GOLD PRICE CLOSED UP $1.40 TO $2177,00
SILVER PRICE DOWN 26 cents TO $24.48
Gold ACCESS CLOSED $2177.45
Silver ACCESS CLOSED: $24.41
The Fed has 2200 dollar gold as a line in the sand.
The Fed’s problem is that they are short 67 tonnes of gold and must deliver physical gold to central banks
first day notice: March 28//options expiry March 28//comex options expired yesterday.
Bitcoin morning price:$70,778 UP 7193 DOLLARS.
Bitcoin: afternoon price: $69,812 UP 6227 dollars
Platinum price closing UP $0.70 TO $907.00
Palladium price; DOWN $10.65 AT $1007.40
END
SHANGHAI GOLD PREMIUM 30 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.
Last Updated 26 Mar 2024 06:29:23 AM CT.
Market data is delayed by at least 10 minutes.
I will now provide gold in Canadian dollars, British pounds and Euros
4: 15 PM ACCESS
*CANADIAN GOLD: $2,958.49 UP $8.55 CDN dollars per oz( * NEW ALL TIME HIGH 2,958.49CDN DOLLARS PER OZ//MARCH 26 2024)
*BRITISH GOLD: 1724.87 UP 6.96 pounds per oz// *(NEW ALL TIME HIGH//CLOSING///1724.87 BRITISH POUNDS/OZ) MARCH 26/2024
*EURO GOLD: 2010.88 UP 5.83 euros per oz //* (ALL TIME CLOSING HIGH: 2010.88 EUROS PER OZ//MARCH 26.2024)
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END
EXCHANGE: COMEX
EXCHANGE: COMEX
CONTRACT: MARCH 2024 COMEX 100 GOLD FUTURES
SETTLEMENT: 2,174.800000000 USD
INTENT DATE: 03/25/2024 DELIVERY DATE: 03/27/2024
FIRM ORG FIRM NAME ISSUED STOPPED
435 H SCOTIA CAPITAL 3
661 C JP MORGAN 20 18
905 C ADM 1
TOTAL: 21 21
MONTH TO DATE: 5,366
JPMORGAN STOPPED (RECEIVED) 18/21 CONTRACTS
FOR MARCH/2024
GOLD: NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR MAR/2024. CONTRACT: 21 NOTICES FOR 2100 OZ or 0.0653 TONNES
total notices so far: 5366 contracts for 536,600 Oz (16.690 tonnes)
FOR MARCH:
SILVER NOTICES: 34 NOTICE(S) FILED FOR 170,000 OZ/
total number of notices filed so far this month : 5466 for 27,330,000 oz
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END
GLD/
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 $1.40
INVESTORS SWITCHING TO SPROTT PHYSICAL (PHYS) INSTEAD OF THE FRAUDULENT GLD/ :
NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:
/ /INVENTORY RESTS AT 835.33 TONNES
INVENTORY RESTS AT 835.33 TONNES
SLV//
WITH NO SILVER AROUND AND SILVER DOWN 24 CENTS AT THE SLV//
SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A SMALL DEPOSIT OF 0.366 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV.:
// INVENTORY FALLS TO 421.388 MILLION OZ/
INVESTORS ARE SWITCHING SLV TO SPROTT’S PSLV.
CLOSING INVENTORY: 421.388 MILLION OZ
Let us have a look at the data for today
SILVER//OUTLINE
SILVER COMEX OI ROSE BY A HUGE SIZED 1213 CONTRACTS TO 160,251 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 $0.08 IN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX ON MONDAY. WE HAD ZERO LONG LIQUIDATION AT THE COMEX SESSION WITH AGAIN MAJOR SHORT COVERING DESPITE THE PRICE GAIN. WE HAD A STRONG 632 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: 632 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 $0.08),AND WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING ANY SILVER LONGS AS WE HAD A HUGE SIZED GAIN OF 1709 CONTRACTS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES WITH THE GAIN IN PRICE OF 8 CENTS.
WE MUST HAVE HAD:
A FAIR SIZED 300 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 45,000 OZ QUEUE JUMP
/NEW TOTALS INCREASES TO : 27.4800 MILLION OZ
//NEW STANDING FOR SILVER IS THUS 27.480 MILLION OZ
WE HAD:
/ HUGE SIZED COMEX OI GAIN/ FAIR SIZED EFP ISSUANCE/ VI) STRONG SIZED NUMBER OF T.A.S. CONTRACT ISSUANCE 632 CONTRACTS)/
I AM NOW RECORDING THE DIFFERENTIAL IN OI FROM PRELIMINARY TO FINAL -REMOVED 196 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 18 days, total 24,446 contracts: OR 122.230 MILLION OZ (1358 CONTRACTS PER DAY)
TOTAL EFP’S FOR THE MONTH SO FAR: 122.23 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: 122.23 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 1213 CONTRACTS WITH OUR GAIN IN PRICE OF SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX//MONDAY.,. THE CME NOTIFIED US THAT WE HAD A FAIR EFP ISSUANCE CONTRACTS: 300 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 45,000 OZ QUEUE JUMP
//NEW TOTAL STANDING RISES TO 27.480 MILLION OZ
WE HAVE A HUGE GAIN OF 1513 OI CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES WITH THE GAIN IN PRICE. THE TOTAL OF TAS INITIATED CONTRACTS TODAY: A STRONG SIZED 632 CONTRACTS//HUGE FRONT END OF THE TAS CONTRACTS WERE LIQUIDATED DURING THE MONDAY COMEX SESSION/// WITH MAJOR SHORT COVERING FROM OUR SPEC SHORTS
THE NEW TAS ISSUANCE MONDAY NIGHT (632) WILL BE PUT INTO “THE BANK” TO BE COLLUSIVELY USED AT A LATER DATE//PROBABLY TODAY., .
WE HAD 34 NOTICE(S) FILED TODAY FOR 170,000 OZ
THE SILVER COMEX IS NOW BEING ATTACKED FOR METAL BY LONDONERS ET AL.
GOLD//OUTLINE
IN GOLD, THE COMEX OPEN INTEREST FELL BY A STRONG SIZED 12,952 CONTRACTS TO 515,458 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 A HUGE 1580 CONTRACTS
WE HAD A STRONG SIZED DECREASE IN COMEX OI (12,952 CONTRACTS) WITH OUR $21.05 GAIN IN PRICE//MONDAY. 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 E.F.P. JUMP TO LONDON OF 2400 OZ.
NEW TOTAL Of INITIAL GOLD STANDING RISES TO: 19.9625 TONNES WITH THE ADDITION OF 1.1695 TONNES OF EX. FOR RISK // ALL OF THIS HAPPENED WITH OUR $21.05 GAIN IN PRICE WITH RESPECT TO MONDAY’S TRADING. WE HAD A SMALL SIZED LOSS OF 366 OI CONTRACTS (1.138 PAPER TONNES) ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES.
E.F.P. ISSUANCE
THE CME RELEASED THE DATA FOR EFP ISSUANCE AND IT TOTALED A VERY STRONG SIZED 12,586 CONTRACTS:
The NEW COMEX OI FOR THE GOLD COMPLEX RESTS AT 515,458
IN ESSENCE WE HAVE A SMALL SIZED DECREASE IN TOTAL CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 366 CONTRACTS WITH 12,952 CONTRACTS DECREASED AT THE COMEX// AND A STRONG SIZED 12,586 EFP OI CONTRACTS WHICH NAVIGATED OVER TO LONDON. THUS TOTAL OI LOSS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 366 CONTRACTS.. WE HAD THE FOLLOWING TAS CONTRACTS INITIATED (ISSUED): A FAIR SIZED 2414 CONTRACTS,
CALCULATIONS ON GAIN/LOSS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES
WE HAD A STRONG SIZED ISSUANCE IN EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS (12,586 CONTRACTS) ACCOMPANYING THE STRONG SIZED LOSS IN COMEX OI (12,952) //TOTAL GAIN FOR OUR THE TWO EXCHANGES: 1214 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 E.F.P. JUMP TO LONDON OF 0.0746 TONNES + 1.1695 TONNES OF EX. FOR RISK/NEW STANDING ADVANCES TO 19.9625 TONNES.
/ 3) ZERO LONG LIQUIDATION // 4) STRONG SIZED COMEX OPEN INTEREST LOSS/ 5) STRONG ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL PAPER///6: FAIR T.A.S. ISSUANCE: 2611 CONTRACTS/SHORT COVERING FOR SURE.
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: 104,973 CONTRACTS OR 10,497,300 OZ OR 326.51 TONNES IN 17 TRADING DAY(S) AND THUS AVERAGING: 5832 EFP CONTRACTS PER TRADING DAY
TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA AS TO THE SIZE OF THESE EFP TRANSFERS : THIS MONTH IN 18 TRADING DAY(S) IN TONNES 326.51 TONNES
TOTAL ANNUAL GOLD PRODUCTION, 2022, THROUGHOUT THE WORLD EX CHINA EX RUSSIA: 3555 TONNES
THUS EFP TRANSFERS REPRESENTS 326.51/3550 x 100% TONNES 9.18% OF GLOBAL ANNUAL PRODUCTION
ACCUMULATION OF GOLD EFP’S YEAR 2021 TO 2023
JANUARY/2021: 265.26 TONNES (RAPIDLY INCREASING AGAIN)
FEB : 171.24 TONNES ( DEFINITELY SLOWING DOWN AGAIN)..
MARCH:. 276.50 TONNES (STRONG AGAIN/
APRIL: 189..44 TONNES ( DRAMATICALLY SLOWING DOWN AGAIN//GOLD IN BACKWARDATION)
MAY: 250.15 TONNES (NOW DRAMATICALLY INCREASING AGAIN)
JUNE: 247.54 TONNES (FINAL)
JULY: 188.73 TONNES FINAL
AUGUST: 217.89 TONNES FINAL ISSUANCE.
SEPT 142.12 TONNES FINAL ISSUANCE ( LOW ISSUANCE)_
OCT: 141.13 TONNES FINAL ISSUANCE (LOW ISSUANCE)
NOV: 312.46 TONNES FINAL ISSUANCE//NEW RECORD!! (INCREASING DRAMATICALLY)//SIGN OF REAL STRESS//SURPASSING THE MARCH 2021 RECORD OF 276.50 TONNES OF EFP
DEC. 175.62 TONNES//FINAL ISSUANCE//
TOTALS: 2,578.08 TONNES/2021
JAN:2022 247.25 TONNES //FINAL
FEB: 196.04 TONNES//FINAL
MARCH/2022: 409.30 TONNES //FINAL( THIS IS NOW A RECORD EFP ISSUANCE FOR MARCH AND FOR ANY MONTH.
APRIL: 169.55 TONNES (FINAL VERY LOW ISSUANCE MONTH)
MAY: 247.44 TONNES FINAL//
JUNE: 238.13 TONNES FINAL
JULY: 378.43 TONNES FINAL
AUGUST: 180.81 TONNES FINAL
SEPT. 193.16 TONNES FINAL
OCT: 177.57 TONNES FINAL ( MUCH SMALLER THAN LAST MONTH)
NOV. 223.98 TONNES//FINAL ( MUCH LARGER THAN PREVIOUS MONTHS//comex running out of physical)
DEC: 185.59 tonnes // FINAL
TOTAL: 2,847,25 TONNES/2022
JAN 2023: 228.49 TONNES FINAL//HUGE AMOUNT OF EFP’S ISSUED THIS MONTH!!
FEB: 151.61 TONNES/FINAL
MARCH: 280.09 TONNES/INITIAL (ANOTHER STRONG MONTH FOR EFP ISSUANCE)
APRIL: 197.42 TONNES
MAY: 236.67 TONNES (A VERY STRONG ISSUANCE FOR THIS MONTH)
JUNE: 172.667 TONNES (WEAKER ISSUANCE THIS MONTH)
JULY: 151.69 TONNES (WEAKER THAN LAST MONTH)
AUGUST: 195.28 TONNES (A STRONGER MONTH)//FINAL
SEPT: 254.709 TONNES (WILL BE LARGER THAN LAST MONTH AND A STRONG MONTH)
OCT. 248.09 TONNES. LIKE SILVER, THIS MONTH IS GOING TO BE A STRONG E.F.P. ISSUANCE.
NOV. 239.16 TONNES//WILL BE STRONG THIS MONTH,
DEC. 213.704 TONNES. A STRONG MONTH//
TOTAL FOR YEAR 2023: 2,569.57 TONNES VS 2578 TONNES LAST YEAR
JAN ’24: 291.76 TONNES (WILL BE MUCH GREATER THAN LAST MONTH.//3RD HIGHEST EVER RECORDED EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL)
FEB’24: 201.947 TONNES
MARCH 2024: 326.51 TONNES//THIS IS GOING TO BE ONE HUMDINGER OF AN E,F,P. ISSUANCE.//2ND HIGHEST EVER RECORDED EFP.
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 1213 CONTRACTS OI TO 160,251 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 300 CONTRACTS
OUR CUSTOMARY MIGRATION OF COMEX LONGS CONTINUE TO MORPH INTO LONDON FORWARDS AS OUR BANKERS USED THEIR EMERGENCY PROCEDURE TO ISSUE:
MAY 300 and ALL OTHER MONTHS: ZERO. TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 300 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 1213 CONTRACTS AND ADD TO THE 300 E.FP. ISSUED
WE OBTAIN A STRONG SIZED GAIN OF OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES OF 1513 CONTRACTS
THUS IN OUNCES, THE GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES TOTAL 7.565 MILLION OZ
OCCURRED WITH OUR SMALL $.08 GAIN IN PRICE …..
END
OUTLINE FOR TODAY’S COMMENTARY
1a/COMEX GOLD AND SILVER REPORT
(report Harvey)
b, ) Gold/silver trading overnight Europe,//GOLD COMMENTARIES
(Peter Schiff)
c) Commentaries from: Egon von Greyerz///Matthew Piepenburg via GoldSwitzerland.com, Pam and Russ Martens
ii a) Chris Powell of GATA provides to us very important physical commentaries
b. Other gold/silver commentaries
c. Commodity commentaries//
d)/CRYPTOCURRENCIES/BITCOIN ETC
2.ASIAN AFFAIRS//
TUESDAY MORNING/MONDAY NIGHT
SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 5.18 PTS OR 0.17% //Hang Seng CLOSED UP 144.68 PTS OR 0.88% / Nikkei CLOSED DOWN 16.09 PTS OR 0.04% //Australia’s all ordinaries CLOSED DOWN 0.43% /Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed UP 7.2189 //OFFSHORE CHINESE YUAN CLOSED UP TO 7.2443 /Oil UP TO 82.04 dollars per barrel for WTI and BRENT UP AT 86.92/ Stocks in Europe OPENED MOSTLY ALL GREEN// ONSHORE YUAN TRADING ABOVE LEVEL OF OFFSHORE YUAN/ONSHORE YUAN TRADING STRONGER AGAINST US DOLLAR/OFFSHORE YUAN STRONGER
A)NORTH KOREA/SOUTH KOREA
outline
b) REPORT ON JAPAN/
OUTLINE
3 CHINA
OUTLINE
4/EUROPEAN AFFAIRS
OUTLINE
5. RUSSIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS
OUTLINE
6.Global Issues//COVID ISSUES/VACCINE ISSUES
OUTLINE
7. OIL ISSUES
OUTLINE
8 EMERGING MARKET ISSUES
9. USA
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1. COMEX DATA//AMOUNTS STANDING//VOLUME OF TRADING/INVENTORY MOVEMENTS
GOLD
LET US BEGIN:
THE TOTAL COMEX GOLD OPEN INTEREST FELL BY A STRONG 12,952 CONTRACTS TO 515,458 DESPITE OUR HUGE GAIN IN PRICE OF $17.05 WITH RESPECT TO MONDAY TRADING. WE HAD HUGE SPREADER LIQUIDATION TODAY.
EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE
WE ARE NOW IN THE NON ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF MARCH..… THE CME REPORTS THAT THE BANKERS ISSUED A STRONG SIZED TRANSFER THROUGH THE EFP ROUTE AS THESE LONGS RECEIVED A DELIVERABLE LONDON FORWARD TOGETHER WITH A FIAT BONUS.,
THAT IS 12,586 EFP CONTRACTS WERE ISSUED: : APRIL 12,586 & ZERO FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS:
TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 12,586 CONTRACTS
ON A NET BASIS IN OPEN INTEREST WE LOST THE FOLLOWING TODAY ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES: A SMALL SIZED TOTAL OF 366 CONTRACTS IN THAT 12,586 LONGS WERE TRANSFERRED AS EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS TO LONDON AND WE HAD A STRONG SIZED LOSS OF 12,952 COMEX CONTRACTS..AND THIS LOSS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES HAPPENED WITH OUR HUGE GAIN IN PRICE OF $21.05 MONDAY 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 MONDAY NIGHT WAS A FAIR SIZED 2411 CONTRACTS. WE ALSO HAD A RARE EX FOR RISK ISSUANCE OF 376 CONTRACTS OR 37600 OZ OR 1.1695. THIS IS A DELIVERY WHEREBY THE BUYER ASSUMES THE RISK THAT THE SELLER WILL SUPPLY THE GOLD CONTRACT TO THEM. I WILL ADD THE EX. FOR RISK TO THE DELIVERY TOTALS.
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 (19.9625 TONNES) ( NON ACTIVE MONTH)
HERE ARE THE AMOUNTS THAT STOOD FOR DELIVERY IN THE PRECEDING 24 MONTHS OF 2021-2023:
DEC 2021: 112.217 TONNES
NOV. 8.074 TONNES
OCT. 57.707 TONNES
SEPT: 11.9160 TONNES
AUGUST: 80.489 TONNES
JULY: 7.2814 TONNES
JUNE: 72.289 TONNES
MAY 5.77 TONNES
APRIL 95.331 TONNES
MARCH 30.205 TONNES
FEB ’21. 113.424 TONNES
JAN ’21: 6.500 TONNES.
TOTAL YEAR 2021 (JAN- DEC): 601.213 TONNES
YEAR 2022:
JANUARY 2022 17.79 TONNES
FEB 2022: 59.023 TONNES
MARCH: 36.678 TONNES
APRIL: 85.340 TONNES FINAL.
MAY: 20.11 TONNES FINAL
JUNE: 74.933 TONNES FINAL
JULY 29.987 TONNES FINAL
AUGUST:104.979 TONNES//FINAL
SEPT. 38.1158 TONNES
OCT: 77.390 TONNES/ FINAL
NOV 27.110 TONNES/FINAL
Dec. 64.000 tonnes
(TOTAL YEAR 656.076 TONNES)
2023:
JAN/2023: 20.559 tonnes
FEB 2023: 47.744 tonnes
MAR: 19.0637 TONNES
APRIL: 75.676 tonnes
MAY: 19.094 TONNES + 1.244 tonnes of exchange for risk = 20.338
JUNE: 64.354 TONNES
JULY: 10.2861 TONNES
AUGUST: 38.855 TONNES(INCLUDING .6842 EXCHANGE FOR RISK)
SEPT: 15.281 TONNES FINAL
OCT. 35.869 TONNES + 1.665 EXCHANGE FOR RISK =37.0355 tonnes
NOV: 18.7122 TONNES + 16.2505 EX. FOR RISK = 34.9627 TONNES
DEC. 47.073 + 4.634 TONNES OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK = 51.707 TONNES
TOTAL 2023 YEAR : 436.546 TONNES
JAN ’24. 22.706 TONNES
FEB. ’24: 66.276 TONNES (INCLUDES 1.723 TONNES EX. FOR RISK)
MARCH: 18.793 TONNES + 1.1695 EX FOR RISK = 19.9625
THE SPECS/HFT WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN LOWERING GOLD’S PRICE( IT ROSE $21.05 //// AND WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING ANY SPECULATOR LONGS AS WE HAD A FAIR SIZED GAIN OF 1214 TOTAL CONTRACTS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES WITH OUR HIGHER PRICE 0F $21.05
WE HAD A HUGE T.A.S. LIQUIDATION ON THE FRONT END OF MONDAY’S TRADING ALONG WITH SPREADER LIQUIDATION . THE T.A.S. ISSUED ON MONDAY 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
WE HAVE LOST A TOTAL OI OF 1;1138 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 2400 OZ e.f.p. JUMP TO LONDON PLUS THE FIRST THIS MONTH OF AN ISSUANCE OF 376 CONTRACTS //EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL FOR 37600 OZ OR 1.11695 TONNES.//NEW STANDING INCREASES TO 18.793 TONNES + 1.1695 TONNES = 19.9625
ALL OF THIS WAS ACCOMPLISHED DESPITE OUR GAIN IN PRICE TO THE TUNE OF $21.05
WE HAD REMOVED 1580 CONTRACTS TO THE COMEX TRADES TO OPEN INTEREST (CROOKS)
NET LOSS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES 366 CONTRACTS OR 366 OZ OR 36600 OZ.
estimated volume today 399,433 //huge
final gold volumes/yesterday 342,960 very good
//speculators have left the gold arena
MARCH 26/ INITIAL MARCH GOLD
/ /// THE MARCH 2024 GOLD CONTRACT
| Gold | Ounces |
| Withdrawals from Dealers Inventory in oz | nil |
| Withdrawals from Customer Inventory in oz | nil oz . |
| Deposit to the Dealer Inventory in oz | nil oz |
| Deposits to the Customer Inventory, in oz | nil oz |
| No of oz served (contracts) today | 21 notice(s) 2100 OZ 0.0653 TONNES |
| No of oz to be served (notices) | 676 contracts 67600 oz 2.1026 TONNES |
| Total monthly oz gold served (contracts) so far this month | 5366 notices 536,600 oz 16.69 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: 0
total customer withdrawal: nil oz
we had 0 customer deposit
total deposit 0 oz
Adjustments: 0
CALCULATIONS FOR THE AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING FOR MAR.
