, top management fell victim to all the pathologies coming out of top schools… https://twitter.com/FischerKing64/status/1768750379242807425?s=02
Trump Economic Advisers (Steve Moore and Art Laffer) Float Names for Fed Chair: WSH Advisers Recommended Kevina Warch, Kevin Hasset, Laffer: WSJ (All have been hawks)
Illegal migrant from Lebanon caught at border admitted he’s a Hezbollah terrorist hoping ‘to make a bomb’ — and was headed for NY https://t.co/Fx78zH0Wvq
Today – The FOMC meets on Tuesday and Wednesday. Bulls and Fed Pivot expectants hope the FOMC and Powell are not as hawkish as inflation data warrants. The BoJ also meets on Tuesday. Bulls fear that the Bank of Japan will end NIRP (Negative interest rate policy) and/or YCC (yield curve control).
Given recent inflation data and the surge in gasoline, there is no way that Fed officials can assert that inflation is moving in the right direction. They should voice more hawkishness than in the past few FOMC Communiques; and Powell should do the same.
The Fed is loath to change the narrative about rate cuts for two main reasons, we believe: 1) The leftists on the Fed need Biden to be reelected or they will face the wrath of Trump; and 2) Despite proclamations that the commercial real estate problem in the US is well contained, top bank officials at large banks, just below the biggest money centers, have been arduously and fretfully dealing with CRE problems. If a recession were to appear, look out!!! PS – Stocks tend to rally into FOMC Communiques!
@TripleNetInvest: A Manhattan office tower just sold at a shocking 70% discount to what it last sold for. The 778k sq ft tower at 222 Broadway(just south of City Hall, lower Manhattan) sold for $150M. The building last sold for $500M back in 2014. Even NYC is seeing massive distress and destruction in values for prime commercial real estate office buildings.
ESUs hit +8.75 at 18:24 ET but fell to -1.00 at 20:10 ET; USHs hit -7/32. Astute traders fear that Fed whisperer Nickie T’s conversion to hawk from dove on Fed rates means he ‘knows something.’
S&P Index 50-day MA: 4963; 100-day MA: 4742; 150-day MA: 4624; 200-day MA: 4576 DJIA 50-day MA: 38,392; 100-day MA: 36,928; 150-day MA: 36,012, 200-day MA: 35,623 (Green is positive slope; Red is negative slope)
S&P 500 Index (5117.09) – 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 5036.76 triggers a sell signal Hourly: Trender and MACD are negative – a close above 5156.71 triggers a buy signal
Biden spotted with cheat cards with photos of Irish leaders — and how to pronounce their nameshttps://trib.al/dSg6F11
@RNCResearch: Biden’s handler-prepared note card today featured images of the Irish flag and a headshot of the Irish prime minister (who was sitting right next to him) https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1768669811754639771 BIDEN (reading directly from pre-written notes): “I know there are all kinds of old Irish sayings, but my Grandfather Finnegan used to say, ‘May the hinge of our friendship never grow rusty.'”https://t.co/HxAXIpisXN Biden’s handlers are forcing him to wear a new pair of “lifestyle sneakers” because he trips so much (Oversized soles, like mini clown shoes!) https://t.co/dNXwsDHCCQ
Illegal Immigrants Leave US Hospitals with Billions in Unpaid Bills One of the main government healthcare resources illegal immigrants use is Medicaid. All those who don’t qualify for regular Medicaid are eligible for Emergency Medicaid, regardless of immigration status. By doing this, the program helps pay for the cost of uncompensated care bills at qualifying hospitals… https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/illegal-immigrants-leave-us-hospitals-billions-unpaid-bills
@SpeakerJohnson: Under the President’s reckless border policy, a Haitian man who entered the United States was permitted to fly into JFK directly from Haiti. He was arrested after raping a 15-year-old disabled girl at a migrant hotel in Massachusetts. Just a week ago, Secretary Mayorkas praised the CHNV program that led to this, calling it a “safe and orderly way to reach the United States.” Every day, Americans are impacted by the President’s dangerous immigration policy decisions. There are no reasons for such tragedies to occur.
@MrAndyNgo: A Venezuelan supreme court judge is warning that violent convicts released from Venezuela are increasingly part of the migrant stream pouring into the US. Laken Riley’s murder suspect is allegedly part of a violent Venezuelan gang. Read: https://t.co/3UKbbiN8Qq Liberal and left-wing orthodoxy has crippled the Democrat Party from making sound policies regarding public safety and immigration, even when it costs American lives. The ideology claims that any opposition to mass migration is racist.