For the front month of MARCH we have an oi of 697 contracts having LOST 39 contracts. We had 15 contracts filed upon on Monday, so we lost 24 contracts or an additional 2400 oz of gold(0.0746 tonnes) will not stand at the comex in this non active delivery month of March as they were EFP’d over to London, taking delivery on that side of the pond. We also had a rare 376 issuance of exchange for risk for 37600 oz. This is a delivery whereby the buyer assumes the risk of delivery from the seller.
APRIL LOST 44,900 CONTRACTS FALLING TO 80,935. We have 2 more reading days before first day notice March 28.2024. NO TRADING ON GOOD FRIDAY MARCH 29
MAY GAINED 53 CONTRACTS TO STAND AT 1006
JUNE INCREASED ITS OI BY 32,109 CONTRACTS UP TO 368,191 CONTRACTS.
We had 21 contracts filed for today representing 2100 oz
Today, 0 notice(s) were issued from J.P.Morgan dealer account and 0 notices were issued from their client or customer account. The total of all issuance by all participants equate to 21 contract(s) of which 0 notices were stopped (received) by j.P. Morgan dealer and 18 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 (5366 x 100 oz ), to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of MARCH. (697 CONTRACTS) minus the number of notices served upon today 21 x 100 oz per contract equals 604,200 OZ OR 18.793 TONNES, to which we add our new 1.1695 exchange for risk = 19.9625 tonnes
thus the INITIAL standings for gold for the MARCH. contract month: No of notices filed so far (5366) x 100 oz + (xxx) {OI for the front month} minus the number of notices served upon today (21) x 100 oz which equals 604,200 oz (18.793 TONNES) + 1.1695 ex for risk = 19.9625
TOTAL COMEX GOLD STANDING FOR MARCH: 19.9625 TONNES WHICH IS HUGE FOR A NON ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH IN THE CALENDAR.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
COMEX GOLD INVENTORIES/CLASSIFICATION
NEW PLEDGED GOLD:
241,794.285 oz NOW PLEDGED /HSBC 5.94 TONNES
204,937.290 PLEDGED MANFRA 3.08 TONNES
83,657.582 PLEDGED JPMorgan no 1 1.690 tonnes
265,999.054, oz JPM No 2
1,152,376.639 oz pledged Brinks/
Manfra: 33,758.550 oz
Delaware: 193.721 oz
International Delaware:: 11,188.542 oz
total pledged gold: 1,333,165.842 41,40 tonnes
TOTAL OF ALL GOLD ELIGIBLE AND REGISTERED GOLD: 17,653,625.809 OZ
TOTAL REGISTERED GOLD 7,736,318.775 (240.63 tonnes).
TOTAL OF ALL ELIGIBLE GOLD: 9,917,307.034 OZ
REGISTERED GOLD THAT CAN BE SERVED UPON: 6,403,153 oz (REG GOLD- PLEDGED GOLD) 199.16 tonnes/dropping like a stone
END
SILVER/COMEX
MARCH 26
INITIAL
//2024// THE MARCH 2024 SILVER CONTRACT//INITIAL
| Silver | Ounces |
| Withdrawals from Dealers Inventory | NIL oz |
| Withdrawals from Customer Inventory | 244,272.880 oz Brinks Delaware . |
| Deposits to the Dealer Inventory | nil OZ |
| Deposits to the Customer Inventory | 2,836,080.449 OZ Brinks CNT Int D. Manfra |
| No of oz served today (contracts) | 34 CONTRACT(S) (170,000 OZ) |
| No of oz to be served (notices) | 30 contracts (150,000 oz) |
| Total monthly oz silver served (contracts) | 5466 Contracts (27,330,000 oz) |
| Total accumulative withdrawal of silver from the Dealers inventory this month | NIL oz |
| Total accumulative withdrawal of silver from the Customer inventory this month |
i) 0 dealer deposit
total dealer deposit :nil oz
i) We had 0 dealer withdrawal
total dealer withdrawals: 0 oz
We had 3 deposits customer account:
i) Into ASAHI: 1,188,907.500 oz
ii) Into HSBC: 597,665.351 oz
iii) Into Loomis 579,113.810 oz
total customer deposits 2,365,686.661 oz
JPMorgan has a total silver weight: 129.806 million oz/287.162 million or 45.26%
adjustment: 4/dealer to customer
a) Brinks 24,977.200 oz
b) CNT 1622,730.500 oz
c) Int. D. 88,338.680 oz
d) Manfra: 1,100,034.069 oz
total adjusted 2.836 million oz leaving dealer to customer
Comex withdrawals: 2
i) Out of Brinks 233,326.531 oz
ii) Out of Delaware: 10,946.350 oz
total withdrawal: 244,272.880 oz
TOTAL REGISTERED SILVER: 45.829MILLION OZ//.TOTAL REG + ELIGIBLE. 287.162million oz
CALCULATIONS FOR THE NEW STANDING FOR SILVER FOR DECEMBER:
silver open interest data:
FRONT MONTH OF MARCH /2023 OI: 64 CONTRACTS HAVING LOST 1 CONTRACT(S).
WE HAD 10 NOTICES FILED ON MONDAY SO GAINED 9 CONTRACTS OR AN ADDITIONAL 45,000 OZ WILL STAND AT THE COMEX
APRIL SAW A LOSS OF 63 CONTRACTS TO STAND AT 886
MAY SAW A GAIN OF 134 CONTRACTS UP TO 120,171
TOTAL NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR TODAY: 34 for 170,000 oz
Comex volumes// est. volume today 71,990 excellent
Comex volume: confirmed yesterday 43,402 poor.
To calculate the number of silver ounces that will stand for delivery in MARCH. we take the total number of notices filed for the month so far at 5466 x 5,000 oz = 27,330,000 oz
to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of MARCH. (64) and the number of notices served upon today 34 x (5000 oz) equals the number of ounces standing.
Thus the standings for silver for the MARCH/2024 contract month: 5466 (notices served so far) x 5000 oz + OI for the front month of MARCH. (x64) – number of notices served upon today (34 )x 500 oz of silver standing for the MARCH contract month equates to 27.480 MILLION OZ.
New total standing: 27.480 million oz.
There are 48.898 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 26 WITH GOLD UP $1.40 TODAY; NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD INVENTORY RISES TO 835.33 TONNES
MARCH 25 WITH GOLD UP $17.05 TODAY; NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD INVENTORY RISES TO 838.50 TONNES
MARCH 22 WITH GOLD DOWN $23.75 TODAY; NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD INVENTORY RISES TO 838.50 TONNES
MARCH 21 WITH GOLD UP $24.80 TODAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD A STRONG PAPER DEPOSIT OF 1.15 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD/:INVENTORY RISES TO 838.50 TONNES
MARCH 20 WITH GOLD UP $1.45 TODAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD A STRONG PAPER DEPOSIT OF 1.48 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD/:INVENTORY RISES TO 837.35 TONNES
MARCH 19 WITH GOLD DOWN $4.10 TODAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD A STRONG PAPER DEPOSIT OF 1.48 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD/:INVENTORY RISES TO 833.32 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: 835.33 TONNES
Now the SLV Inventory/( vehicle is a fraud as there is no physical metal behind them
MARCH 26/WITH SILVER DOWN 24 CENTS TODAY: SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A A DEPOSIT OF 0.366 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV: SLV INVENTORY RESTS AT 421.388 MILLION OZ
MARCH 25/WITH SILVER UP 8 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A HUGE WITHDRAWAL OF 3.887 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV: SLV INVENTORY RESTS AT 421.022 MILLION OZ
MARCH 22/WITH SILVER DOWN 9 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A HUGE DEPOSIT OF 1.1899 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV: SLV INVENTORY RESTS AT 424.909 MILLION OZ
MARCH 21/WITH SILVER DOWN 8 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A HUGE WITHDRAWAL OF 3.560 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV: SLV INVENTORY RESTS AT 423.720 MILLION OZ
MARCH 20/WITH SILVER DOWN 5 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A HUGE DEPOSIT OF 11.792 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV: SLV INVENTORY RESTS AT 427.280 MILLION OZ
MARCH 18/WITH SILVER DOWN 11 CENTS TODAY: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A HUGE DEPOSIT OF 11.792 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV: SLV INVENTORY RESTS AT 427.280 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 421.388 MILLION OZ//
PHYSICAL GOLD/SILVER COMMENTARIES
1:Peter Schiff/Mike Maharrey
2.Commentaries from: Egon von Greyerz///Matthew Piepenburg via GoldSwitzerland.com, Pam and Russ Martens/
Almost 10,000 U.S. Banks Have Disappeared Since 1985, Leaving 4 Mega Banks Controlling 39 Percent of Bank Assets
By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: March 26, 2024
According to Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) data, there were 14,417 federally-insured banking institutions in the U.S. in 1985. As of December 31, 2023, the FDIC reports there are only 4,587 remaining. The vast majority of the 9,830 banks that have disappeared since 1985 did not fail – they were merged with other banks.
Today, just four banks control $9.3 trillion in consolidated bank assets or 39 percent of all bank assets. Those four banks are JPMorgan Chase with $3.395 trillion in consolidated assets; Bank of America with $2.540 trillion; Wells Fargo with $1.7 trillion; and Citigroup’s Citibank with $1.685 trillion. (All asset figures are as of December 31, 2023 and come from the Federal Reserve’s statistical release of the largest banks.)
The political clout of these mega banks is such that one of them, JPMorgan Chase, has been allowed to commit a string of felonies and audacious crimes since 2011; get deferred-prosecution agreements and non-prosecution agreements from the Justice Department; assist the notorious sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein for a decade with the hard cash needed to keep himself and his pals supplied with underage girls; and still keep the same Chairman and CEO, Jamie Dimon, at the helm of the bank.
And what is Dimon up to these days, he’s leading the charge by the mega banks to stop the banks’ federal regulators from imposing higher capital standards on the largest banks with the largest trading and derivative operations to prevent a replay of their crashing the U.S. economy in 2008.
How did the American people allow their banking system to become so corrupted by powerful interests? You can thank former President Bill Clinton and the Wall Street sycophants that packed his administration.
President Bill Clinton Laughs It Up as He Signs the Repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, November 12, 1999
The Glass-Steagall Act had kept the U.S. banking system safe for 66 years until it was repealed by President Bill Clinton in 1999, allowing the dangerous activities of Wall Street’s trading firms to merge with federally-insured, deposit-taking banks. This was the backdrop for the Wall Street collapse in 2008, which cost millions of Americans their jobs and put millions of families into foreclosure on their homes.
Then there was the Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act of 1994, which Bill Clinton signed into law less than two years after taking office. The Riegle-Neal legislation allowed bank holding companies to acquire banks anywhere in the nation and invalidated the laws of 36 states which had allowed interstate banking only on a reciprocal or regional basis.
Law Professor Art Wilmarth writes as follows in the seminal work on U.S. banking history, Taming the Megabanks: Why We Need a New Glass-Steagall Act:
“The Riegle-Neal Act accelerated the wave of consolidation that was already sweeping through the banking industry. Bank regulators and the Department of Justice encouraged that consolidation trend by applying very lenient antitrust review standards to bank mergers. Seventy-four megamergers—in which the acquiring and acquired banks each held more than $10 billion of assets—occurred between 1990 and 2005. During the same period, the ten largest U.S. banks increased their share of U.S. banking assets from 25% to 55%. The three largest U.S. banking organizations in 2007— Citigroup, BofA, and JPMC—each owned more than $1.5 trillion of assets at the end of 2007. Wachovia, the fourth-largest bank, had almost $800 billion of assets at the end of 2007. As the largest banks exploded in size, they also acquired unprecedented political clout.”
But the Clinton administration was not finished deforming the U.S. banking system. The Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 was also signed into law by Bill Clinton. It allowed trillions of dollars of OTC derivatives on Wall Street to escape regulation, greasing the skids for the 2008 financial collapse. (See our recent February article: Five Wall Street Banks Hold $223 Trillion in Derivatives — 83 Percent of All Derivatives at 4,600 Banks.)
By allowing these mega banks to gobble up banks all over the country and stick their logo on thousands of insured-deposit branches across America, Bill Clinton effectively created too-big-to-fail. And because these same handful of banks are dangerously interconnected as counterparties to trillions of dollars in opaque derivatives, when the stock market sinks their share prices sink in tandem, raising very legitimate concerns of another banking contagion similar to 2008 and 1929.
America got a small taste of how fast bank contagion can spread in the spring of last year when the second, third and fourth largest bank failures in U.S. history occurred over the span of seven weeks. Once again, the Federal Reserve had to rush in with more bailout money for wobbly banks. (See Former New York Fed Pres Bill Dudley Calls This the First Banking Crisis Since 2008; Charts Show It’s the Third.)
If you agree with Wall Street On Parade that the current banking structure in the U.S. represents a threat to national security and economic stability, please contact your U.S. Senators today via the U.S. Capitol switchboard by dialing (202) 224-3121. Tell your Senators to hold immediate hearings on the Fed’s non-stop bailouts of the banking sector and demand the restoration of the Glass-Steagall Act to separate Wall Street’s trading casinos from federally- insured commercial banks.
3. CHRIS POWELL//GATA
More and more states are trying to repeal the sales taxes on gold and silver
(zerohedge)
Grassroots efforts secure another repeal of gold and silver sales taxes
Submitted by admin on Mon, 2024-03-25 22:54 Section: Daily Dispatches
By Mike Maharrey
Sound Money Defense League
Money Metals News Service, Eagle, Idaho
Sunday, March 24, 2024
Major sound money battles in the states have been heating up — with important bills moving forward right now in Kentucky, New Jersey, Idaho, Nebraska, and Iowa, among others.
Adding to a long list of Money Metals’ legislative victories, last week Utah became the fourth state to embrace the idea of holding gold as a reserve asset, and Wisconsin became the 44th state to repeal sales taxes on gold and silver.
end
this is extremely important view: in case you missed this
Andrew Maguire/live from vault 165
Central banks and their agents use ETFs to rig gold and silver, Maguire says
Submitted by admin on Sat, 2024-03-23 12:52 Section: Daily Dispatches
12:50p ET Saturday, March 23, 2024
Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:
In this week’s “Live from the Vault” program from Kinesis Money, London metals trader Andrew Maguire says demand for physical silver is propelling the metal’s price just as demand for physical has been doing for gold. He adds that central banks and their bullion bank agents are using the major gold and silver exchange-traded funds for price suppression.
The program is 42 minutes long and can be viewed at YouTube here:
CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
CPowell@GATA.org
end
Conservative state approves putting state money into gold and silver
MMN
Utah approves putting state money into gold and silver to protect state reserve funds
Submitted by admin on Fri, 2024-03-22 20:26 Section: Daily Dispatches
From Money Metals News Service
Money Metals Exchange, Eagle, Idaho
Friday, March 22, 2024
Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed on Thursday legislation empowering the state treasurer to secure state funds with a significant allocation to physical gold and silver.
Sponsored by state Rep. Ken Ivory, House Bill 348 permits the treasurer to hold up to 10% of certain state reserve accounts in precious metals to help secure state assets against the risks of inflation and financial turmoil and/or to achieve capital gains as measured in Federal Reserve Notes.
4. OTHER MAJOR GOLD COMMENTARIES/PODCASTS/
5 a. IMPORTANT COMMENTARIES ON COMMODITIES//COCOA
Cocoa Hyperinflation Strikes Before Easter, Prices Surge To New Record High
TUESDAY, MAR 26, 2024 – 07:55 AM
As the Easter holiday weekend nears, Cocoa futures soared to new record highs on Tuesday as the worsening supply crunch forces chocolate makers to hunt for beans.
Futures in New York jumped as high as $10,047 per ton, or about 4.1% on the session. This is the fifth straight day of gains and about a 150% surge since the start of the year.
Fueling this week’s gains is news about funding challenges in Ghana, the world’s second-largest grower.
“The country is set to lose access to a key funding facility as a crisis in its cocoa crop has left it without enough beans to secure the money. The Ghana Cocoa Board, the industry regulator known as Cocobod, relies on foreign financing to pay cocoa farmers for their beans,” Bloomberg reports.
The cocoa market has already been reeling from poor harvests due to bad weather and crop disease across West Africa, the world’s top cocoa-growing region.
Further insights into the cocoa crisis provided by Bloomberg’s Javier Blas on X:
Cocoa’s price surge will result in higher chocolate costs for consumers. The first noticeable price jump will be chocolate eggs for this weekend’s Easter holiday.
And chocolate inflation is only going to get worse from here:
“Chocolate may be even more expensive in Easter 2025, if cocoa-tree diseases and inclement weather prolong the deficit amid high sugar prices,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Diana Gomes said in a note on Friday.
Bad news for those of us with a sweet tooth…
It’s only a matter of time before Biden’s PR team of woke college grads blames Putin for candyflation.
5 B GLOBAL COMMODITY ISSUES/FOOD IN GENERAL//FREIGHT
END
6.CRYPTOCURRENCY//DIGITAL CURRENCY// COMMENTARIES/
END
1.YOUR EARLY CURRENCY VALUES/GOLD AND SILVER PRICING/ASIAN AND EUROPEAN BOURSE MOVEMENTS/AND INTEREST RATE SETTINGS TUESDAY MORNING.7:30 AM
ONSHORE YUAN: CLOSED UP 7.2189
OFFSHORE YUAN: DOWN TO 7.2443
SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 5.18 PPTS OR 0.17%
HANG SENG CLOSED UP 144.68 PTS OR 0.88%
2. Nikkei closed DOWN 16.09 OR 0.04%
3. Europe stocks SO FAR: MOSTLY ALL GREEN
USA dollar INDEX DOWN TO 103.78 EURO RISES TO 1.0856 UP 19 BASIS PTS
3b Japan 10 YR bond yield: RISES TO. +.732 Japan buying 100% of bond issuance)/Japanese YEN vs USA cross now at 151.30/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 UP CHINESE ONSHORE YUAN: UP/ OFFSHORE: UP
3f Japan is to buy INFINITE TRILLION YEN worth of BONDS. Japan’s GDP equals 5 trillion USA
Japan to buy 100% of all new Japanese debt and NOW they will have OVER 50% of all Japanese debt.
3g Oil UP for WTI and UP FOR Brent this morning
3h European bond buying continues to push yields lower on all fronts in the EMU. German 10yr bund YIELD DOWN TO +2.3415***/Italian 10 Yr bond yield DOWN to 3.633* /SPAIN 10 YR BOND YIELD DOWN TO 3.162…**
3i Greek 10 year bond yield UP TO 3.253
3j Gold at $2195.90 silver at: 24.77 1 am est) SILVER NEXT RESISTANCE LEVEL AT $30.00
3k USA vs Russian rouble;// Russian rouble UP 0 AND 6 /100 roubles/dollar; ROUBLE AT 92.52//
3m oil into the 82 dollar handle for WTI and 86 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 151.30// 10 YEAR YIELD AFTER FIRST BREAKING .54% LAST YEAR NOW EXCEEDS THAT LEVEL TO 0.732% 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 0.9012 as the Swiss Franc is still rising against most currencies. Euro vs SF: 0.9782 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: 4.237 DOWN 1 BASIS PTS…
USA 30 YR BOND YIELD: 4.398 DOWN 3 BASIS PTS/
USA 2 YR BOND YIELD: 4.593 UP 1 BASIS PTS
USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 32.16…(TURKEY SET TO BLOW UP FINANCIALLY)
GREAT BRITAIN/10 YEAR YIELD: DOWN 2 BASIS PTS AT 3.98909
end
2.a Overnight: Newsquawk and Zero hedge,,,
US Futures Rebound Ahead Of Busy Data Calendar As New Record High Looms
TUESDAY, MAR 26, 2024 – 08:19 AM
It’s as if Monday’s modest dip never happened: S&P futures are trading are higher, surpassing Monday’s highs, with both Tech and small-caps outperforming, as investors keep a close eye on any potential market impact from the collapse of a major commuter bridge in Baltimore after it was rammed by a container ship. As of 8:00am ET, S&P futures were 0.4% higher, erasing Monday’s 0.3% drop, while Nasdaq futures gained 0.5%. Europe’s Estoxx 50 is similar, trading at multiyear high with utilities and financials outperforming. According to a JPM morning note, it is unclear if yesterday’s moves were tied to month-end/quarter-end rebalancing but generally those flows occur before the last day of the period. USD weakness continues as the yen just refused to drop no matter what; commodity performance is mixed with gold approaching ATHs and oil trading at a 5 month high. Today’s macro data calendar is busy with focus on Durable/Cap Goods, Home price indices, Consumer Confidence, and regional activity indicators (Dallas, Philly, and Richmond); we also get a $67BN 5Y bond auction; let’s see if it goes as smoothly as yesterday’s 2Y auction.
In premarket trading, both Mag 7 and Semis are higher (as usual) with TSLA +3.2%. USD weakness continues but commodity performance is mixed with gold approaching ATHs. Shares of Donald Trump’s social media startup surged around 20% in premarket trading after it completed a merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp. Tesla climbed 3%, set to extend gains for a second consecutive session. Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore reports that officials at the country’s Industry Ministry contacted the company about potential production of electric trucks. Here are some other notable premarket movers:
- Dada Nexus ADRs fall 9% after the delivery company reported an unexpected 4Q net loss.
- Krispy Kreme jumps 15% after announcing that its doughnuts would be sold at McDonald’s restaurants across the US.
- Reddit rises 5%, putting the stock on track to extend gains for a second day after the social media company rallied 30% on Monday.
- Seagate climbs 4% as Morgan Stanley raises its recommendation on the computer hardware and storage company to overweight, predicting a period of “structurally stronger gross margins.”
- Stoke Therapeutics soars 90% after the company said data from studies on its STK-001 treatment in Dravet syndrome showed clinically meaningful effects in seizure reduction.
- Trump Media & Technology Group Corp gains 11% after completing a merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp.
As Bloomberg notes, concern about a disconnect between earnings expectations and share prices has grown this week. US durable goods and consumer confidence data are due today ahead of the government’s closely followed personal consumption expenditures price index on Friday when many markets will be closed for Easter holidays. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is also due to speak the same day.
For Vincent Juvyns, global market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management, better visibility on the economy means that that focus is turning back to earnings going into the second quarter. “Markets are expensive, not too expensive, but it would be dangerous to bet on further upside without earnings driving it,” he said.
As has been the case for the past 18 months, bearish Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan strategists – Michael Wilson and Marko Kolanovic – were the latest to warn that lofty valuations will be hard to justify if they’re not accompanied by an acceleration in company profits. Or, as we said in Jan 2023, the rally won’t end until they finally throw in the towel and turn bullish. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 is up almost 10% this year on a combination of healthy US economic data, Fed rate-cut wagers and optimism about artificial intelligence.
Meanwhile, the Financial Times cited Chief Investment Officer Andrew Balls as saying Pimco is holding a smaller-than-usual position in US Treasuries and prefers the bonds of countries such as the UK and Canada. Pimco believes inflationary pressures may lead the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates more slowly than other major central banks, according to the report.
European stocks also rose, with Stoxx 600 gaining 0.4%, even as miners slumped after iron ore futures tumbled over deepening anxiety regarding Chinese demand. Consumer products and services also underperformed, while the travel and leisure and banking sectors lead the regional index. Among individual stock moves in Europe, A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S fell after the shipping giant said that it chartered a container vessel that hit the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on Tuesday. Ocado Group Plc rose after sales at its online grocery business got a boost from price cuts, while BNP Paribas SA gained after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. upgraded the French bank to a buy rating thanks to a better operating backdrop. Here are the most notable European movers:
- BNP Paribas jumps as much as 2.4% after Goldman upgrades the lender to buy from neutral, saying operating backdrop should improve over the coming years
- Rubis gains as much as 4.2% after Oddo upgrades its recommendation on the energy company to outperform after a “surprise” stake purchase by Bollore
- Santander rises as much as 1.4% after a Barclays upgrade to overweight on discounted valuation and most favorable EPS progression into 2025
- Flutter rises as much as 4% as the casino operator’s strong year-to-date US trading and 2024 guidance impress analysts, while its 2023 results were in line
- Lonza rises as much as 1.1% after Mirabaud Securities raised its recommendation to buy, saying a facility acquisition should enable it to meet 2028 margin guidance
- Defense stocks extend Monday’s gains as JPMorgan says it sees potential for the sector to re-rate further as the region’s rearmament cycle continues
- Asos jumps as much as 5.6% after the online retailer’s trading update showed progress on reducing inventory. Berenberg says Asos is delivering on its strategy
- RAI Way rises to as much as 6.4% after a report that the Italian government may approve a decree to allow state TV operator Rai to drop below a 30% stake
- Mobico drops as much as 6.7% after RBC lowers its rating to sector perform, snapping the stock’s clean sweep of positive analyst ratings
- Atos falls as much as 10% after it reported entering a conciliation procedure that will give it time to reach a debt restructuring deal with banks and creditors
- Auto Trader falls as much as 5.5% as JPMorgan places the digital marketplace for vehicles on negative catalyst watch, citing “further legs” to a recent underperformance
- Baloise falls as much as 2.4% after the Swiss insurer reported a miss on full-year net profit due to weakness in its life insurance business
Earlier in the session, Asian stocks were mixed, as Korean stocks rallied and Hong Kong equities erased earlier gains, with the regional benchmark poised for a second quarterly advance. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index was little changed, erasing a gain of as much as 0.5%. South Korea’s Kospi headed for its highest close in almost two years as foreign investors bought local chip stocks following US memory maker Micron’s surge.
Stocks in Hong Kong and mainland China erased earlier gains. Elsewhere, Japanese equities fluctuated as the weak yen supported exporters but prompted warnings from officials. Australian and New Zealand stocks declined. Australia’s ASX 200 declined as tech losses clouded over the outperformance in the energy sector, while weaker Consumer Confidence added to the glum mood.
In FX, a gauge of the dollar fell for the second straight session and front-end Treasuries rose ahead of a string of US economic data. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index dropped 0.1%, while front-end Treasuries rose; two-year yields dropped 4bps to 4.59%
- GBP/USD rose as much as 0.2% to 1.2664, after the BOE’s Mann said markets are pricing in “too many cuts” for this year; Traders are betting the Bank of England will likely start rate cuts before the Fed or ECB
- USD/CNY rose as much as 0.1% to 7.2203, as China’s central bank boosted its support for the currency by the most since January; New Zealand dollar, Swedish krona and Australian dollar led G-10 gains on bolstered risk sentiment
- EUR/USD ticked up as much as 0.2% to 1.0856 on the back of broad dollar weakness; ECB’s Muller said by June there might be “enough confidence” to start easing policy and hedge funds are betting the euro will weaken, according to options pricing
- USD/JPY was flat at 151.35 after Japan’s Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said Tuesday the government will take appropriate steps against excessive currency moves, without ruling out any measures. Dollar-yen is likely to stay above 150, according to Mitul Kotecha, head of foreign exchange and emerging market macro strategy Asia at Barclays Bank Plc in Singapore. “Intervention will really depend on when we get through big levels,” he said on Bloomberg Television. “You’d imagine that once we start breaking through big levels such as 155 or 160, for instance, you’d see more of an aggressive stance from the Japanese authorities.”
- The offshore yuan strengthened for a second day after China’s central bank reinforced its support for the currency.
In rates, treasuries were richer by up to 2bp across long-end of the curve, led by bigger gains in gilts as traders look past comments from BOE’s Mann who said markets are pricing in too many interest-rate cuts this year. 10-year TSY yields are richer by around 1.8bp on the day at 4.23% with gilts outperforming by 3bp in the sector; long-end outperforms slightly over the session, with 5s30s near lows of the day and flatter by 1bp vs Monday’s close. The US session has packed data slate headed by durable goods orders and consumer confidence. Auction cycle continues with $67 billion 5-year note sale. The holiday-accelerated auction cycle resumes with $67b 5-year note sale at 1pm, follows 0.5bp tail for 2-year sale on Monday. This week’s sales conclude with $43b 7-year Wednesday
In commodities, oil was little changed after the biggest gain in a week, with OPEC+ set to affirm its policy of production cuts amid tensions in the Middle East and Russia. Gold hovered near a record high.
Bitcoin holds above $71k, with Ethereum now back above $3.5k. On Monday, spot bitcoin ETFs registered inflows totalling USD 15.4mln on Monday, ending a five-day run of outflows.
Looking at today’s calendar, the US economic schedule includes March Philadelphia Fed non-manufacturing activity and February durable goods orders (8:30am), January FHFA house price index, S&P CoreLogic home prices (9am), March consumer confidence and Richmond Fed manufacturing index (10am) and March Dallas Fed services activity (10:30am); no Fed speakers scheduled.
Market Snapshot
- S&P 500 futures up 0.2% to 5,290.50
- STOXX Europe 600 down 0.2% to 509.03
- MXAP up 0.3% to 176.92
- MXAPJ up 0.3% to 535.99
- Nikkei little changed at 40,398.03
- Topix up 0.1% to 2,780.80
- Hang Seng Index up 0.9% to 16,618.32
- Shanghai Composite up 0.2% to 3,031.48
- Sensex down 0.3% to 72,584.51
- Australia S&P/ASX 200 down 0.4% to 7,780.23
- Kospi up 0.7% to 2,757.09
- German 10Y yield little changed at 2.37%
- Euro up 0.1% to $1.0849
- Brent Futures down 0.1% to $86.64/bbl
- Gold spot up 0.3% to $2,178.34
- US Dollar Index little changed at 104.14
Top Overnight News
- Japan’s BOJ isn’t as dovish as markets think as the central bank adopts a “data dependent” outlook rather than one that’s committed to sustaining policy accommodation regardless of economic conditions. RTRS
- China’s central bank reinforced its support for the under-pressure yuan by strengthening its daily reference rate for the managed currency by the most since January. BBG
- Some US executives in Beijing for a business summit are rejigging their schedules after being invited to meet tomorrow with a top Chinese leader – widely expected to be Xi Jinping. Tim Cook described China as “vibrant and so dynamic,” and pledged fresh investment in applied research. BBG
- The US faces a Liz Truss-style market shock if the government ignores the country’s ballooning federal debt, the head of Congress’s independent fiscal watchdog has warned. Phillip Swagel, director of the Congressional Budget Office, said the mounting US fiscal burden was on an “unprecedented” trajectory, risking a crisis of the kind that sparked a run on the pound and the collapse of Truss’s government in the UK in 2022. FT
- US gas prices are set to hit the highest level in two years just ahead of the summer driving season, creating a fresh headwind for the consumer. BBG
- The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore collapsed after a container vessel rammed into it early Tuesday, sending vehicles plunging into the water. The disaster will probably cause chaos, both for shipping at one of the busiest ports on the US East Coast and on the roads. Rescuers are searching for at least seven people believed to be in the water. BBG
- The world faces a looming “retirement crisis” that requires a rethink of pensions and working patterns as medical breakthroughs boost longevity, BlackRock chief executive Larry Fink warned on Tuesday in his closely watched annual letter to chief executives and investors. FT
- Bond fund giant Pimco is holding a smaller than usual position in US Treasuries and prefers the bonds of countries such as the UK and Canada, as it believes inflationary pressures may lead the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates more slowly than other major central banks. FT
- Adam Neumann, the former chief executive and co-founder of WeWork, recently submitted an offer to buy the bankrupt co-working company for more than $500 million, according to people familiar with the matter. WSJ
A more detailed look at global markets courtesy of Newsquawk
APAC stocks were choppy after a similarly subdued handover from Wall St owing to early tech headwinds and ahead of month-end. ASX 200 declined as tech losses clouded over the outperformance in the energy sector, while weaker Consumer Confidence added to the glum mood. Nikkei 225 swung between gains and losses amid an indecisive currency and inconclusive Services PPI data. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp. saw two-way price action with earnings releases in focus, while the mainland failed to sustain early optimism from the PBoC’s more forceful liquidity operation.
Top Asian News
- Chinese Vice President Han said it is important to promote economic globalisation and smooth global industrial and supply chains, while they will accelerate the development of new productive forces and provide stability and security for the global economy.
- Japanese Finance Minister Suzuki said it is important for currencies to move in a stable manner reflecting fundamentals and rapid FX moves are undesirable, while he won’t rule out any steps to respond to disorderly FX moves.
- Japan’s Business Lobby Chief says USD/JPY beyond 150.00 is excessive, according to Kyodo (USD/JPY currently at 151.32).
- China’s Deputy Head FX regulator says volatility in FDI inflows is normal.
- Shipments of smartphones within China -31.3% Y/Y at 14mln (prev. 29.5mln M/M) handsets in Feb, via CAICT.
- China has initiated WTO dispute settlement proceedings against the US over interests in the EV industry.
European equities, Stoxx600 (+0.1%), began the session without direction, though caught a bid alongside strength in US equity futures; however, the FTSE 100 (-0.1%) lags, given the underperformance in the Basic Resources sector. European sectors hold a negative tilt; Banks is found at the top of the pile, propped up by BNP Paribas (+1.9%), which benefits from a broker upgrade. Basic Resources is hampered by broader weakness in base metals. US equity futures (ES +0.3%, NQ +0.4%, RTY +0.4%) are entirely in the green, attempting to pare back some of the weakness seen in the prior session.
Top European News
- BoE’s Mann says she switched to an unchanged rate vote based on consumer behaviour, labour demand & supply and the financial market curve. Can hold the bank rate for quite some time. Markets are perhaps a bit too complacent when it comes to how long the BoE can hold rates. Markets are pricing in too many rate cuts. In some ways does not have to cut because the market already is. Avoids giving a prediction on the number of 2024 rate cuts.
- ECB’s Muller says data can confirm inflation trend for ECB’s June meeting, ECB is closer to the point of cutting rates.
- UK MPs warned that pension rules risk ‘finishing off’ the remaining defined-benefit plans and noted concerns that the new funding regime would require schemes to de-risk inappropriately, according to FT.
- Kantar UK Supermarket update (Mar): Grocery price inflation eased to 4.5% over the four weeks to 17 March, the lowest level since February 2022. Take-home grocery sales rose by 4.6% over the four weeks to 17 March, with an early Easter boosting sales of seasonal treats in the first three months of 2024.
- Sweden’s NIER sees 2024 GDP +0.8% (prev. 1.0%), sees 2024 headline inflation 1.9% (prev. 1.7%), End-2024 repo rate 3.00% (prev. 3.30%); Expects Riksbank to start cutting rates in June.
FX
- DXY is marginally softer but holding just above the 104 mark with not much in the way of fresh newsflow. If 104.00 is breached, Friday’s low sits at 103.92.
- EUR is trivially firmer vs. the USD with a high print of 1.0853 after moving above 200 and 50DMAs at 1.0836 and 1.0839 respectively.
- GBP is edging higher vs. the USD but yet to test last Friday’s high at 1.2675 or 50DMA at 1.2679. Comments from BoE’s Mann reasserts her hawkish position on the MPC despite voting unchanged last week.
- JPY is a touch firmer but the USD but only marginally so as Japanese officials continue to try and defend the Yen.
- Antipodeans are both a touch firmer vs. the USD but NZD more so; newsflow very quiet. AUD/USD currently eyeing its 50 and 200DMAs which both sit at 0.6550.
- PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 7.0943 vs exp. 7.2037 (prev. 7.0996).
Fixed Income
- USTs are incrementally firmer but with action more contained than in Europe ahead of a handful of data points before the 5yr auction. No concession ahead of the auction yet, and within a 6 tick range between Monday’s 110-15 to 110-30 parameters.
- Bunds are modestly firmer as EGBs unwind some of the slight pressure seen on Monday, sparked by Bostic/2yr supply concession; usual hawkish-leaning rhetoric from ECB’s Muller and a less-downbeat German GfK spurred no real reaction; currently higher by around 22 ticks at 132.84.
- Gilts initially conformed to the broader positive sentiment in the fixed complex, subsequent hawkish commentary from BoE’s Mann did little to cap the upside. The outspoken hawk mentioned that rates can be held at the current level for “quite some time”; Gilts at a fresh 99.70 peak, seemingly driven by Mann’s remarks underscoring her shift to be in-line with the majority but on the hawkish end of this. Little reaction seen following the UK auction.
- UK sell GBP 3bln 4.50% 2028 Gilt: b/c 3.48x (prev. 3.34x), average yield 3.928% (prev. 4.095%) & tail 0.3bps (prev. 0.4bps)
Commodities
- Crude price action has been contained and near recent highs despite a quiet European morning, following several geopolitical headlines over the weekend; Brent currently around USD 86.60/bbl.
- Relatively uneventful trade in precious metals thus far in European hours with the Dollar contained and news flow light in a holiday-thinned week ahead of month end. XAU caught a bid in recent trade and now at session highs around USD 2190/oz.
- Base metals are mixed and within confined ranges on Monday amid a lack of macro narrative to drive price action.
- Head of Venezuela’s opposition coalition said it was not possible to register a candidate for the presidential election.
- Brazilian miner Vale said it was selected by the US government to begin negotiations for financing related to an iron ore briquette plant and it will negotiate for an award of up to USD 282.9mln for the US project.
- Japan’s Eneos says shut Kawasaki No.3 CDU (77k BPD) for maintenance on March 22.
Geopolitics: Middle East
- US Secretary of State Blinken underscored to Israel’s Defence Minister Gallant that alternatives exist to a ground invasion of Rafah that would both better ensure Israel’s security and protect Palestinian civilians, while it was also reported that White House’s Sullivan had a constructive discussion with Israel’s Gallant.
- “Israeli sources: The Israeli delegation leaves Doha after Hamas rejected the US proposal approved by Israel”, according to Sky News Arabia. Subsequent reports said, Gaza ceasefire and hostage release talks continue and Mossad officials remain in Doha, according to Reuters sources; Mossad team is returning to Israel for consultations on developments
Geopolitics: Other
- New Zealand Foreign Minister Peters confirmed that New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese government and he directed senior foreign ministry officials to speak to the Chinese ambassador, according to Reuters.