@elonmusk: Why does the radical far left Biden administration welcome violent illegals into America to prey upon your friends & family? We are even warned by other countries that it is insane to make America a haven for their convicted criminals!… There is either a red wave this November or America is doomed. Imagine four more years of this getting worse …
‘Traumatized’ residents of wealthy San Francisco neighborhood resort to using CHICKEN WIRE to protect their homes against intruders as crime spirals – with even ‘hard-core natives’ feeling so unsafe they want to movehttps://t.co/aUN2bZF96g
Illinois (Chicago) boy, 11, killed trying to protect mom from her knife-wielding ex-boyfriend who was released from prison day earlier: officialshttps://trib.al/iKxpN1C
@JackPosobiec: The new documentary The Fall of Minneapolis has revealed that the FBI met with the medical examiner in Minneapolis before his final autopsy of George Floyd was released. The final report appeared to have been altered from the original. GOP Rep. @mtgreenee: Judge McAfee worked for Fani Willis and donated to her campaign AND has now ruled that Fani can keep prosecuting Trump but only if she removes her lover Nathan Wade off the case!Judge McAfee should have recused himself in the first place because of his obvious bias. Fani Willis lied under oath in his courtroom! Fani and Wade conspired with the Whitehouse and Jan 6th Committee, talk about RICO charges! Fani Willis overpaid her lover Nathan Wade as he had zero experience with RICO cases, abuse of taxpayer funds! And the Georgia Ethics board needs to seriously investigate both Fani Willis and Nathan Wade, I’ve filed multiple complaints! The corruption in Fulton County, Georgia is some of the worst in the nation.
@visegrad24: It’s easy to say that no other country has changed for the better to a higher degree in a short time than El Salvador under President @nayibbukele. The homicide rate fell from 52 per year per 100,000 inh. in 2018 to 2 in 2023. Ppl are finally safe again https://t.co/TAMQdoRwE9
“Nathan Wade resigns from the case against Trump: “in the interest of democracy, in dedication to the American public, and to move this case forward as quickly as possible.” – CBS News
@charliekirk11: Jonathan Turley reacts to Judge McAfee’s ruling that Fani either recuse herself or remove lover Nathan Wade from the case: “It’s like finding two people in a bank vault and taking one off to jail.” “They both testified in the same way. They were the two parts to this relationship, and yet only one of them was disqualified.” “Why should Willis escape these consequences?” https://twitter.com/charliekirk11/status/1768649137485123904
@tshugart3: “The U.S. Navy is pushing back the start of construction on its next-generation attack submarine by nearly a decade, citing tight budgets and a need to fund current and near-term operations.” [$ for Ukraine and illegals but not the US Navy?] https://t.co/twenCkdP9d
A new survey finds military families are growing increasingly unlikely to recommend a career in the armed forces to loved ones. https://t.co/vqGMnlANQS
@stillgray: The media is lying about Donald Trump with this narrative about a “bloodbath” if he loses the election. He was very clearly talking about the car manufacturing industry—before and after he used the word. You have to be extremely disingenuous to take what he’s saying out of context, and that’s exactly what the media is doing. They’re all running with the same lie. https://twitter.com/stillgray/status/1769346786408497358 @elonmusk: Legacy media lies. Yup, hoax-making in process. And it is surprisingly effective!Please send links from this platform to your friends who are still being misled by the legacy media!
Trump Threatens 100% Tariffs on Chinese Cars #Made in Mexico – Bloomberg
NYT: Trump Says Some Migrants Are ‘Not People’ and Predicts a ‘Blood Bath’ if He Loses In a caustic and discursive speech in Ohio, former President Donald J. Trump once again doubled down on a doomsday vision of the United States. While discussing the U.S. economy and its auto industry, Mr. Trump promised to place tariffs on cars manufactured abroad if he won in November. He added: “Now, if I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a blood bath for the whole — that’s going to be the least of it. It’s going to be a blood bath for the country.”…https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/16/us/politics/trump-speech-ohio.html
GOP Sen. @JDVance1: Donald Trump said that a bloodbath would happen to the American auto industry if Biden kept on promoting Chinese made EVs. He of course is 100 percent correct. All other reporting about his “bloodbath” comment is complete propaganda. The media should be ashamed.