US Event Calendar
- 08:30: Feb. Durable Goods Orders, est. 1.0%, prior -6.2%
- Feb. Durables-Less Transportation, est. 0.4%, prior -0.4%
- Feb. Cap Goods Orders Nondef Ex Air, est. 0.1%, prior 0%
- Feb. Cap Goods Ship Nondef Ex Air, est. 0.1%, prior 0.9%
- 08:30: March Philadelphia Fed Non-Manufactu, prior -8.8
- 09:00: Jan. S&P/CS 20 City MoM SA, est. 0.20%, prior 0.21%
- Jan. S&P CS Composite-20 YoY, est. 6.60%, prior 6.13%
- Jan. FHFA House Price Index MoM, est. 0.3%, prior 0.1%
- 10:00: March Conf. Board Consumer Confidenc, est. 107.0, prior 106.7
- March Conf. Board Present Situation, prior 147.2
- March Conf. Board Expectations, prior 79.8
- 10:00: March Richmond Fed Index, est. -5, prior -5
- 10:30: March Dallas Fed Services Activity, prior -3.9
DB’s Jim Reid concludes the overnight wrap
I’ll be off skiing on Friday, although with the forecast and recent lack of snow it may as well be water skiing. It felt like the market had left for their hols early yesterday as we started what is an Easter shortened week. The most interesting theme of the day was a steady but notable global rates sell-off that, for example, wiped out nearly half of last week’s -10.8bps fall in 10yr UST yields. There was no obvious catalyst so maybe thin trading played a part? As we’ll see below, there was a little hawkishness in the Fed speak but the moves were steady through the day rather than directly related to any headlines.
10yr US yields closed +4.7bps higher at 4.25% with 2yrs +3.6bps at 4.63%. Markets also trimmed the amount of Fed rate cuts they are expecting this year by -4.7bps to 80bps. We also saw the expected probability of a June cut fall to 79%, down from nearly 86% at the peak last week. It was real yields that drove the sell-off, with the 10yr real yield up +5.9bps after falling for the previous four sessions. The yield increases levelled off following a decent 2yr auction. Bonds totaling $66bn were issued 0.5bps above the pre-sale yield, but with the indirect bidder share reaching its highest level since June. We still have $110bn in Treasury supply to come this week, with a record $67bn 5yr auction later today, so something to keep an eye on.
The rates and yield sell-off was seen across the board with the amount of ECB cuts priced by December coming down -6.1bps to 88bps, with 2yr and 10yr German bund yields climbing +5.6bps and +4.9bps, respectively. The sell-off was marginally larger for 10yr OATs (+5.0bps) and Gilts (+6.0bps).
There was some Fed speak of note with a little caution expressed regarding expectations of Fed cuts. Atlanta Fed President Bostic repeated weekend remarks that he now expected only one rate cut this year (versus two before), suggesting the Fed could be patient if the economy was holding up. Meanwhile, Chicago Fed President Goolsbee said he continued to see three rate cuts in 2024 but highlighted the need to see housing inflation moderate more. And Fed Governor Cook noted that “fully restoring price stability may take a cautious approach to easing monetary policy”. While being mostly consistent with Powell’s narrative last week, these comments underlined the upward narrowing of end-2024 rate expectations we saw in the FOMC dot plot last week (even as the median dot was unchanged at three cuts).
We also heard from a number of ECB officials over in Europe, including the ECB’s Panetta, a known dove, who remarked “ EU inflation [was] quickly falling towards the 2% target”, with the inflation decline allowing “for possible cut in rates.” We also heard from the ECB’s Chief Economist Lane, who reiterated that “we’re seeing good progress on inflation” and was “confident wage normalisation process is on track.” Although relatively dovish, these comments did nothing to suggest that an ECB rate cut could come any earlier than June, which appears to be the baseline based on other recent ECB commentary.
Equity markets had a quiet session with the S&P 500 starting the week on the back foot (-0.31%), and with similar moves in the Dow Jones (-0.41%) and the Nasdaq (-0.27%). The last two sessions have seen the narrowest trading ranges for the S&P 500 since early February, with only one of its 24 industry groups seeing a move of more than 1% yesterday (-1.06% for software & services).
The Magnificent Seven (-0.22%) outperformed marginally even as it was reported that Apple (-0.83%), Alphabet (-0.46%) and Meta (-1.29%) could be at risk of significant fines in the EU amid a new investigation into the firms’ compliance with the Digital Markets Act. The Act looks to restrict the dominance of the biggest online platforms and came into effect earlier this month. Nvidia (+0.76%) managed to secure its sixth day of consecutive gains but the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell -0.34% amid a Financial Times report that China had adopted new guidance to limit the use of US-made semiconductors, including those produced by Intel (-1.74%) and AMD (-0.57%), in government computers. Over in Europe, the STOXX 600 (+0.04%) moved sideways, while the German Dax (+0.30%) hit a fresh all-time high.
Credit markets saw a mixed day, with high-yield spreads narrowing in Europe but US IG (+2bps) and high-yield (+4bps) spreads widening modestly after reaching two-year lows last Thursday. On this topic, my credit strategy team have revised their spread targets for US and Europe tighter. You can read more here.
Asian equity markets are fairly quiet this morning with the KOSPI (+0.83%) leading gains powered by chipmaking stocks. TheHang Seng (+0.30%) has bounced after the lunch break but the Shanghai Comp (-0.58%) is struggling after a second day of a stronger Yuan fix. 10yr US yields are a basis point lower with S&P (+0.16%) and Nasdaq (+0.19%) futures both higher.
The limited US data releases yesterday were slightly on the softer side. The Dallas Fed manufacturing index for March came in at -14.4 (vs -10.0 expected), down from -11.3 in February. New home sales were unexpectedly down in February, falling from 664k to 662k (vs 677k expected). On the other hand, the Chicago Fed national activity index improved to 0.05 (vs -0.34 expected), continuing to oscillate around trend levels.
Now to the day ahead. In terms of data, we have the US March Conference Board consumer confidence, the Richmond Fed manufacturing index and business conditions, the Philadelphia Fed non-manufacturing activity, the Dallas Fed services activity, the February durable goods orders and the January FHFA house price index. Outside the US, we have Germany GfK consumer confidence. Lastly, we have a record $67bn US 5yr notes auction
2 B) NOW NEWSQUAWK (EUROPE/REPORT)
Equities mostly firmer, Dollar lower and Gilts outperform after BoE’s Mann; US Durable Goods due – Newsquawk US Market Open
TUESDAY, MAR 26, 2024 – 06:48 AM
- European bourses are mixed though have been edging higher, taking impetus from strength in US equity futures
- Dollar is weaker, NZD benefits from a softer AUD/NZD cross
- Bonds incrementally firmer and Gilts outperform after BoE’s Mann
- Crude is modestly softer, XAU higher and near session highs
- Looking ahead, US Durable Goods, Philly Fed Non-manufacturing Business Outlook, Richmond Fed Survey, BoC’s Rogers and ECB’s Lane, Supply from the US
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EUROPEAN TRADE
EQUITIES
- European equities, Stoxx600 (+0.1%), began the session without direction, though caught a bid alongside strength in US equity futures; however, the FTSE 100 (-0.1%) lags, given the underperformance in the Basic Resources sector.
- European sectors hold a negative tilt; Banks is found at the top of the pile, propped up by BNP Paribas (+1.9%), which benefits from a broker upgrade. Basic Resources is hampered by broader weakness in base metals.
- US equity futures (ES +0.3%, NQ +0.4%, RTY +0.4%) are entirely in the green, attempting to pare back some of the weakness seen in the prior session.
- Click here and here for the sessions European pre-market equity newsflow, including earnings.
- Click here for more details.
FX
- DXY is marginally softer but holding just above the 104 mark with not much in the way of fresh newsflow. If 104.00 is breached, Friday’s low sits at 103.92.
- EUR is trivially firmer vs. the USD with a high print of 1.0853 after moving above 200 and 50DMAs at 1.0836 and 1.0839 respectively.
- GBP is edging higher vs. the USD but yet to test last Friday’s high at 1.2675 or 50DMA at 1.2679. Comments from BoE’s Mann reasserts her hawkish position on the MPC despite voting unchanged last week.
- JPY is a touch firmer but the USD but only marginally so as Japanese officials continue to try and defend the Yen.
- Antipodeans are both a touch firmer vs. the USD but NZD more so; newsflow very quiet. AUD/USD currently eyeing its 50 and 200DMAs which both sit at 0.6550.
- PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 7.0943 vs exp. 7.2037 (prev. 7.0996).
- Click here for more details.
- Click here for FX Option Expiries.
FIXED INCOME
- USTs are incrementally firmer but with action more contained than in Europe ahead of a handful of data points before the 5yr auction. No concession ahead of the auction yet, and within a 6 tick range between Monday’s 110-15 to 110-30 parameters.
- Bunds are modestly firmer as EGBs unwind some of the slight pressure seen on Monday, sparked by Bostic/2yr supply concession; usual hawkish-leaning rhetoric from ECB’s Muller and a less-downbeat German GfK spurred no real reaction; currently higher by around 22 ticks at 132.84.
- Gilts initially conformed to the broader positive sentiment in the fixed complex, subsequent hawkish commentary from BoE’s Mann did little to cap the upside. The outspoken hawk mentioned that rates can be held at the current level for “quite some time”; Gilts at a fresh 99.70 peak, seemingly driven by Mann’s remarks underscoring her shift to be in-line with the majority but on the hawkish end of this. Little reaction seen following the UK auction.
- UK sell GBP 3bln 4.50% 2028 Gilt: b/c 3.48x (prev. 3.34x), average yield 3.928% (prev. 4.095%) & tail 0.3bps (prev. 0.4bps)
- Click here for more details.
COMMODITIES
- Crude price action has been contained and near recent highs despite a quiet European morning, following several geopolitical headlines over the weekend; Brent currently around USD 86.60/bbl.
- Relatively uneventful trade in precious metals thus far in European hours with the Dollar contained and news flow light in a holiday-thinned week ahead of month end. XAU caught a bid in recent trade and now at session highs around USD 2190/oz.
- Base metals are mixed and within confined ranges on Monday amid a lack of macro narrative to drive price action.
- Head of Venezuela’s opposition coalition said it was not possible to register a candidate for the presidential election.
- Brazilian miner Vale said it was selected by the US government to begin negotiations for financing related to an iron ore briquette plant and it will negotiate for an award of up to USD 282.9mln for the US project.
- Japan’s Eneos says shut Kawasaki No.3 CDU (77k BPD) for maintenance on March 22.
- Click here for more details.
NOTABLE EUROPEAN HEADLINES
- BoE’s Mann says she switched to an unchanged rate vote based on consumer behaviour, labour demand & supply and the financial market curve. Can hold the bank rate for quite some time. Markets are perhaps a bit too complacent when it comes to how long the BoE can hold rates. Markets are pricing in too many rate cuts. In some ways does not have to cut because the market already is. Avoids giving a prediction on the number of 2024 rate cuts.
- ECB’s Muller says data can confirm inflation trend for ECB’s June meeting, ECB is closer to the point of cutting rates.
- UK MPs warned that pension rules risk ‘finishing off’ the remaining defined-benefit plans and noted concerns that the new funding regime would require schemes to de-risk inappropriately, according to FT.
- Kantar UK Supermarket update (Mar): Grocery price inflation eased to 4.5% over the four weeks to 17 March, the lowest level since February 2022. Take-home grocery sales rose by 4.6% over the four weeks to 17 March, with an early Easter boosting sales of seasonal treats in the first three months of 2024.
- Sweden’s NIER sees 2024 GDP +0.8% (prev. 1.0%), sees 2024 headline inflation 1.9% (prev. 1.7%), End-2024 repo rate 3.00% (prev. 3.30%); Expects Riksbank to start cutting rates in June.
DATA RECAP
- Spanish GDP Final QQ (Q4) 0.6% vs. Exp. 0.6% (Prev. 0.6%); GDP YY (Q4) 2.0% vs. Exp. 2.0% (Prev. 2.0%).
- Swedish Overall Sentiment (Mar) 93.1 (Prev. 90.5); Manufacturing Confidence (Mar) 98.7 (Prev. 98.4); Total Industry Sentiment (Mar) 94.4 (Prev. 92.0); Consumer Confidence SA (Mar) 87.5 (Prev. 82.7)
NOTABLE US HEADLINES
- Dell Technologies (DELL) – Says despite near-term challenges, expects demand environment to improve in fiscal 2025 enabling net revenue growth for full fiscal year. Expect input costs to rise in fiscal 2025, principally driven by anticipated inflation for component costs as year progresses. Anticipates pricing environment will be more competitive in FY25, which it began to observe during H2 of fiscal 2024. Forecasts continued reduction of other businesses’ net revenue in 2025 as result of change in commercial relationship with VMware. Plans to mitigate impact of dynamics of input cost trends through continued disciplined cost management.
- McDonalds (MCD) to sell Krispy Kreme (DNUT) in their US restaurants DNUT shares +14.5% in pre-market
- UPS (UPS) announces strategic initiatives and three-year financial targets; Sees 2026 consolidated revenue ranging from approx. USD 108bln-114bln
GEOPOLITICS
MIDDLE-EAST
- US Secretary of State Blinken underscored to Israel’s Defence Minister Gallant that alternatives exist to a ground invasion of Rafah that would both better ensure Israel’s security and protect Palestinian civilians, while it was also reported that White House’s Sullivan had a constructive discussion with Israel’s Gallant.
- “Israeli sources: The Israeli delegation leaves Doha after Hamas rejected the US proposal approved by Israel”, according to Sky News Arabia. Subsequent reports said, Gaza ceasefire and hostage release talks continue and Mossad officials remain in Doha, according to Reuters sources; Mossad team is returning to Israel for consultations on developments
OTHER
- New Zealand Foreign Minister Peters confirmed that New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese government and he directed senior foreign ministry officials to speak to the Chinese ambassador, according to Reuters.
CRYPTO
- Bitcoin holds above USD 71k, and Ethereum now back above USD 3.5k.
- The Nasdaq-listed spot bitcoin (BTC) ETFs registered inflows totalling USD 15.4mln on Monday, ending a five-day run of outflows, according to provisional data published by investment firm Farside cited by CoinDesk.
APAC TRADE
- APAC stocks were choppy after a similarly subdued handover from Wall St owing to early tech headwinds and ahead of month-end.
- ASX 200 declined as tech losses clouded over the outperformance in the energy sector, while weaker Consumer Confidence added to the glum mood.
- Nikkei 225 swung between gains and losses amid an indecisive currency and inconclusive Services PPI data.
- Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp. saw two-way price action with earnings releases in focus, while the mainland failed to sustain early optimism from the PBoC’s more forceful liquidity operation.
NOTABLE ASIA-PAC HEADLINES
- Chinese Vice President Han said it is important to promote economic globalisation and smooth global industrial and supply chains, while they will accelerate the development of new productive forces and provide stability and security for the global economy.
- Japanese Finance Minister Suzuki said it is important for currencies to move in a stable manner reflecting fundamentals and rapid FX moves are undesirable, while he won’t rule out any steps to respond to disorderly FX moves.
- Japan’s Business Lobby Chief says USD/JPY beyond 150.00 is excessive, according to Kyodo (USD/JPY currently at 151.32).
- China’s Deputy Head FX regulator says volatility in FDI inflows is normal.
- Shipments of smartphones within China -31.3% Y/Y at 14mln (prev. 29.5mln M/M) handsets in Feb, via CAICT.
- China has initiated WTO dispute settlement proceedings against the US over interests in the EV industry.
DATA RECAP
- Japanese Services PPI (Feb) 2.10% (Prev. 2.10%)
- Australian Westpac Consumer Confidence Index (Mar) 84.4 (Prev. 86.0); Westpac Consumer Confidence MM (Mar) -1.8% (Prev. 6.2%)
2C ASIA AFFAIRS
TUESDAY MORNING/MONDAY NIGHT
SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 5.18 PTS OR 0.17% //Hang Seng CLOSED UP 144.68 PTS OR 0.88% / Nikkei CLOSED DOWN 16.09 PTS OR 0.04% //Australia’s all ordinaries CLOSED DOWN 0.43% /Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed UP 7.2189 //OFFSHORE CHINESE YUAN CLOSED UP TO 7.2443 /Oil UP TO 82.04 dollars per barrel for WTI and BRENT UP AT 86.92/ Stocks in Europe OPENED MOSTLY ALL GREEN// ONSHORE YUAN TRADING ABOVE LEVEL OF OFFSHORE YUAN/ONSHORE YUAN TRADING STRONGER AGAINST US DOLLAR/OFFSHORE YUAN STRONGER
2 d./NORTH KOREA/ SOUTH KOREA/
NORTH KOREA/SOUTH KOREA
END
2e) JAPAN
JAPAN
3 CHINA
CHINA/
END
4.EUROPEAN AFFAIRS//UK /SCANDINAVIAN AFFAIRS
FRANCE
France is getting mighty scared of a Russian attack
(zerohedge)
France Raises Security Risk To Highest Level After Moscow Terror Attack
TUESDAY, MAR 26, 2024 – 02:45 AM
Starting Sunday night, France raised the nation’s threat level awareness to its highest level of “emergency attack” – which comes two days after the Crocus City Hall attack which took the lives of at least 139 people, and has been claimed by the Islamic State.
President Emmanuel Macron had soon after convened a National Defense and Security Council to discuss the attack and examine France’s exposure to a potential similar terror attack. “Following the attack in Moscow, a Defense and National Security Council was convened this evening at the Elysée by the President of the Republic,” French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal wrote on X.
“Given the Islamic State’s claim of responsibility for the attack and the threats weighing on our country, we have decided to raise the Vigipirate posture to its highest level: attack emergency,” Attal continued, according to machine translation. There are three threat levels, and prior to Sunday it had remained at the middle level.
According to French media, this raised alert level “allows for exceptional security measures such as stepped-up patrols by armed forces in public places like train stations, airports and religious sites.”
It is unclear whether it will remain in effect through this summer, when Paris 2024 Olympic Games – from July 26 to August 11 – will be held, but this is likely.
In the wake of the Moscow attack a number of countries in the West, including the United States, expressed sympathy and solidarity with the Russian attack victims – in a rare moment of positive feelings conveyed amidst the Ukraine war.
Moscow has signaled it is ready and willing to restore counter-terrorism cooperation agreements with Europe, after these were initially severed as a result of the war in Ukraine.
On Monday, Italy joined France in raising its security level, as the country is headed into Easter Sunday this weekend. “Both surveillance and checks will be increased, paying the most attention to the places of greatest aggregation and transit of people, as well as sensitive targets,” Italy’s Interior Ministry announced.
While the Kremlin has acknowledged that ISIS-K is issuing statements owning up to the attack, it has also pointed the finger at Ukraine, alleging that the attackers were seeking to escape into Ukraine territory with government help.
END
5. RUSSIA AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS.
ISRAEL HAMAS/USA
Israel is furious with Biden as they halt their delegation to the USA. The USA stupidly passes a resolution for a uN ceasefire without hostage release.. Biden et al (Obama, the Muslim) are out of control
(Jerusalem Post)
Israel Angrily Halts Delegation To D.C. After US Allows UN Ceasefire Resolution To Pass
MONDAY, MAR 25, 2024 – 08:00 PM
In a Monday vote, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) adopted for the first time a resolution that calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. It was put forward by the council’s non-permanent members, and fourteen countries backed the resolution, while the US abstained.
The resolution “demands an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan respected by all parties leading to a permanent sustainable ceasefire, and also demands the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.”
The language was reportedly meticulously crafted towards avoiding a Washington veto, which occurred in several prior attempted ceasefire votes. The US has thus far vetoed no less that four previous drafts. However, last Friday saw Russia and China veto a draft resolution, as they charged that the language essentially allowed a greenlight for Israel to go into Rafah.
The Monday resolution was brought forward by the following non-permanent members of the security council: Algeria, Ecuador, Guyana, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, South Korea and Switzerland. It also expressed concern “about the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip” and condemned acts of terrorism and hostage-taking, but fell short of identifying Hamas by name.
On the question of the controversial move by the US to not veto it even though the Biden admin wanted to see specific language condemning Hamas, Al Jazeera writes:
This time, the US let this pass; they negotiated it, they tried to change it a bit, and they were not happy with the fact that it did not condemn Hamas.
Two diplomatic sources said that un the run-up to the vote, the US was proposing its own amendment to put in a line condemning Hamas, but they decided not to.
This illustrates that the Biden administration finds itself more and more on the defensive regarding Israel’s growing international isolation, after the reported Palestinian death toll has soared well past 30,000.
The French ambassador to the UN, Nicolas de Riviere, hailed the resolution’s adoption as showing the UNSC can “still act when all of its members make the necessary effort to discharge their mandate.” He told the session: “The Security Council’s silence on Gaza was becoming deafening, it is high time now for the council to finally contribute to finding a solution.”
China too took the opportunity to chastise Washington: “After repeated vetoes of the council’s actions, the United States finally decided to stop obstructing the council’s demands for an immediate ceasefire. Despite all this, the US still tried to find all kinds of excuses and made accusations against China,” China’s envoy Zhang Jun said. And Russia said it is an important “vote in favor of peace.”
Israel is not happy, also seeing in this an example of the Biden White House essentially caving to pro-Palestinian demands. Later in the morning on Monday it is being widely reported that PM Netanyahu has halted a planned visit to Washington by an Israeli delegation. The two allies were expected to discuss current tensions surrounding a Rafah ground offensive at the White House.
“The delegation, originally travelling to the US at the invitation of President Joe Biden’s White House, was meant to meet with US officials on Israel’s planned invasion of Rafah,” regional media details. The White House in response said it is “very disappointed that the Israelis won’t be coming” while also stressing official US policy toward Israel hasn’t changed despite the passage of the UN resolution.
Netanyahu’s office explained the drastic move thusly, “The US retreated from its consistent position in the Security Council linking a ceasefire with the release of the hostages.”
END
ISRAEL/GAZA/HAMAS/
Do not pay attention to this idiot….
Blinken reiterates US ‘opposition to major ground operation in Rafah’ in meeting with Gallant
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant leaves the State Department after meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the US State Department in Washington, DC, on March 25, 2024. (ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP)
Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised US opposition to a major ground operation in Rafah with Israel’s defense minister on Monday, after a delegation to discuss Washington’s concerns was scrapped earlier in the day.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed to send the delegation to Washington to discuss the Rafah offensive but cancelled it after the United States abstained on a UN Security Council resolution that demanded an immediate ceasefire in Gaza during Ramadan.
In his meeting with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in Washington, Blinken reiterated US “opposition to a major ground operation in Rafah,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller says in a statement.
Such a move “would further jeopardize the welfare of the more than 1.4 million Palestinian civilians sheltering there,” Miller says.
Netanyahu’s determination to launch a ground operation in Rafah, the city on Gaza’s southern border with Egypt
— Hamas’s last stronghold and where most of the territory’s population is sheltering — has become a key point of contention with Washington.
Blinken “underscored that alternatives exist to a major ground invasion that would both better ensure Israel’s security and protect Palestinian civilians,” Miller says.
The two additionally “discussed the need to immediately surge and sustain additional humanitarian assistance to meet the needs of civilians in Gaza,” he adds.
Israel said earlier in the day that the United States abstention “hurts” both its war effort and attempts to release hostages taken by terrorists on October 7.
It was “a clear retreat from the consistent position of the US,” Netanyahu’s office said.
END
ISRAEL/HAMAS TODAY/SHIFA HOSPITAL
a must read…
500 terrorists return to Shifa hospital and fire on Israelis and the world remains silent
(Jerusalem Post)
How did 500 terrorists return to Shifa hospital? – analysis
Hamas has largely expected a ceasefire and withdrawal of IDF soldiers to allow its members to return to pockets across northern and central Gaza, including Shifa hospital.
By SETH J. FRANTZMANMARCH 26, 2024 01:09Updated: MARCH 26, 2024 01:14
Over the last week the Israel Defense Forces have been carrying out a complex raid at Shifa hospital, which is a large and sprawling compound. The raid began a week ago on the evening of March 17, and over the course of seven days, the IDF has been combing buildings in the area, clashing with terrorists, and detaining suspects.
Reports say that around 800 suspects were found and 500 of them are confirmed members of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. This makes the largest number of terrorists found in one spot since the war began and signifies one of the IDF’s most important and complex operations of this type since October 7.
All of this requires a larger spotlight. How is it possible that so many terrorists, mostly men in their twenties to fifties, all came to this hospital over the last months? They had to have come in the last months, because the IDF first operated to clear the area around Shifa of terrorists in November. This means that these men found their way back by infiltrating the hospital These are men with records, some of them involved in terrorism going back many years, including plots in the West Bank linked to the 2014 war and also the October 7 attacks.
The IDF has emphasized that it found numerous Hamas commanders and also a large swath of the PIJ command at Shifa. “At the beginning of the war, we destroyed the underground infrastructure dug under the hospital, and we confiscated military equipment and weapons hidden in it. The terrorists’ command center at the Shifa Hospital was dealt with then. The terrorists fled in the previous operation when we called to evacuate the compound,” IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said on March 21.
He also noted that the IDF operated differently to catch Hamas by surprise this time. “We raided the compound by surprise. The operation, led by the 162nd Division and carried out by special forces units led by Shayetet 13, in full cooperation on the ground, shoulder to shoulder with the ISA and Unit 504 for intelligence extraction in the field. We used deception tactics in this operation, and it was this that led to the success and apprehension of all 358 terrorists, and more inside this compound who haven’t managed to escape. This led to Hamas and the Islamic Jihad being severely damaged as a result of the operation,” Hagari said.
We know that after the raid began the terrorists retreated to key areas of the hospital and holed up in the emergency room, the maternity ward, and the Shifa burn ward. This fits the usual modus operandi of Hamas, who see hospitals as key assets and nodes in their command and control of Gaza. They believe the IDF would not want to operate in a hospital, and would end up with the complex being destroyed. The IDF said on March 24 that Hamas has caused damage to many areas of the hospital.
Hamas clearly felt safe at the hospital, but they knew that Israel had raided this area in November. For instance, in November, the IDF exposed a tunnel system under the Qatari building at the hospital. The IDF had to re-enter the Qatari building again during the raid over the last year. The fact Hamas felt secure in this area may relate to another recent raid by the IDF targeting the Hamad Towers near Khan Younis. This project, funded by Qatar, was supposed to provide nice suburban apartments for Gazans, but Hamas appears to have infiltrated the towers over the past few months. In both cases, Hamas appears to have felt that they were safe at Shifa hospital and at the Hamad towers. Now they have lost almost 1,000 terrorists, when including those killed and detained in the two operations over the past weeks.
What does Hamas take into account?
It’s important to look at the timing here to understand the likely Hamas calculations and considerations. In early March, reports indicated that Israel would be pressured into a ceasefire before Ramadan, meaning that the ceasefire was supposed to start around March 10. However, Hamas increased its demands and would not provide a list of living hostages, as Hamas believed that Israel would be pressured into a ceasefire without hostages being released. Israel reduced operations in Gaza and redeployed some units, but the IDF also stepped up raids in the Gaza Strip, including raids in the last month in areas the IDF cleared back in November. This included a raid into the Al-Shati refugee camp and then into Zaytun. However, the IDF also warned those in Zaytun about the raid before it happened.
Hamas assumed they would get a warning if the IDF was coming back to Shifa hospital, and they also assumed that the IDF was facing pressure after having raided the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis. Hamas figured Israel would not go back to Shifa. Therefore, almost 1,000 terrorists appear to have congregated at the hospital complex. On the ground, these large numbers of men congregating together would have been clearly visible. Additionally, they would appear well-fed and not like the other tens of thousands of people sheltering near the hospital. Another important distinction would be that these men would have been armed; they did not need to be armed at all times, as various weapons caches were stored in various places in the hospital.
Hamas operates like a mafia and mafia members don’t always need to be armed. The weapons are stored in easy-to-reach locations so members can get to them if they need to. But Hamas would have felt secure at Shifa, like returning to their home, so they did not need weapons. They assumed the ceasefire would let them set up a command center at the hospital and work to return their control over northern Gaza, where an estimated 30,000 people are.
Hamas appears to operate in Gaza not only in plain clothes, and without weapons, except when it needed weapons. For instance, Hamas terrorists have been involved in killing civilians who are trying to access aid, and it appears Hamas is responsible for some of the incidents at the Kuwaiti roundabout near Gaza City. This means Hamas arms it men when it needs to, but the men will often mill around without weapons on hand. When the IDF raided Shifa, at least 180 terrorists were eliminated in gun fights. The terrorists also have mortars nearby.
The overall picture that emerges is that Hamas returned to Shifa because it believed a ceasefire would be announced in early March. However, when the ceasefire didn’t materialize, Hamas terrorists likely consulted with senior Hamas leaders, who are based both in Gaza and abroad. These terrorists likely heard from senior leadership that the West was pushing for the ceasefire and that Hamas needn’t worry too much, and they would soon be reconstituting in northern Gaza. The surprise raid set back their plans to retake pockets of northern Gaza. However, Hamas is still operating in northern and central Gaza, the site of the IDF’s presence, and still heavily active in the southern region of the Strip. For instance, Hamas fired rockets on March 25 from Deir al-Balah in central Gaza at Ashdod, the first rocket fire of this kind in two months.
Hamas understands the timeline in Gaza. It reads western media and watches debates at the UN and news coverage. In short, Hamas is waiting for a ceasefire, and the group knows it is hosted abroad by two western allies. It assumes that its hosts and patrons will help bring it back to power in Gaza, and help it come to power in the West Bank. For Hamas, places like Shifa are the natural nodes in their empire of terror in Gaza that they need to reconstitute to take power again.
END
Israel/Hamas/Shifa
More on how the terrorists regained control of the Shifa hospital
(Jerusalem Post)
IDF Unit 504 unveils terrorist confessions of Shifa Hospital’s role as a Gaza terror base
Islamic Jihad terrorists claimed to have been stationed at the hospital for months.
By YONAH JEREMY BOBMARCH 26, 2024 17:00
The IDF’s particular intelligence unit for interrogations, Unit 504, on Tuesday published initial findings and recordings of questioning terrorists, in which they admit to their terror groups abusing Shifa Hospital, by using it as a terror command center.
The terrorists, some from Hamas and some from Islamic Jihad, admit that there were between 600 to 1,000 of their fighters utilizing Shifa as a center for managing fighting the IDF as well as hiding from IDF patrol sweeps for terrorists.
Islamic Jihad terrorist Nabil Regev Abd Ishtivi said, “The fighters are in every building, spread out in every area” of the sprawling hospital complex.
He also said that he had been at Shifa for three months.
This would mean that around a month or less after the IDF took over and left Shifa the first time in mid-November, it was already back in the hands of terrorists.
Initially, the IDF had said it had planned its second takeover operation against terrorists in Shifa several days before. Still, later IDF sources said that higher levels of the IDF were working on the operation as much as a month before.
This still leaves open the question of whether the IDF only learned of the terrorist re-takeover of Shifa in mid-February or knew earlier but decided to delay acting for months for unknown reasons.
Since mid-February, IDF sources said the operation was delayed to pinpoint the best possible simultaneous attack moment.
Although the IDF had said the Shifa takeover operation was purely a professional military matter, some Hamas officials have said that the operation harmed the ongoing negotiations over a potential hostage exchange and ceasefire deal.
Istivi said that his role with Islamic Jihad was building and developing rockets and that he had carried out this role since around 2012.
Further, he added that Hamas and Islamic Jihad had purposely defused their operations into multiple command locations to reduce the risk of broader harm to their operations in the event that the IDF took out any one location.
Hamas senior operative Bachar Ahmed Bachar Kanita said that he was in command of defending significant portions of Gaza City, including 143 fighters under his command.
Kanita said he was only at Shifa for around 25 days.
He also said that Islamic Jihad had used the childbirth unit as a mini-headquarters, while Hamas had used the administrative buildings and the specialists unit as a mini-headquarters.
‘No safe place’ for terrorism
According to the IDF, Gazan terrorists have no safe place, so they have chosen Shifa and other hospitals to hide in, in express violation of international law.
Despite these attempts, the IDF has said it will pursue terrorists in every location, including hospitals while trying as hard as possible to avoid harm to civilians and medical staff.
END
Hamas rejects deal because they think the USA will pressure Israel. Not so fast..
(Jerusalem Post)
Blaming UN resolution, Israel cuts off Gaza truce talks in Qatar after Hamas rejects deal
Katz says US non-veto lets terror group think ceasefire possible without freeing hostages * Hezbollah rockets damage winery, house * Protesters rally against Haredi draft dodging
Qatar talks on Gaza truce continuing as some Israeli negotiators stay behind, source tells Reuters
Officials from Israel’s Mossad spy agency remain in Doha for negotiations mediated by Egypt and Qatar on a Gaza truce and hostage releases, a source briefed on the talks tells Reuters.
An Israeli official told The Times of Israel that it had recalled its team from Doha, effectively ending negotiations, as an official statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office indicated that Jerusalem no longer saw Hamas as willing to compromise.
The source tells Reuters, however, that only a small Mossad team was returning to Israel from Doha for consultations on developments in the talks.
end
Hostage Uriel Baruch murdered by Hamas, his body held in Gaza, family confirms
Uriel Baruch is presumed taken hostage from the Supernova desert rave by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023. (Courtesy)
The Tikva Forum for Families of Hostages announces the death of Uriel Baruch, who was taken hostage from the Supernova music festival on October 7.
His body is being held in Gaza, the Forum says.
He is survived by his wife Rachel and their two sons.
“Uriel was a happy and loved man, he was loved by everyone around him,” his family says in a statement released via the Tikva Forum.
His death brings the number of confirmed deaths of hostages in Gaza to 34.
IDF confirms: Top Hamas commander Marwan Issa killed in airstrike earlier this month
These images released by the IDF on March 26, 2024, show Marwan Issa (left) the deputy commander of Hamas’s military wing, and Ghazi Abu Tama’a, another senior commander in the terror group, killed in an Israeli strike on March 10, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari in a press conference officially confirms that Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’s military wing, was killed in an Israeli airstrike carried out in the central Gaza Strip earlier this month.
Alongside Issa, senior Hamas commander Ghazi Abu Tama’a was killed in the March 10 strike in Nuseirat, according to Hagari.
The US previously announced that Issa was killed in the strike, although at the time, Israel said it was still evaluating the results of the bombing.
END
HEZBOLLAH
Winery in north goes up in flames after rocket attack
Hezbollah fired three projectiles from Lebanon at the northern community of Avivim, hitting a winery structure and causing a fire, according to the IDF.
The terror group claims to have targeted buildings used by Israeli forces.
There are no reports of injuries in the attack. Sirens did not sound in the largely evacuated community.
The IDF says it shelled the launch site in southern Lebanon with artillery.
end
ISRAEL/HEZBOLLAH
Israel hits Hezbollah with deep strikes into Lebanon.
IDF hits northeastern Lebanon in deepest strikes yet
No casualties were reported and the event did not obstruct operational activities, the IDF noted.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFMARCH 26, 2024 11:13Updated: MARCH 26, 2024 15:13
The IDF struck sites in the Wadi Faara area in northeastern Lebanon on Tuesday afternoon, marking the deepest strikes conducted by the IDF since the beginning of the war, according to Lebanese state media.
The strikes came hours after rockets were launched towards the IDF Aerial Control Unit in the Meron area in Israel’s North, the military said on Tuesday.
No casualties were reported, and the event did not obstruct operational activities, the IDF noted.
In addition, the military stated three launches were detected towards Avivim with no casualties at the scene.
The military further stated it had fired at the sources of the launches.
Winery heavily damaged
Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli media reported that a winery was heavily damaged in Avivim in Israel’s North as a result of an anti-tank missile. No casualties were reported.
Israel’s National Fire and Rescue Authority said two teams were operating at the scene.
https://player.jpost.com/public/player.html?player=jpost&media=3686970&url=www.jpost.comFire erupts in Avivim winery. March 26, 2024. (Credit: Shalom Bitton).
The Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese news organization Al-Mayadeen, citing the terror organization, reported Hezbollah claimed to have targeted two buildings in Avivim in response to Israel’s military activities in southern Lebanon.
According to the Al-Mayadeen report, Hezbollah said Israeli soldiers were using the buildings it had targeted.
end
RUSSIA/UKRAINE
The real truth; Ukraine is losing badly
(zerohedge)
Zelensky Fires Security Chief As Defense Shake-Up Continues
TUESDAY, MAR 26, 2024 – 12:05 PM
In an apparent continuing shake-up of his defense leadership, Ukraine’s President Zelensky has fired the the head of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council (SNBO), Oleksiy Danilov.
A decree confirming his removal was published to the Ukrainian presidency’s official website, however, it provided no reason or explanation for the decision. Danilov had been installed in the top national security office in October 2019.
The Kyiv correspondent for the Financial Times, Christopher Miller, has also confirmed the high level removal…
“Another big and expected shakeup in Kyiv. Zelensky has dismissed Oleksiy Danilov from the post of head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council and replaced him with Oleksandr Lytvynenko, who has been serving at Chief of the Foreign Intelligence Service,” writes Miller.
This is but the latest in a major shake-up of top defense ranks which began in early February. At that time Ukraine’s top general and commander of the armed forces, Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, was booted out despite his widely reported popularity among military ranks.
Zelensky had said at the time that it is “time for renewal” at a moment Western press began to increasingly acknowledge that Ukraine forces are being beaten by the greater manpower and artillery of the Russian military machine.
President Biden too has long acknowledged Ukraine is in “dire straights”, also after Zelensky has struggled to attract more weaponry, and amid war weary Western publics, and European nations which have seen their own stockpiles greatly diminished.
Ironically this was Danilov’s last tweet… As Putin gets re-elected to office the longtime Ukraine national security chief gets sacked.
Likely it is too late for any major turn-around for Kiev forces, though the Zelensky administration has lately been teasing the potential for a large new military mobilization of hundreds of thousands, which is sure to be hugely unpopular and controversial among the Ukrainian population. Officials have indicated the military needs some 300,000 to 500,000 more men just to hold the front lines and stave off Russian advance.
end
6.Global Issues//COVID ISSUES
Apply shares fall on a Chinese report and iPhone shipments plunged 33%
(zerohedge)
Apple Shares Fall On Chinese Report That iPhone Shipments Plunged 33%
BY TYLER DURDEN
TUESDAY, MAR 26, 2024 – 09:25 AM
Apple shares fell in premarket trading in New York after official Chinese data showed iPhone shipments plunged 33% in February, compared with the same month last year, in the world’s second-largest economy—or the world’s largest smartphone market. These institutional desks, Barclays, Piper Sandler, and Jefferies, first warned of this downturn in iPhone sales in early January.
Bloomberg cites Academy of Information and Communications Technology figures that show foreign smartphone makers only shipped 2.4 million smartphones last month. Apple was a majority of these shipments. This decline marks the second consecutive month of lower shipments.
According to the data, Apple shipped 5.5 million units in January, or about 39% fewer handsets than in the prior year.
“Apple’s retail channels in China are still digesting the shipment from the fourth quarter of 2023, which could explain the drop in recent months,” Nicole Peng, an analyst at Canalys, wrote in a note.
Peng continued:
“But it’s a sign of a slowing trend for the upcoming months for Apple in China, especially when the Chinese peers are driving very aggressively the AI smartphone messages.”
Shares of Apple fell slightly on the report.
Nasdaq futures reversed overnight gains.
Bloomberg pointed out, “The overall Chinese smartphone market also contracted by almost a third in February, illustrating a wider consumer reluctance to spend on discretionary items.”
At the start of the year, Barclays analyst Tim Long slashed Apple from “Equal-Weight” to “Underweight” with a slight downshift in price target, from $161 to $160, based on the thesis of a slowdown in iPhone and MacBook sales.
Piper Sandler analysts led by Harsh Kumar also downgraded Apple from “Overweight” to “Neutral” with a price target of $205, down from $220 in early January—the reason: deteriorating outlook for iPhone sales and macro weakness.
And Jeffries analyst Edison Lee also outlined months ago about the iPhone sales slump in China.
Apple also faces rising competitive pressures from domestic brands, such as Huawei, spurred by “patriotic fervor” amid the tech war with the US.
COVID ISSUES/VACCINE ISSUES//DRUG ISSUES
FDA SURRENDERS IN ITS WAR ON IVERMECTIN
BY THE WELLNESS COMPANY
Starting 2021, the FDA mounted a misinformation campaign on ivermectin – an inexpensive, Nobel Prize-winning medication that showed promising signs in the early treatment of COVID-19.
While the death toll from this campaign is difficult to calculate, the impact was far-reaching. The campaign was used as fuel to terminate employment of doctors who understood the science behind ivermectin, as well as justification for pharmacies to cease filling ivermectin prescriptions when people needed the medication most.
Courageous doctors fought back.