@alx: Newly unearthed post from @politico shows they encouraged Democrats to enact a “BLOODBATH” in the Capitol after losing elections. Pretty sure this means they have to be shut down for our Democracy or something. https://t.co/f2Xr4tzVzv
@alx: Joe Biden THREATENED Bernie Sanders with a “BLOODBATH” in the 2020 Primary. This is disqualifying and terrifying. https://t.co/GcxDOngLFu
@TheBabylonBee: Media Reports Trump Threatened Nuclear War After He Says, ‘This Guacamole Is the Bomb!‘ https://t.co/jnS1nFfg0g
Turley: Associated Press Under Fire for Salacious Article on Ohio Senate Candidate Bernie Moreno The Associated Press (AP) is reportedly looking at a possible lawsuit after a bombshell article on GOP Ohio Senate candidate Bernie Moreno was found to contain serious errors and contradictions. The article by Brian Slodysko suggested that Moreno had posted on the website Adult Friend Finder (AFF) to find male lovers. The story was eagerly picked up by newspapers like The Washington Post. Moreno is a Trump-backed anti-establishment candidate who is on the ballot this Tuesday in the Ohio primary. After being pressed by conservative sites like Breitbart News, AP admitted that a claim of having “geolocation data” implicating Moreno is untrue and Moreno’s counsel has shown that an intern admitted that the posting was a prank. Moreover, the AP knew and reported on the admission from the intern but still ran the story and claim of geolocational data support… Moreno has reportedly hired Charles Harder, one of the attorneys who led the lawsuits against Gawker before that publication closed… https://jonathanturley.org/2024/03/17/associated-press-under-fire-for-salacious-article-on-ohio-senate-candidate-bernie-moreno/
Karen Kingston is a biotech analyst and former Pfizer employee who has been reporting on the nightmare of the CV19 mRNA nanoparticle vax. Kingston proved the CV19 vax was a bioweapon from the very beginning and is now on a team pushing to stop using it in Florida. Kingston says, “We know the mRNA injections never provided any benefit, and because of that, they actually meet the definition of a biological weapon under 18 U.S. Code 175. It’s also a weapon of mass destruction under Florida law 790.166. The statement of facts that was submitted (to the Florida Supreme Court) goes through all the evidence. . . . There was 1.5 million adverse events. The definition of a weapon is any biological agent or device that doesn’t prevent against infection, doesn’t prevent any kind of disease . . . and was not done under bona fide research. We know that research that was done with the Phase 1, 2 and 3 trials, the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) that was given to Americans and the FDA approved product, none of that was legitimate. There was no informed consent. That is criminal biological human experimentation. That, by definition, is biowarfare. There is no benefit . . . . It actually harms people. If you look at Pfizer’s documents, Moderna’s documents and the government’s documents, they knew all along that harms outweighed the benefits of this product in any population.”
Dr. Joe Sansone in Florida has been the driving force to get these CV19 mRNA nanoparticle shots banned in that state. A recent post on Kingston’s Substack says, “Dr. Sansone is seeking for the Florida Supreme Court to issue an order to Governor DeSantis and Attorney General Moody to uphold their duties of enforcing federal and Florida laws by prohibiting the unlawful and criminal distribution, promotion and administration of the engineered mRNA nanoparticle injections on Floridians and to protect Floridians by seizing the injections.”
Dr. Sansone is not the only one who thinks these CV19 injections should be “banned.” Kingston says, “The Florida Surgeon General and the Florida Department of Health have said these mRNA (CV19) injections should be used in NO human beings. They said these are gene editing technologies that can disrupt the human genome and make permanent changes. . . . According to the DOD, our own government and national security agencies say if you change the genome of any species, including human beings, that is the extermination of that species. This makes it a weapon of mass destruction. . . . The evidence is put together in such a damning way you cannot argue to keep the (CV19 mRNA nanoparticle) shots.”
In closing, Kingston reminds us, “States have the right to block any drug or medical device even if the FDA approves it.” In the not-so-distant future, let’s hope many states follow Florida’s lead and ban the CV19 bioweapon shots.
There is much more in the 1-hour in-depth interview.
Join Greg Hunter of USAWatchdog.com as he goes One-on-One with renowned biotech analyst Karen Kingston as she gives an update on the push to stop all CV19 bioweapon mRNA nanoparticle injections for 3.16.24.
Martin Kulldorff, epidemiologist and statistician, at his home in Ashford, Conn., on Feb. 11, 2022. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)
FLORIDA OFFICERS FIND GUNS AND DRUGS ON HAITIAN REFUGEE BOAT “In their vessel, they had firearms, they had drugs, they had night vision gear, and were boating very recklessly, which would potentially endanger other folks.” The footage of the seizure that took place two weeks ago was released after Gov. DeSantis announced a crackdown on illegal immigrants in Florida. Source: Fox News
harveyorganblog.com 