In 2022, doctors filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) over the agencies’ unlawful attempts to block the use of ivermectin for treatment of COVID-19.
“We’re suing the FDA for lying to the public about ivermectin,” said Dr. Bowden, a plaintiff in the case.
The complaint directly cites US laws, including the provision that the FDA “may not interfere with the authority of a health care provider to prescribe or administer any legally marked device to a patient for any condition or disease within a legitimate health care practitioner-patient relationship.”
On Friday, the court ruled against the FDA and mandated the removal of all previous social media posts that specifically addressed the use of ivermectin for the treatment or prevention of COVID-19. The posts have started to come down, including a popular one titled: “Should I take ivermectin to prevent or treat COVID-19? No.”
Americans are waking up.
Dr. Peter McCullough, America’s leading cardiologist and outspoken critic of the healthcare system’s response to COVID said in a recent interview that in waging its revolting “horse de-wormer” propaganda campaign against ivermectin, the FDA systematically harmed the American people and should be held criminally and civilly liable for its malfeasance.
Early treatment of respiratory illness like COVID with ivermectin is a critical tool in the medical arsenal. Dr. Peter McCullough explains:
“Early intervention at the first sign of illness is critical to avoid a hospital visit. I have always wished patients could keep critical medications like antibiotics and Ivermectin on-hand so they can act fast; a recommendation whose importance was underscored by the drug restrictions during COVID. This is now a dream come true from The Wellness Company.”
Get IVERMECTIN and the other effective drugs the FDA tried to ban.
Escape the FDA propaganda and prepare ahead of time for illness with The Wellness Company’s Contagion Emergency Kits. Designed by elite doctors including Dr. Peter McCullough, these prescription kits have emerged as a key piece of every household’s emergency preparedness plan, saving Americans thousands of dollars in unplanned hospital visits.
- IVERMECTIN: The Nobel-prize-winning medicine demonized as “horse paste” by the FDA.
- HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE: An antiviral that has been used for 50 years for the treatment of various diseases was suddenly banned when Trump endorsed it.
- GENERIC Z-PAKTM : One of the most commonly prescribed antibiotics in history, with promise in the treatment of COVID-19.
- BUDESONIDE: Restricted due to supply chain shortages from Big Pharma’s outsourcing.
The Contagion Emergency Kit also includes a nebulizer and guidebook to aid in the safe use of these life-saving medications.
This kit is prescription-only – you can’t find it in any store or pharmacy. Simply fill out a short questionnaire after purchase and a trusted Wellness Company doctor will confirm your suitability and issue your prescription Contagion Emergency Kit.
The Wellness Company and their doctors are medical professionals that you can trust and their Contagion Emergency Kits are the gold standard when it comes to keeping you safe and healthy. Keep critical life-saving medications like Ivermectin on hand!
URGENT CARE AT HOME: SAVE 15% OFF A CONTAGION EMERGENCY KIT WITH CODE “FDA” AT CHECKOUT
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“I previously purchased TWC Medical Emergency Kit and recently pruchased TWC Contagion Emergency Kit. I have not been japped and thankfully have not contracted Covid. Having a medical background and reading many of Dr. McCullough’s articles I realized I need to be prepared with the necessary drugs used for medical treatments. I feel safer knowing I have these kits!” – Joyce C
Don’t be caught unprepared. Don’t be reliant on the broken and corrupt medical-industrial complex. Don’t regret not acting today.
Order The Wellness Company’s Contagion Emergency Kit Now & SAVE 15% with code “FDA”
end
GLOBAL ISSUES//GLOBAL SALES
end
MARK CRISPIN MILLER
DR PAUL ALEXANDER
CDC, NIH, FDA, Health Canada, PHAC, SAGE etc., Fauci, Birx, Walensky, Jha, Hahn etc. these people who ran the fake PCR-manufactured ‘false-positive’ non-pandemic KILLED our children with lockdowns
with school closures…children committed suicide…this is why I say, we hunt them, we drag them into courts, all involved with COVID who did wrong & let judges, juries, decide, if guilty, we execute
| DR. PAUL ALEXANDERMAR 26 |
(100) When schools were closed insanely for 2 years and more in COVID, the lunacy of it all, many, millions of American children starved, depended on the school meal, were physically & sexually abused in (substack.com)
.
SLAY NEWS
| he latest reports from Slay NewsDoctors Sound Alarm over Cancer ‘Epidemic’ in Young PeopleDoctors are sounding the alarm about the “mysterious epidemic” of rapidly developing cancers that are surging in healthy young people.READ MORECovid Shots ‘Integrate’ with Cancer Cells, Study FindsScientists have made a disturbing new discovery while studying the impact of DNA contamination in Covid mRNA shots.READ MOREEric Trump Warns Americans of ‘Legal Lawfare’ Attacks against Father: ‘Sending Tremors across This Country’Eric Trump has issued a warning to the American people regarding the “legal lawfare” attacks his father is facing.READ MOREBoston Demands ‘White Churches’ Pay $15 Billion in ReparationsThe City of Boston’s “Task Force on Reparations” has demanded that “white churches” pay out $15 billion to the black community for “racial inequities.”READ MORENancy Pelosi’s Son Paul Jr Avoids Federal Fraud Charges in San Francisco Property ScamThe son of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Paul Jr., has reportedly managed to avoid criminal charges in a federal fraud case.READ MOREElon Musk: ‘America Is Toast’ If Democrats Remain in PowerX boss Elon Musk is doubling down on his warnings that Americans “need a red wave” during the critical elections in November.READ MOREAmericans Miss Trump’s Policies, Prefer Them over Biden’s, Survey ShowsA growing number of Americans are now saying they miss the policies of President Donald Trump.READ MORECNN Host Baffled as Michigan Poll Shows Trump Ahead by 20 Points on Key Issue: ‘World Is Upside Down’CNN host Dana Bash was baffled after learning that President Donald Trump is connecting with voters on key issues.READ MORETrump’s Truth Social Merger Is a Game-ChangerPresident Donald Trump’s Truth Social merger could end up changing everything as he battles for the presidency and fends off multiple lawfare attacks.READ MORETop Scientists Debunk ‘Global Warming’ Hoax: ‘No Increase’A group of leading scientists has debunked a popular “global warming” hoax that is regularly peddled to promote the “climate crisis” narrative.READ MORE |
| EVOL NEWS: |
———- Forwarded message ———
From: Evol News <mail@evol.news>
Date: Mon, Mar 25, 2024 at 5:20 PM
Subject:
Trump’s Truth Social Merger Is a Game-Changer – EVOLTo: <sabioncello@gmail.com>
Trump’s Truth Social Merger Is a Game-Changer – EVOL
READ MORE…
LATEST NEWS:
3 Soccer Stars Suffer Heart Attacks, Seizures Mid-Game – EVOL
Read more…
Kamala Harris Suffers ANOTHER Embarrassing Moment – EVOL
Read more…
Linda Bean, an entrepreneur, GOP activist and granddaughter of outdoor retailer LL Bean, has died – EVOL
Read more…
AOC’s Own Constituents SHRED Their Congresswoman – EVOL
Read more…
Mike Tyson Spills Details After Private Trump Dinner – EVOL
Read more…
AOC Launches Vile Attack On Donald Trump – EVOL
Read more…
Poland Marks 80th Anniversary of ‘Great Escape’ From Nazi POW Camp – EVOL
Read more…
‘Racial Justice’ Advocates Demand $15 Billion In Reparations From Boston, ‘White Churches’ – EVOL
Read more…
LATEST NEWS:
NEWS ADDICT
| 3 Soccer Stars Suffer Heart Attacks, Seizures Mid-GameThree soccer stars have collapsed on the field after suffering sudden heart attacks and seizures in the middle of their games which were broadcast on live TV.READ THE FULL REPORT |
| Canada to Freeze Bank Accounts of ‘Low Social Credit Score’ CitizensThe Canadian government is rolling out new laws that will limit financial “freedom” to citizens who maintain a satisfactory “social credit score.”READ THE FULL REPORT |
| Kamala Harris Suffers ANOTHER Embarrassing MomentVice President Kamala Harris displayed a moment of unawareness and awkwardness during her visit to Puerto Rico on Friday.READ THE FULL REPORT |
| AOC’s Own Constituents SHRED Their CongresswomanResidents in the congressional district of Democrat New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez strongly criticized the surge in crime and migrant crisis in New York City on Tuesday.READ THE FULL REPORT |
| Mike Tyson Spills Details After Private Trump DinnerMike Tyson, the ex-heavyweight boxing champion, has disclosed intriguing information after a private dinner with former President Donald Trump and members of his family at Mar-a-Lago.READ THE FULL REPORT |
MICHAEL EVERY/PHIL MAREY/OR OTHER EXECS //RABOBANK
7//OIL ISSUES//NATURAL GAS ISSUES//ELECTRICAL GRID ISSUES// RENEWABLE ENERGY ISSUES//USA AND GLOBE//GLOBAL SHIPPING
this is how Biden is in a mess with his energy policy: Ukraine hit oil refiners deep into Russia and second is the volatile Middle East crisis
(zerohedge)
Dominoes Falling As Biden Admin Deals With Twin Energy Crisis In Russia, Middle East
TUESDAY, MAR 26, 2024 – 06:55 AM
A twin crisis is unfolding for the Biden administration as the US tax-payer-funded Ukrainian military bombs key crude refineries deep within Russian territory with suicide drones. The administration has pleaded with the Ukranians to halt strikes on Russian energy infrastructure as this will only contribute to tightening global supplies and push energy prices higher, as well as inflation in the US, hurting Biden’s re-election odds.
Now for the other crisis that’s unfolding in the Middle East: US Vice President Kamala Harris told ABC’s “This Week” that a major attack on the Gazan city of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians have sought refuge, “would be a huge mistake.”
“We have been clear in multiple conversations and in every way that any major military operation in Rafah would be a huge mistake,” Harris said.
She added: “I have studied the maps – there’s nowhere for those folks to go. And we’re looking at about a million and a half people in Rafah who are there because they were told to go there.”
Harris was asked whether there would be “consequences” from the US on an Israeli counteroffensive in Rafah. She responded, “I am ruling out nothing.”
This comes as The Jerusalem Post said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials say an operation into the southern Gazan city is “imminent.”
Bloomberg quoted Israeli intelligence that estimate about 5,000 to 8,000 Hamas fighters are in Rafah.
As we’ve explained before, in the note titled “Terrified” Joe Biden Demands Ukraine Halt Strikes On Russian Refiners As It Is Sending Oil Prices Surging,” Biden’s foreign policy has been and always been about crude markets.
So, of course, the administration would march the clueless VP onto ABC yesterday to give Irasel a public warning about the consequences of launching a counteroffensive against Hamas in Rafah, because it’s not entirely about the poor Palestinians, but the prospect of a much wider conflict that could send crude prices into parabolic trajectories, thus reigniting US inflation and continuing to weigh on re-election odds.
Rapidan Energy Group wrote in a recent note that the “Axis of Resistance” (Iranian proxies in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen) is “likely to intensify its attacks as Israel moves forward with the ground offensive in Rafah.”
“Israel would likely wait until the IDF consolidates control over Rafah and the Philadelphia corridor before risking a major confrontation with Hezbollah,” Rapidan noted.
An invasion of Rafah could be the beginning of a series of dominoes that spark several powder kegs in the region that would put US troops at risk once again. Recall when three US Army troops were killed and more than 30 injured in a drone attack in Jordan earlier this year. A restart of these types of attacks is at high risk after Israel attacks Rafah.
Last month, Rapidan raised its odds of a major Israeli military offensive in Lebanon from 30% to 40%. However, they “expect overall Israel-Hezbollah tensions will remain contained and that a diplomatic agreement will avert a major conflict.”
Given these mounting uncertainties in the Middle East and Russia, it’s only a matter of time before traders focus their attention on the Saudi Aramco Abqaiq Plants (read: “The Weaponization Of Crude Could Trigger The Next Financial Shock”), the largest crude stabilization plant in the world, as it could be in the crosshairs of Iran-backed Houthis.
Crude markets are starting to pay attention as war risk premiums are being priced in.
end
This will cause the oil price to rise
(zerohedge)
India Suspends Venezuela Oil Purchases Fearing U.S. Sanctions Return, Stops Accepting Russian Oil Tankers
TUESDAY, MAR 26, 2024 – 10:35 AM
Is India starting to get cold feet about breaching US sanctions?
On Tuesday, Indian state and private refiners suspended purchases of crude from Venezuela as the U.S. sanctions waiver on Venezuela’s oil exports expires on April 18 and could lead to complications if not renewed, Bloomberg reported citing sources familiar.
As OilPrice adds, private refiner Reliance Industries, which is India’s largest buyer of Venezuelan crude grade Merey, looks to avoid complications with cargoes if the U.S. were to re-impose the sanctions that were temporarily lifted for six months in the middle of October 2023. As the deadline for the waiver expiry nears, state refiner Indian Oil Corporation has also halted buying Venezuelan crude.
At the end of last year, the U.S. introduced a temporary sanctions relief from October 2023 to April 2024, which now allows the production, lifting, sale, and exportation of oil or gas from Venezuela, and the provision of related goods and services, as well as payment of invoices for goods or services related to oil or gas sector operations in Venezuela.
As a result, the top international oil trading houses are back in the business of trading with oil from Venezuela, and refiners in India returned at the end of last year to the market of purchasing Venezuela’s crude.
In December, India resumed imports of crude oil from Venezuela for the first purchases since 2020 after the U.S. lifted most of the sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry in October.
For India, the world’s third-largest crude oil importer, Venezuelan oil is welcome as some refineries are designed to process the South American country’s heavy crude. The biggest refiners, including Reliance Industries, Indian Oil Corporation, and HPCL-Mittal Energy started securing crude cargoes from Venezuela as soon as the sanctions were lifted temporarily in October.
Most refiners have resumed the purchases via intermediaries, sources familiar with the development told Reuters at the time. Reliance is also looking to discuss direct sales with Venezuela’s state-owned oil firm PDVSA, according to Reuters’ sources.
It’s not just Venezuela, however: last week Bloomberg also reported that all of India’s oil refineries have stopped accepting Russian crude oil delivered by tankers operated by Sovcomflot, Russia’s largest commercial shipping company that has been sanctioned by the US, potentially dealing a blow to Moscow’s economy as India is one of the largest importers of its fossil fuels since the start of the Ukraine war.
According to the report, private and state-run processors including the biggest – Indian Oil – have stopped taking cargoes if they’re on Sovcomflot tankers, as refiners scrutinize the ownership of each ship to make sure they’re not affiliated with the company, or other sanctioned groups.
About 1.5 million barrels of Urals crude were shipped so far on Sovcomflot vessels in March, down from 4.4 million barrels in January and 4.7 million barrels in February.
India has been a major buyer of Russian oil since the invasion of Ukraine, but tighter enforcement of US sanctions has disrupted the trade and led to refiners seeking more expensive crude from other regions such as the US. Sovcomflot said this week that the penalties were putting pressure on its operations.
The Sovcomflot issue means there are fewer tankers to deliver Russian crude, which has led to discounts for the nation’s oil narrowing to compensate for higher freight costs. Of course, the end result of this supply congestion will be higher oil prices which is precisely the opposite of what Biden needs with elections looming, so we would not be surprise if Venezuela’s sanctions are indefinitely postponed while the White House quietly backchannels with India to advise them that Russian oil remains perfectly eligible for under the table purchases.
8. EMERGING MARKETS//AUSTRALIA NEW ZEALAND ISSUES//
YOUR EARLY CURRENCY/GOLD AND SILVER PRICING/ASIAN CLOSING MARKETS AND EUROPEAN BOURSE OPENING AND CLOSING/ INTEREST RATE SETTINGS TUESDAY MORNING 7;30AM//OPENING AND CLOSING
EURO VS USA DOLLAR: 1.0856 UP .0019
USA/ YEN 151.30 DOWN .086 NOW TARGETS INTEREST RATE AT 1.00% AS IT WILL BUY UNLIMITED BONDS TO GETS TO THAT LEVEL…//YEN STILL FALLS//
GBP/USA 1.2656 UP .0020
USA/CAN DOLLAR: 1.3566 DOWN .0019 (CDN DOLLAR UP 19 BASIS PTS)
Last night Shanghai COMPOSITE CLOSED UP 5.18 PTS OR 0.17%
Hang Seng CLOSED UP 144.68 POINTS OR 0.88%
AUSTRALIA CLOSED DOWN 0.43% // EUROPEAN BOURSE: MOSTLY ALL GREEN
Trading from Europe and ASIA
I) EUROPEAN BOURSES: MOSTLY ALL GREEN
2/ CHINESE BOURSES / :Hang SENG CLOSED UP 144.68 PTS OR 0.88%
/SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 5.18 PTS OR 0.17%
AUSTRALIA BOURSE CLOSED DOWN 0.43%
(Nikkei (Japan) CLOSED DOWN 16.09 PTS OR 0.04%
INDIA’S SENSEX IN THE RED
Gold very early morning trading: 2196,60
silver:$24.72
USA dollar index early TUESDAY morning: 103.78 DOWN 15 BASIS POINTS FROM MONDAY’s CLOSE.
TUESDAY MORNING NUMBERS ENDS
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And now your closing TUESDAY NUMBERS 1: 30 AM
Portuguese 10 year bond yield: 3.022% DOWN 1 in basis point(s) yield
JAPANESE BOND YIELD: +0.732% UP 0 AND 5//100 BASIS POINTS /JAPAN losing control of its yield curve/
SPANISH 10 YR BOND YIELD: 3.191 DOWN 1 in basis points yield
ITALIAN 10 YR BOND YIELD 3.664 DOWN 2 points in basis points yield ./ THE ECB IS QE’ ING ITALIAN BONDS (BUYING ITALIAN BONDS/SELLING GERMAN BUNDS)
GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD: 2.3670 UP 0 BASIS PTS
END
IMPORTANT CURRENCY CLOSES FOR TUESDAY
Closing currency crosses for day /USA DOLLAR INDEX/USA 10 YR BOND YIELD/1:00 PM
Euro/USA 1.0846 UP 0.0009 or 9 basis points
USA/Japan: 151.35 DOWN 0.029 OR YEN IS UP 3 BASIS PTS
Great Britain/USA 1.2634 DOWN .0002 OR 2 BASIS POINTS //
Canadian dollar UP .0017 OR 17 BASIS pts to 1.3568
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The USA/Yuan, CNY: closed ON SHORE CLOSED DOWN AT 7.2189
THE USA/YUAN OFFSHORE: (YUAN CLOSED (DOWN)…. (7.2504)
TURKISH LIRA: 32.20 EXTREMELY DANGEROUS LEVEL/DEATH WATCH/HYPERINFLATION TO BEGIN.//ON DEATH WATCH
the 10 yr Japanese bond yield at +0.732…
Your closing 10 yr US bond yield UP 2 in basis points from MONDAY at 4.269% //trading well ABOVE the resistance level of 2.27-2.32%) very problematic
USA 30 yr bond yield 4.425 UP 0 in basis points /12.00 PM
USA 2 YR BOND YIELD: 4.614 UP 3 BASIS PTS.
GOLD AT 11;30 AM 2182.00
SILVER AT 11;30: 24.54
Your 12:00 AM bourses for Europe and the Dow along with the USA dollar index closing and interest rates: TUESDAY CLOSING TIME 12:00 PM//
London: CLOSED DOWN 5.45 PTS OR 0.07%
German Dax : CLOSED UP 102.75 PTS OR 0.56%
Paris CAC CLOSED UP 20.48 PTS OR 0.25%
Spain IBEX CLOSED UP 30.90PTS OR 0.28%
Italian MIB: CLOSED UP 50.99 PTS OR 0.15%
WTI Oil price 82.08 12: EST/
Brent Oil: 86.42 12:00 EST
USA /RUSSIAN ROUBLE /// AT: 92.75 ROUBLE DOWN 0 AND 8/100
GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD; +2.3670 UP 0 BASIS PTS
UK 10 YR YIELD: 4.0135 UP 0 BASIS POINTS
CLOSING NUMBERS: 4 PM
Euro vs USA: 1.0834 DOWN .0003 OR 3 BASIS POINTS
British Pound: 1.2629 DOWN .0007 or 7 basis pts
BRITISH 10 YR GILT BOND YIELD: 3.999 DOWN 2 BASIS PTS//
JAPAN 10 YR YIELD: 0.732%
USA dollar vs Japanese Yen: 151.52 UP 0.144//YEN DOWN 14 BASIS PTS//
USA dollar vs Canadian dollar: 1.3578 DOWN .0007 CDN dollar UP 7 basis pts)
West Texas intermediate oil: 81.49
Brent OIL: 86.01
USA 10 yr bond yield DOWN 1 BASIS pts to 4.237%
USA 30 yr bond yield DOWN 2 BASIS PTS to 4.403%
USA 2 YR BOND: DOWN 1 PTS AT 4.597%
USA dollar index: 103.98 UP 5 BASIS POINTS
USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 32.17 (GETTING QUITE CLOSE TO BLOWING UP/
USA DOLLAR VS RUSSIA//// ROUBLE: 92.70 DOWN 0 AND 12/100 roubles
GOLD 2176.85 3:30 PM
SILVER: 24.42 3:30 PM
DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE: DOWN 30.66 PTS OR 0.08%
NASDAQ DOWN 66.53 PTS OR 0.36%
VOLATILITY INDEX: 13.22 UP 0.0\3 PTS OR 0.23%
GLD: $201.64 UP 0.65 OR 0.32%
SLV/ $22.34 DOWN .24 OR 1.06%
end
USA AFFAIRS
TODAY’S TRADING IN GRAPH FORM
Stocks Drop As ‘Soft’ Data Slumps, Trump’s ‘Wealth’ Pumps’n’Dumps
TUESDAY, MAR 26, 2024 – 04:00 PM
‘Soft’ data slumped today: Consumer confidence crumbled and there was a regional Fed rout – Philly Fed Services was really ugly, Richmond Fed Manufacturing was ugly, and Texas Services was negative for the 22nd straight month…
…as ‘hard’ data improved with durable goods orders rebounding and home prices accelerated once again (but that is offset by a decline in core shipments, which will weigh on GDP)…
Source: Bloomberg
The STIRs market focused on the bad news and pushed rate-cut expectations modestly higher (dovish)…
Source: Bloomberg
The stock market initially loved it either way – bad was good and good was good – but the majors could not hold on to their overnight highs and late-day sell programs took all the majors red on the day…
That is the 3rd down day for the S&P 500 in a row.
There were two sell programs in the last 30 mins…
Source: Bloomberg
Another day, another opening short-squeeze faded…
Source: Bloomberg
Mag7 stocks were dumped late on spoiling the party…
Source: Bloomberg
The longer-end of the bond curve outperformed today (with the short-end modestly higher in yield) with 30Y -2bps on the day, helped by a strong 5Y (record size) auction. The stronger than expected durable goods orders print snapped yields to yesterday’s highs but the soft-date weakness (and the auction) wore yields lower as the day went on…
Source: Bloomberg
After yesterday’s big surge (on net zero ETF inflows), bitcoin held on to the $70,000 level today…
Source: Bloomberg
The dollar ended practically unchanged, rallying back from modest weakness overnight…
Source: Bloomberg
Spot gold prices surged up to $2200 intraday before giving a lot of the gains back to end marginally higher….
Source: Bloomberg
Oil prices dipped ahead of tonight’s API inventory data…
Source: Bloomberg
Finally, Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT) rocketed higher today… only to be dumped late on, erasing half of the day’s gains…
Source: Bloomberg
…with the company with barely any revenues now worth almost $10BN at its peak today, according to Bloomberg data…
Source: Bloomberg
…and Trump owns 69% of it (but is unable to sell… yet).
END
MORNING TRADING/
AFTERNOON TRADING/
II USA DATA
Durable Goods Orders Rebound In Feb From January Collapse, Defense Spending Slides
TUESDAY, MAR 26, 2024 – 08:38 AM
After crashing in January (driven by the collapse in Boeing orders), durable goods orders (preliminary) for February rose 1.4% MoM (better than the +1.0% MoM exp), and notably swinging from a downwardly revised 6.9% MoM plunge in January (from -6.2%)…
Source: Bloomberg
That dragged the headline orders up 4.6% YoY. Ex-Transports also beat, rising 0.5% MoM (vs +0.4% exp) and up 1.3% YoY.
Non-defense aircraft orders jumped 24.6% MoM as it seems people are ordering Boeings again? Defense spending tumbled 12.7% MoM…
Source: Bloomberg
Computer & related products saw another big MoM rise as perhaps this is the AI cycle showing up in the data…
Source: Bloomberg
On the bright side, core capital goods shipments, a figure that is used to help calculate equipment investment in the government’s gross domestic product report, continued its strong bounce back from YoY contraction in December. However, on a seasonally-adjusted basis, core capital goods shipments fell 0.4% MoM
Source: Bloomberg
The YoY rebound is not exactly a signal that portends rate cuts!
end
Conference Board Consumer Confidence Slides, Revised Down For 5th Straight Month
TUESDAY, MAR 26, 2024 – 10:11 AM
After declining in February, analysts expected a small rebound in The Conference Board’s consumer confidence print in March, but instead it dropped further to 104.7 (vs 107.0 exp) from 106.7 as expectations plunged but current conditions improved…
Source: Bloomberg
However, for the 5th straight month, the conference board’s headline confidence print was revised downward…
Source: Bloomberg
That is 13pts of ‘confidence’ erased in the last five months… to which we ask again – …how do you revise consumer confidence?
The Conference Board’s indicator inflation expectations rebounded modestly to +5.3% – still notably high but trend in the right direction…
Source: Bloomberg
The Board’s labor market indicator trended modestly weaker (after being revised higher)….
Source: Bloomberg
And finally, expectations for stocks to increase from here are at their highest since Jan 2018…
Source: Bloomberg
…that did not end well for stocks.
this is what inflation will do to an economy; USA home prices rise for the 12th straight month
(zerohedge)
US Home Prices Rose For 12th Straight Month In January, Despite Soaring Rates
Home prices in America’s 20 largest cities rose for the 12th straight month in January (the latest data released by S&P Global Case-Shiller today), up 0.14% MoM (less than the 0.2% exp)
Source: Bloomberg
That pushed the YoY price up to +6.59% (in line with the +6.60% exp).
“Our National Composite rose by 6% in January, the fastest annual rate since 2022.” According to Brian D. Luke, Head of Commodities, Real & Digital Assets at S&P Dow Jones Indices.
“For the second consecutive month, all cities reported increases in annual prices, with San Diego surging 11.2%”
Given the smoothing and heavy lag in the Case-Shiller data, it’s hard to find a causal relationship between prices and mortgage rates, but with rates remaining above 7%, it seems hard to believe prices can continue their advance…
Source: Bloomberg
…and we just saw median new home prices tumble (though median existing home prices did increase).
How is Powell going to cut rates when home prices are rising at over 6% per year?
TUCKER CARLSON…
END
III USA ECONOMIC COMMENTARIES
Not-So ‘Broke’ Don: Trump Net Worth Tops $6.4 Billion On SPAC Deal
MONDAY, MAR 25, 2024 – 04:40 PM
Former President Donald Trump’s net worth has topped $6.4 billion on Monday following the completion of a 29-month-long SPAC deal involving his social media company, Trump Media & Technology Group, as well as the reduction of the bond due in his NY civil fraud trial in order to appeal a $454 million verdict.
This courtroom sketch from Trump’s major win today is an instant classic. Hang this in a museum.
·
281K Views
And while Trump’s gains on the SPAC deal with Digital World Acquisition Corp may just be on paper (and any meaningful sales when his six-month lockup expires would likely tank the price), the $4 billion boost was enough to include Trump in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which tracks the top 500 wealthiest people in the world.
Earlier on Monday, Trump was granted a vastly reduced bond requirement of $175 million in order to appeal his NY civil trial over his real estate. In response, Trump quickly said he would post it.
The completion of the SPAC merger came despite last-minute lawsuits from investors and executives, as well as a settlement with the SEC.
The timing couldn’t be worse for Democrats – as the 2024 Biden campaign picked this moment in time to copy Trump’s name-calling strategy, dubbing the former president “Broke Don.” While that was based on a recent campaign finance report showing that Biden out-raised Trump in February, it seems that Biden’s campaign staff – which even former President Barack Obama essentially admitted are total morons, need to go back to the drawing board.
Or not… as long as curbside voting and uncreased 2am ballot drops that nobody is supposed to discuss are a thing.
END
Dallas Fed survey..
(zerohedge))
“It’s A Far Deeper Recession Than Publicized…” Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey Screams Stagflation — all figures are fake, unemployment figures are manipulated because fixed jobs are replaced by temp jobs!! Deeper Recession Than Publicized…” Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey Screams Stagflation
MONDAY, MAR 25, 2024 – 07:20 PM
“Many good things may happen, but the actual occurrence remains to be seen…”
That’s about as rosy a picture as one could glean from the respondents to today’s Dallas Fed Manufacturing survey.
Against expectations of a small improvement from -11.3 to -10.0, the headline sentiment gauge dropped to -14.4 (the lowest end of analysts’ forecasts).
Furthermore, the production index, a key measure of state manufacturing conditions, fell five points to -4.1, a reading that suggests a slight decline in output month over month.
Other measures of manufacturing activity also indicated declines this month.
The new orders index – a key measure of demand – dropped 17 points to -11.8 after briefly turning positive last month.
The capacity utilization index edged down five points to -5.7, and the shipments index plunged from 0.1 to -15.4.
The decline in new orders came alongside a surge in prices as raw materials costs rose to 13-month highs…
Source: Bloomberg
That has the stench of stagflation lathered all over it.
It’s notr a pretty picture at all under the hood…
And worse still, the prices passed on to end-users is rising and expectations for future price-hikes are also rising…
Source: Bloomberg
But it was the respondents comments that perhaps signal the reality that so many Americans are facing…
There’s a lot of uncertainty:
- Election, energy and interest rate uncertainty makes business planning difficult.
- We kept thinking orders would pick up in the first quarter, but they have not. In fact, they’ve gotten even fewer and farther apart. Is it election uncertainly, a lack of peace overseas, money still being too expensive, or is it just a wet blanket over the entire economy? We don’t know, but we’re anxious to get some momentum going into the second half of the year.
- Will the consumer continue to spend enough to promote growth? This is the question I cannot answer confidently.
- We are seeing general business activity slowing and competition increasing. We generally see this trend as business slows and our competitors become more hungry.
But some are more vocal about the real state of the union…
- Only time will tell the true underlying health of the labor market. While there are no disclosures we’re in a recession, ask any manufacturer on the globe and they will tell you we are deep into it. The backbone manufacturing of this country isn’t looking good at all. What is clear is that economic risks abound, and a soft landing is far from the truth out here. I have never seen it this bad in the capital equipment industry in the last 30 years.
- A business is only as good as its customers’ business and is completely dependent upon its customers’ demand – and demand is weak. It’s a far stronger, deeper recession than publicized.
And finally, a direct shot at the Democratic Party agenda:
- Political discussions about taxes are extremely dishonest, and future proposed increases to taxes will further reduce U.S. manufacturing competitiveness globally. I find it very insulting and disingenuous when medium-sized companies are called out as not paying “our fair share” of taxes. Currently, if you look at our total tax paid versus our total profit, we are taxed at over 60 percent as a medium-sized manufacturing company. We can’t expand employment, technology and innovation to compete with China with higher taxes.
But, hey Joe, keep on telling Americans just how good they’ve got it!! See how that’s working out for you…
Can the Democrats really gaslight their way to getting re-elected… again? With a little help from Powell, maybe.
END
BALTIMORE
Baltimore City Implodes: Police Force Collapses, Only Three Officers Patrolled Major District
MONDAY, MAR 25, 2024 – 11:20 PM
How it started.
How it’s going…
“Baltimore is now facing apocalyptic levels of policing shortages. Last week, THREE police officers patrolled a whole district of 61,000 residents. Police are now UNABLE to respond to calls, including for child assault. The department is now postponing police training in an”… Show more
The radical leftists in control of Baltimore City Hall have plunged the metro area just north of Washington, DC, into apocalyptic levels. We advise readers to entirely avoid the metro area as violent crime spirals out of control.
Failed social justice reforms, defunding the police, and widespread mistrust of the police have resulted in a skeleton police force that will no longer be able to protect residents in some regions of the city.
Fox Baltimore reported last Tuesday that only three police officers were on duty for the Southern Police District, which includes more than 61,000 residents.
Several radio transmissions of a police dispatcher pleaded for additional officers as 911 calls came pouring in. At least ten calls went unanswered in a matter of minutes.
“You are endangering the lives of police officers on duty and what that does is endanger the lives of the citizens,” said Betsy Smith with the National Police Association.
Democrats should be ashamed of themselves for pushing failed social justice reforms and defunding the police that have left some areas of the metro area ungovernable as gangs roam free. Meanwhile, Democrats are obsessed with attempting to strip Second Amendment rights from residents, jeopardizing their ability to defend themselves.
“This catastrophic failure is a direct result of WOKE policies and extremely poor leadership from the Mayor. Baltimore is now seeing the results of the unending war on the police in Baltimore City. The failure to support the police is a total failure on behalf of Baltimore’s elected leaders, and this disaster is the end result!” Del. Nino Mangione, R-Baltimore County, said in a statement.
No Democrat will ever be held accountable for failed policies that have unleashed widespread lawlessness across the metro area. Avoid Baltimore as it implodes. Remember, the collapsing police force means more 9-11 calls will go unanswered.
END
BALTIMORE/KEY BRIDGE
The entire Key Bridge in Baltimore has fallen into the harbour
(zerohedge)
Port Of Baltimore Paralyzed After Container Ship Strike Collapses Bridge
TUESDAY, MAR 26, 2024 – 06:45 AM
Update (0645 ET):
A massive container ship chartered by Maersk and moving outbound from the Port of Baltimore struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge around 0130 ET. The bridge collapse has paralyzed a large swath of the largest inland port on the East Coast. The port is ranked 9th for total dollar value of cargo and 13th for cargo tonnage among US ports.
Governor Wes Moore released a statement on the collapse, declaring a State of Emergency in Maryland:
“My office is in close communication with US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski, and the Baltimore Fire Department as emergency personnel are on the scene following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. I have declared a State of Emergency here in Maryland and we are working with an interagency team to quickly deploy federal resources from the Biden Administration. We are thankful for the brave men and women who are carrying out efforts to rescue those involved and pray for everyone’s safety. We will remain in close contact with federal, state, and local entities that are carrying out rescue efforts as we continue to assess and respond to this tragedy.”
Chief Kevin Cartwright, the Baltimore City Fire Department’s director of communications, told Fox Baltimore that at least 20 people and several vehicles had fallen into the river.
In markets, Maersk shares in Copenhagen are trading down more than 3% on the news.
Shocking radio transmission: “The entire Key Bridge is in the harbor.”
Radio traffic from the first arriving
unit. “SOC5 to Battalion 6 and Communications, I’m at Fort Armistead, be advised the entire bridge, the entire Key Bridge is in the harbor.”
from Baltimore, MD
·
Radio traffic from the first arriving @BaltimoreFire unit.
“SOC5 to Battalion 6 and Communications, I’m at Fort Armistead, be advised the entire bridge, the entire Key Bridge is in the harbor.” pic.twitter.com/wTlPxLStRf— Andrew Doyle (@doyle0213) March 26, 2024
* * *
Shocking footage is coming from Baltimore City, home to one of the nation’s largest marine ports. It shows a container ship striking the 1.6-mile-long Francis Scott Key Bridge and collapsing it
🚨#BREAKING: Mass Casualty has been Declared after a Large Container Ship Collides with Key Bridge Causing it completely Collapse⁰
📌#Baltimore | #Maryland
Currently, numerous agencies, including the Coast Guard and fire department have just declared a mass casualty incident as… pic.twitter.com/wvOTOVbvHE— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) March 26, 2024
Here’s another view of the container ship strike.
The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland which crosses the Patapsco River has reportedly Collapsed within the last few minutes after being Struck by a Large Container Ship; a Mass Casualty Incident has been Declared with over a Dozen Cars and many Individuals said to… pic.twitter.com/SsPMU8Mjph— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) March 26, 2024
“This effectively shuts down the Port of Baltimore completely. I’m truly speechless,” one X user said.
Pictured: Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed. This is the bridge I drive every single day. This effectively shuts down the Port of Baltimore completely. I’m truly speechless pic.twitter.com/BzqPa3axJ2— Wade Raynor (@WadeRaynor_) March 26, 2024
Fox Baltimore’s Olivia Dance describes the scene as “devastating.”
Photos of the collapsed Key Bridge sent to us by residents in the area.
Devastating. @FOXBaltimore pic.twitter.com/vh5MP477jI— Olivia Dance (@OliviaDanceTV) March 26, 2024
According to the ship tracking website MarineTraffic, the Singapore-flagged cargo ship “Dali” slammed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge around 0130 ET. Bloomberg notes the ship was chartered by Maersk (remember Maersk’s Ever Given in the Suez Canal a few years ago?).
#MarineTraffic playback showing #Dali, a Singapore-flagged cargo ship, colliding with Francis Scott Key Bridge in #Baltimore. En route to Colombo, Sri Lanka, it crashed at 1:30am. Follow rescue efforts on MarineTraffic and find out more about the vessel: https://t.co/5eiDnqpm2w pic.twitter.com/fykx9cWUF3— MarineTraffic (@MarineTraffic) March 26, 2024
The bridge spans the Patapsco River and carries an estimated 11.5 million vehicles annually. In this collapse, the only shipping lane in and out of the port was severed.
Baltimore is the most inland port on the East Coast and is connected to the I-95 highway network. With no commercial vessels sailing in and out of port anytime soon, this is catastrophic for port operations and could spark supply chain snarls in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. We suspect inbound vessels are rerouting sails this morning.
The bridge collapse has severed these major marine terminals. It’s unknown when operations will be restored.
According to the Maryland government’s website, the Port of Baltimore handled over 52 million tons of international cargo valued at more than $80 billion last year, ranking it as the ninth busiest port in the United States. The data shows that the port handled 847,158 autos and light trucks in 2023, the most of any US port. The port also handles farm and construction machinery, sugar, gypsum, and coal.
The port supports 15,330 direct jobs and 139,180 jobs in Maryland, according to the Maryland government’s website.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott’s office posted on X:
“I’m aware of and en route to the incident at the Key Bridge. I have been in contact with Baltimore Fire Chief James Wallace, Gov. Wes Moore (and the county executives of Baltimore and Anne Arundel counties). Emergency personnel are on scene, and efforts are underway.”
*Developing… 993
end
BALTIMORE
Port Of Baltimore Paralyzed After Container Ship Strike Collapses Bridge
Zerohedge.com/markets/watch-huge-bridge-baltimore-collapses-after-container-ship-strik
TUESDAY, MAR 26, 2024 – 10:18 AM
Here’s a live broadcast of the disaster area in Baltimore, Maryland
With The Tip Credit Falling, Full-Service D.C. Restaurants Cut 3,700 Jobs
TUESDAY, MAR 26, 2024 – 09:45 AM
By Peter Romeo of Restaurant Business Online
Full-service restaurants in Washington, D.C., have cut 3,700 jobs – about 12% of their workforce – since the jurisdiction began rolling back its tip credit in May 2023, according to data newly released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The federal agency did not draw a correlation between the drop in jobs and the reduction in the credit, which fell in May and then again in July of last year. Restaurants there have also been affected by a slow return of government workers and employees of companies that interact with the government to their downtown offices. Operators say traffic has also been dampened by fears about rising nighttime crime.
But restaurants without table service have not cut jobs nearly as aggressively as their full-service counterparts have. Between May 1 of last year and the end of January 24, limited-service places have eliminated 400 positions, or just 1.7% of their collective payrolls.
In addition, downtown offices were even emptier during the corresponding eight months of a year earlier, yet full-service places added 1,200 positions during that timeframe, an increase in their workforce of 4.5%, according to the BLS’ numbers.
Industry advocates say the numbers underscore the damage that has been done to the local restaurant market by the ongoing phase-out of the tip credit.
“In just seven months, the city’s full-service restaurant employment has been gutted by the change,” Sean Kennedy, EVP of public affairs for the National Restaurant Association, said in a statement. “Higher labor costs mean higher menu prices. That means diners are eating out less and tipping less, which in turn means less income for servers and operators.”
The data comes to light as opponents of the tip credit are pushing to eliminate the employer concession in a number of other states, including Illinois, New York, Massachusetts and Ohio.
The efforts there are being led by One Fair Wage, the labor advocacy group that was a major force behind the tip credit’s phase-out in Washington. The group, which receives funding from the Service Employees International Union, argues that tipping is an abomination that routinely exposes servers and other tipped employees to sexual harassment and other types of abuse. It contends that workers can’t push back against the abusers without risking the loss of tip income.
The District’s tip credit was set on a sunset course by local voters’ approval of a referendum on the November 2022 ballot. The measure called for the credit to be dropped in stages until it hits zero in July 2027, meaning servers, bartenders and other tipped employees will receive the same direct wage as their non-tipped colleagues as of that date.
Until May 1 of last year, restaurants were obliged to pay servers and other regularly tipped employees just $5.35 an hour if tips brought their income up to $16.10. The $10.75 that came from gratuities was the tip credit.
The direct payment required of a tipped worker’s employer rose to $6 an hour in May and $8 in June, and will rise to $10 on July 1 of this year.
With more of tipped employees’ income coming directly from their employers, many full-service restaurants in the Districts have tried to preserve margins by adding surcharges to their bills as well as by raising prices. According to the Employment Policies Institute, 70% of local sit-down establishments either have already tacked on service fees or plan to do so as the tip credit ebbs.
All told, 96% of full-service places in the District have raised prices since the rollback of the credit began last year, according to the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington (RAMW). It pegged the average increase at 16%.
The trade group also found last winter that labor costs for restaurants in the District had risen by a mean of 25%.
The use of service fees has become so routine in the District that the City Council recently set regulations for how the surcharges can be levied. Among other things, the guidelines specify that restaurants can assess no more than 20% of a patron’s bill as a surcharge.
The package of concessions also included a measure intended to bring down liquor-liability insurance rates as an offset to the local drop in restaurant revenues.
Areas outside the District still allow restaurants to use a tip credit, though labor advocates in Maryland and Virginia have tried to kill the convention there. According to the RAMW, about 32% of Washingtonians are now dining more often in those states, which lie just outside the capital’s borders.
As of last November, restaurants within Washington were closing at the rate of roughly one per week, the RAMW said at the time.
“What we’re learning from the D.C. experience is that eliminating the tip credit will only reduce income, choices, and opportunities,” said the NRA’s Kennedy.
He called the elimination of the tip credit “a lose-lose-lose for any community.”
Assange wins temporary reprieve as court seeks USA assurances over extradition
(zerohedge)
Assange Wins Temporary Reprieve As Court Seeks US ‘Assurances’ Over Extradition
TUESDAY, MAR 26, 2024 – 08:45 AM
Tuesday’s much anticipated London High Court ruling has gone mostly in Julian Assange’s favor, as he has been granted permission to continue to appeal his extradition to the United States, where he would face espionage and related charges for publishing state secrets. However, this is not yet a ‘win’ for Assange and his team, but more of another delay.
The court ruled that the WikiLeaks founder will be not be extradited immediately and said the US still has opportunity to provide “satisfactory assurances” related to his grounds of appeal. What has happened Tuesday is tantamount to Assange’s ability to challenge the extradition request being slightly extended, and is a temporary reprieve, extending the whole process yet further.
But this is the part that is not looking good for Assange, as explained by WikiLeaks: “The court has given US Gov 3 weeks to give satisfactory assurances: That Mr. Assange is permitted to rely on the First Amendment to the US constitution; not prejudiced at trial by reason of his nationality; and that the death penalty is not imposed.”
A May 20 hearing which has been scheduled is expected to take up whether the US ‘assurances’ are satisfactory. An Al Jazeera correspondent has explained the decision as follows:
It was a highly nuanced decision in the end. The judges haven’t thrown out the grounds for an appeal hearing, they have essentially upheld them.
They basically said, “Yes, we understand that there is a basis here for an appeal – however, we are going to defer a decision on that until May 20”, when they called for a second hearing.
According to the judge’s statement, “We had an explicit statutory obligation not to order the applicant’s extradition if he could be sentenced to death for the offense concerned or if he could be charged with an extradition offense disclosed by the same facts in respect of which a sentence of death could be imposed.”
The statement reads further, “If assurances are given, then we will give the parties an opportunity to make further submissions before we make a final decision on the application for leave to appeal.”
Stella Assange, his wife, has warned that if the court rules against Assange, he could be on a plane to US soil days following. He would be removed from the high security Belmarsh prison for a trial in the US on espionage-related charges and publishing state secrets, where a 175 year jail sentence would await him, likely at a federal ‘supermax’ prison.
WikiLeaks has been urging all Americans to put pressure on the Biden administration to drop its case against Assange by calling House representatives and telling them to support H.Res.934. The bill, introduced by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) requests that the Biden White House halt the proceedings against Assange.
The bill reads: “This resolution expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that regular journalistic activities, including the obtainment and publication of information, are protected under the First Amendment and that the federal government should drop all charges against and attempts to extradite Julian Assange.”
BREAKING: Julian Assange may still be extradited to the US in three weeks if US Gov provides “assurances” – previously deemed by Amnesty as “inherently unreliable” – including that he will not be prejudiced at trial by reason of his nationality and not receive the death penalty… pic.twitter.com/H90vu00oV8— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) March 26, 2024
Editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks Kristinn Hrafnsson has commented on what Assange’s prosecution and possible extradition means for the future of press freedoms.”It cannot be underestimated, the effect that it will have,” he said. “If an Australian citizen publishing in Europe can face prison time in the United States, that means no journalists anywhere are safe in the future.”
However, as we detailed last week, the Biden administration might be looking for a way to bring the 14-year long legal drama to an end. A last Wednesday WSJ report said, “The U.S. Justice Department is considering whether to allow Julian Assange to plead guilty to a reduced charge of mishandling classified information, according to people familiar with the matter, opening the possibility of a deal that would end a lengthy legal saga triggered by one of the biggest classified intelligence leaks in American history.”
A plea deal means the whole crisis for him and his family could finally come to an acceptable and peaceful end after all of these years. But Assange’s legal team has not given any level of confirmation to the WSJ reporting.
IIIB USA COMMENTARIES RE ISRAEL/HAMAS WAR/ and PERVASIVE ANTISEMITISM/WOKISM…
end
iiiC USA COVID //VACCINE ISSUES
END
FREIGHT ISSUES/USA
END
VICTOR DAVIS HANSON
END
SWAMP STORIES
END
KING REPORT
| Chris Powell | 12:25 PM (0 minutes ago) |  | |
| to Chris, bcc: me | |||
 | |
| The King Report January 26, 2024 ssue 7208 | Independent View of the News |
| China state-owned banks seen selling dollars for yuan to stabilize currency, sources say Also stepped into the market on Friday after the yuan weakened past the psychologically important 7.2 per dollar… https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/china-state-owned-banks-seen-selling-dollars-for-yuan-to-stabilise-currency-sources-say China blocks use of Intel and AMD chips in government computers, FT reports The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft’s operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said… https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-blocks-use-intel-amd-chips-government-computers-ft-reports-2024-03-24/ Japan’s currency chief warns against speculative moves in market “The current weakening of the yen is not in line with fundamentals and is clearly driven by speculation,” vice finance minister for international affairs Masato Kanda told reporters Monday. “We will take appropriate action against excessive fluctuations, without ruling out any options.”… https://www.japantimes.co.jp/business/2024/03/25/japan-currency-chief-warns-on-yen/ We have regularly warned that though Powell and his ilk proclaim that they will not repeat the Fed mistakes of the Seventies, they are indeed repeating the biggest mistake: Rate hikes will not halt inflation if the Fed keep supplying the juice. A reduction in reserves/liquidity is required to halt inflation. @GordonJohnson19: Rate cuts don’t matter much. Liquidity does (defined as: Fed Bal. Sheet – TGA – RRP). And, in 1Q24, the @federalreserve did billions in stealth QE. So, the @federalreserve is still bidding up risk assets by buying them with newly printed USD. Fed Governor Lisa Cook Remarks in Text of Speech at Harvard – BBGCutting Too Soon Could Risk Inflation Becoming EntrenchedCutting Too Late Could Unnecessarily Harm EconomyRisks to Inflation, Job Goals Moving into Better BalanceDisinflation Has Been Bumpy, Uneven as ExpectedCareful Policy Approach Can Ensure Path to 2% InflationFed Watching Asset Prices Closely for Financial Stability The Dual Mandate and the Balance of Risks – Governor Lisa D. Cook Taking all these inflation and labor market indicators together, and as noted in the most recent FOMC statement, the risks to achieving our inflation and employment goals are moving into better balance. The risk of easing monetary policy too much or too soon is that it could allow above-target inflation to become entrenched and halt the progress that we have seen. That would ultimately require more-restrictive monetary policy to wring more-persistent inflation out of the economy, at a potentially high cost to employment. But easing too late could also do unnecessary harm by holding back the economy and depriving people of economic opportunities. The path of disinflation, as expected, has been bumpy and uneven, but a careful approach to further policy adjustments can ensure that inflation will return sustainably to 2 percent while striving to maintain the strong labor market. https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/cook20240325a.htm Now we get it! When Powell and his ilk kept asserting the market needs to prepare for “higher for longer,” they were NOT talking about interest rates. They were talking about inflation! Bitcoin soared to $70,831.50; June Gold hit 2204.10; May WTI Oil hit 82.48 (+$1.85). @caroljsroth: The US federal government took in taxes/revenue of almost $4.5 trillion dollars last fiscal year. This is more than the GDP of every country on earth, other than our own and China’s. They do not need one more dime. We have a spending problem, not a revenue problem. US 2-year auction results: 4.595% vs. 4.590% WI ESMs traded mostly in negative territory, but sideways, from the Nikkei opening until they broke lower at 1 ET. ESMs hit a low of 5282.25 at 2:24 ET. They rallied to 5293.00 at 3:33 ET and then began a decline that persisted until a daily low of 5272.50 appeared at7:49 ET. ESMs spasmodically rallied to 5287.50 at 10:20 ET. After a modest retreat, ESMs traded sideways until they inched higher at the 14:15 ET VIX Fix. The meager rally ended at 14:40 ET. ESMs returned to an inert state. At 15:00 ET, ESMs broke down into an A-B-C decline that ended at 15:57 ET. Fangs were soft early due to China’s latest response in the ‘chip war’ with the US. After hitting a daily low at 9:42 ET, the NY Fang+ Index rallied until the close. Mag 7/Fangs are over-owned. Ergo, the usual suspects will diligently manipulate them high this week to game Q1 performance. @TripleNetInvest: The Market Square complex in the heart of Washington DC has sold for $272M less than the previous acquisition price… PRP Real Estate Investment, acquired the 696k sq ft office complex for $323M from the Sellers. The previous Owner, Blackstone/Pimco, purchased it for $595M. Washington DC’s commercial real estate office market continues its meltdown w/ no signs of a turnaround. Boeing CEO to step down, amid aviation manufacturer’s safety problems https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/transportation/boeing-executive-step-down-amid-aviation-manufactures-problems-737 Cargo theft spiked over 57% in 2023 vs. 2022, new data shows https://t.co/8zDHy8t14F Attacks in NYC transit jump 50% as subway murders surge: stats https://t.co/C2eMN2lud2 Positive aspects of previous session Fangs rallied modestly on manipulation to game Q1 performance Negative aspects of previous session Stocks and bond declined moderately ESMs had another late decline Gasoline, oil, gold, and Bitcoin rallied sharply Ambiguous aspects of previous session How will the Fed interpret the bogus February Employment Report? 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]: 5221.12 Previous session S&P 500 Index High/Low: 5229.09; 5216.09 “Why Do I Have to Have Another Marvel Movie That’s All Women?” Billionaire (Nelson Peltz) Slams ‘Woke’ Disney Amid Board Proxy Battle – “People go to watch a movie or a show to be entertained,” said Peltz. “They don’t go to get a message.”… https://www.zerohedge.com/political/why-do-i-have-have-marvel-thats-all-women-billionaire-slams-woke-disney-amid-proxy-battle @60Minutes: The president of Mexico’s proposal for stemming immigration includes: – The U.S. commit $20 billion a year to poor countries in Latin America and the Caribbean -Lift sanctions on Venezuela -End the Cuban embargo -Legalize law-abiding Mexicans living in the U.S. https://twitter.com/60Minutes/status/1772050340570960006 (Mexico President AMLO is trying to extort Biden in an election year!) @60Minutes: The number of Mexican government officials and candidates murdered rose from 94 in 2018 to 355 last year. https://twitter.com/60Minutes/status/1772052383670911423 @visegrad24: Mexican President AMLO talking to 60 Minutes: “Do you know why we don’t have the drug consumption that you have in the United States? Because we celebrate our customs, traditions, and we don’t have the problem of the disintegration of the family.” https://t.co/aMDTYHYxas The stones on AMLO! Lecturing the US about values as people in his narco-state pour into the US! Speaker Johnson fires back at Mexico’s president, rips ‘widespread emigration out of his country’ https://trib.al/cRhYtiU @sentimentrader: Small speculators in stock indexes have reached their most bullish net position ever. https://t.co/qzmJeQXO1P “After spending many years in Wall Street and after making and losing millions of dollars I want to tell you this: it was never my thinking that made me big money for me, it was always my “sitting”. Men who can both be right and sit tight are uncommon. I found it one of the hardest things to learn. It is literally true that millions come easier to a trader after he knows how to trade than hundreds did in the days of his ignorance” – Jessie Livermore Today – Down Mondays are rare; and when they occur, traders play for a Turnaround Tuesday to the upside. There are only 3 sessions remaining in Q1. The usual suspects are likely to get serious about manipulating stuff higher to game Q1 performance by the late afternoon. Markets are thin because this is a big vacation week. Ergo, it will be easier to manipulate stuff. Caveat: Often at month or quarter end, gold gets slammed because someone powerful wants it down. Expected economic data: Feb Durable Goods 0.1% m/m, Ex-Trans 0.4%, Nondef ex-Air 0.1%, Shipments 0.0%; Jan FHFA House Price Index 0.4% m/m; Feb S&P CoreLogic 20-city house prices 0.2% m/m & 6.6% y/y; March Conference Board Consumer Confidence 106.8, Mar Richmond Fed Mfg. -5 ESUs are +6.75; NQHs are +30.75; USHs are +8/32 at 20:15 ET. Traders are loading up for the expected Turnaround Tuesday and Q1 performance gaming. S&P Index 50-day MA: 5018; 100-day MA: 4804; 150-day MA: 4655; 200-day MA: 4605 DJIA 50-day MA: 38,601; 100-day MA: 37,315; 150-day MA: 36,190, 200-day MA: 35,800 (Green is positive slope; Red is negative slope) S&P 500 Index (5118.19) – 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 5003.27 triggers a sell signal Daily: Trender and MACD are positive – a close below 5146.21 triggers a sell signal Hourly: Trender is positive; MACD is negative – a close below 5214.95 triggers a sell signal Joe Biden’s Political Origin Story Is Almost Certainly Bogus. It May Land Him in Legal Trouble. For nearly two decades, President Joe Biden has told a story about why he devoted his life to politics. He repeated the tale, at the risk of facing criminal charges for lying to a federal agent, while speaking to Special Counsel Robert Hur in October 2023. Fresh out of law school and working as a clerk at a high-powered Wilmington, Delaware, law firm, Biden, in his telling, was tapped to defend a construction company sued by a 23-year-old welder who “lost part of his penis and one of his testicles” to a fire that broke out when he was working inside a chimney at a Delaware City plant. Thanks to Biden’s shrewd legal defense on the construction company’s behalf, the injured man lost the case… Biden said he was so wracked with guilt that he concocted an excuse to avoid a celebratory lunch with one of the firm’s named partners and walked into the public defender’s office to ask for a job that very day… Although Biden did work at a law firm tapped to defend a construction company in a negligence suit like the one he described to Hur, the case concluded in 1968, while Biden was still in law school. And the welder won, walking away with $315,000, more than $2.8 million in 2024 dollars… The Washington Free Beacon was unable to find any record of Biden working on a case that fits this description or any record of Prickett handling such a case while Biden was in the firm’s employ… https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/joe-bidens-political-origin-story-is-almost-certainly-bogus-and-he-just-swore-to-it-under-oath/ Kamala Harris claps to Puerto Rico protest song, stops once aide translates what they’re actually singing – Long live Free Palestine and Haiti too!” the band said, according to the account managed by the Republican National Committee… https://www.yahoo.com/news/kamala-harris-claps-puerto-rico-130454057.html Bond in Trump’s civil fraud case reduced to $175M from $464M https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/bond-trumps-civil-fraud-case-reduced-175-million Ex-federal prosecutor @shipwreckedcrew: Trump’s bond being reduced is an early signal that the outcome of the “trial” is not going to stand. THAT is what is behind all the teams and caterwauling. Incredible moment Senator John Kennedy destroys Olympic skier Gus Schumacher after Democrats invited him to testify as ‘expert witness’ on climate change – and reads out his damning old tweets – House Democrats presented the young skier as an ‘expert witness’ as the Budget Committee considered the effect of climate change on the recreation industry But Schumacher, 23, struggled in a series of excruciating exchanges, claiming that the 0.04 percent of CO2 in the atmosphere was a ‘huge part’ … https://t.co/DUmnKB8sxi @CollinRugg: Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison says two car manufacturers are under investigation for being “too easy to steal for young people.” Yes, because stealing a car is the car’s fault. We’ve gotta make sure that the automobiles are not so easy to steal.” “Right now we are investigating two major automakers because their cars are dramatically too easy to steal for young people.” https://twitter.com/CollinRugg/status/1772082973153935520 @LahavHarkov: Netanyahu announces that if the US doesn’t veto the UN Security Council resolution for a ceasefire today, he’s canceling Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi’s White House meetings. Sources tells me that earlier today, U.S. officials notified Dermer the U.S. plans to allow two separate ceasefire resolutions to pass in the UNSC: one calling for a ceasefire and one calling to release the hostages, without one being a condition of the other. The U.S. abstained and the resolution passed. It’s one resolution, which calls for a “lasting” ceasefire and for the release of the hostages but does not condition one on the other. Netanyahu canceled the Israeli delegation to the White House and said the US has backed down from its policy of tying a ceasefire to the release of hostages by not vetoing the UNSC Gaza ceasefire resolution. AFP: Israel Will Not End War Until Hostages Freed, Defense Minister Says in Washington @igorsushko: Russian military intelligence GRU Colonel Igor Salikov has become increasingly convinced the Crocus City Hall terror attack was a botched and poorly executed inside job by the Russian security services. Salikov defected from Russia last year. Igor Salikov’s assertions based on inside information available from his sources in Russia: – Police units & security services assigned to guard the venue disappeared from the site at around 7pm, prior to the terrorist attack… – Can’t imagine anything beside spetsnaz white phosphorus grenades being used to cause the massive fire that destroyed the giant venue. – The K-9 police officer’s behavior seen in videos who was inside the venue during the massacre is too calm as if complicit participant… – The psychological profile of the gunmen is inconsistent with expected behavior of ISIS extremists. – Would expect ISIS to attack the Russian government including the police. – Would expect ISIS gunmen to be proud and content to die for their deeds, not taken alive for torture… – The way the terrorists were captured and who captured them, Kadyrovites, is bizarre. They must have been given fed the location and told the culprits are unarmed. – The way Russian intelligence would set up this terror attack: Recruit the terrorists and guarantee them safety, bribe them, provide them concrete instructions, and disappear without a trace. Then catch them just like they were caught – piecemeal, & without weapons as instructed… GRU Military Intelligence Colonel Igor Salikov believes Russian intelligence not only helped Hamas plan the attack on Israel, but they also participated. He noticed the all-too-familiar mannerisms of some of the masked men that are trademarks of Russian special operators. https://twitter.com/igorsushko/status/1772021647790469624 | |
GREG HUNTER INTERVIEWING
SEE YOU ON WEDNESDAY
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