GOLD CLOSED DOWN $44.70 TO $2839.90

SILVER CLOSED DOWN 56 CENTSTO $30.90

OPTIONS EXPIRY/FRIDAY IS OPTIONX EXPIRY FOR LONDON OTC

 GOLD ACCESS CLOSED 2854,10

Silver ACCESS CLOSED: $3114

Bitcoin morning price:$80691 DOWN 4340 DOLLARS.

Bitcoin: afternoon price: $84,068 DOWN 963 DOLLARS

Platinum price closing DOWN $25.85 TO $940.70

Palladium price; DOWN $7.90 TO $917.60

END

*CANADIAN GOLD: $4129.78 DOWN 24.60 CDN dollars per oz( * NEW ALL TIME HIGH 4208.15CDN DOLLARS PER OZ//FEB 24 2025)

*BRITISH GOLD: 2269.34 DOWN 13.60 Pounds per oz// *(NEW ALL TIME HIGH//CLOSING//2,339.25 BRITISH POUNDS/OZ) FEB 10/2025

*EURO GOLD: 2,752.25 DOWN 14.50 Euros per oz //* (ALL TIME CLOSING HIGH: 2,819,78UROS PER OZ/FEB 24 //2025)

DONATE

Click here if you wish to send a donation. I sincerely appreciate it as this site takes a lot of preparation

END

EXCHANGE

GOLD: NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR FEBRUARY/2024. CONTRACT: 188 NOTICES FOR 18800 OZ  1.5847 TONNES

total notices so far: 76,567 contracts for 7,646,700 Oz (238.155 tonnes)

THIS COMPLETES FEB.

MARCH: THIS IS A DILLY FOR A NON DELIVERY MONTH;

GOLD: NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR MARCH/2024. CONTRACT: 9711 NOTICES FOR 971,100 OZ  30.205 TONNES

total notices so far: 9711 contracts for 971100 Oz (30.205 tonnes)

FOR  FEB.

SILVER NOTICES: 16 NOTICE(S) FILED FOR 0.800MILLION OZ/

total number of notices filed so far this month : 4788 for 23.94 million oz

FOR MARCH

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

SILVER NOTICES: 10,119 NOTICE(S) FILED FOR 50.595MILLION OZ/

total number of notices filed so far this month : 10,119 for 50.595 million oz

Click here if you wish to send a donation. I sincerely appreciate it as this site takes a lot of preparation

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 DOWN $ 44.70 INVESTORS SWITCHING TO SPROTT PHYSICAL  (PHYS) INSTEAD OF THE FRAUDULENT GLD:

HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF 1.73TONNES

INVENTORY RESTS AT 906.10 TONNES

SLV/

WITH NO SILVER AROUND AND SILVER DOWN 56 CENTS AT THE SLV: HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.732 MILLION OZ

INVESTORS ARE SWITCHING SLV TO SPROTT’S PSLV.

CLOSING INVENTORY: 437.674MILLION OZ

Let us have a look at the data for today

SILVER//OUTLINE

SILVER COMEX OI FELL BY A HUGE SIZED 3072 ONTRACTS TO 158,760 AND STALLING ON ITS MARCH TO THE RECORD HIGH OI OF 244,710, SET FEB 25/2020, AND THIS HUGE SIZED LOSS IN COMEX OI WAS ACCOMPLISHED WITH OUR LOSS OF $0,00 IN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX WITH RESPECT TO THURSDAY’S TRADING. WE HAD A HUGE LOSS OF 3047 TOTAL CONTRACTS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES DESPITE OUR ZERO LOSS IN PRICE//THURSDAY’S TRADING.. WE HAD HUGE LIQUIDATION OF T.A.S. CONTRACTS ON THURSDAY COMEX TRADING COUPLED WITH MONTH END SPREADER LIQUIDATION/ AS THEY DESPERATELY TRIED TO CONTAIN SILVER’S PRICE RISE FOR THE PAST 4 WEEKS (WHERE RAIDS ARE CALLED UPON AGAIN AND AGAIN TRYING TO STOP THE RISE IN SILVER’S PRICE AND TO QUELL ADDITIONAL DERIVATIVE LOSSES TO OUR BANKERS’ MASSIVE TOTALS). THEY FAILED ON THURSDAY WITH SILVER’S ZERO LOSS IN PRICE SO THEY ARE TRYING AGAIN TODAY..  WE HAD A HUGE T.A.S. LIQUIDATION THURSDAY COUPLED WITH ANOTHER NEW HUGE T.A.S. ISSUANCE OF 612 CONTRACTS ISSUED BY THE CME AND THAT SIGNALS DEEP CODE RED THAT THE CROOKS ARE DESPERATE TO STOP SILVER BREAKING OVER THE 34.00 DOLLAR MARK. WE HAVE A HUGE CONTANGO IN SILVER SPOT VS FRONT FEB OF AROUND 95 CENTS AND A LEASE RATE OF 6%. WE HAD A SMALL 25 CONTRACT EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE ACCOMPANIED BY OUR HUGE 612 CONTRACT T.A.S ISSUANCE WHICH WILL BE USED IN TODAY’S TRADING AS THEY PLAY AN INTEGRAL PART IN OUR COMEX TRADING TRYING TO CONTAIN ANY SILVER PRICE RISE. IN ESSENCE WE LOST A HUMONGOUS SIZED 3047 CONTRACTS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES WITH OUR ZERO LOSS IN PRICE. WE HAD HUGE TAS LIQUIDATION THROUGHOUT THURSDAY’S COMEX TRADING SESSION DUE TO IT BEING OPTIONS EXPIRY WEEK.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE CROOKS NEED A HIGHER SILVER/GOLD T.A.S. TO CARRY ON THEIR CROOKED MANIPULATION ON A DAILY BASIS BUT DEMAND IS JUST TOO HIGH FOR THEM. THE HIGHER ISSUANCE OF T.A.S. IS NOW USED TO TEMPER OUR SILVER/GOLD PRICE RISE OR INITIATE A RAID AS WHAT HAPPENED SEVERAL TIMES LAST MONTH AND AGAIN WITH THIS WEEK’S TRADING ON SILVER.

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 THURSDAY NIGHT/FRIDAY MORNING: A HUGE 612 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 NOW SEEMS THAT THE OCC HAS ORDERED THE BANKS TO REDUCE ITS NEW LEVEL OF 1 TRILLION DOLLARS IN GOLD/SILVER DERIVATIVES

WE HAVE IN THE PAST YEAR 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 FELL BY  $0.0 BUT WERE SUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING OFF SOME NET SILVER LONGS FROM THEIR PERCH AS WE HAD A HUMONGOUS LOSS IN OUR TWO EXCHANGES OF 3047 CONTRACTS WE HAD A MASSIVE LIQUIDATION OF T.A.S. CONTRACTS AND MON END SPREADERS TRYING TO CONTAIN SILVER’S PRICE RISE AND THAT ACCOUNTS OF MOST OF OUR OPEN INTEREST FALL.

WE HAD A 25 CONTRACT ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS) iiii) AN  INITIAL SILVER STANDING FOR COMEX SILVER MEASURING AT 78.753 MILLION OZ (FIRST DAY NOTICE)

// STANDING FOR SILVER//FEB FINALIZES AT   23.940 MILLION OZ + 500,000 OZ EXCHANGE FOR RISK = 24.44 MILLION OZ…FINAL

INITIAL STANDING FOR MARCH STARTS AT 78.457 MILLION OZ

WE HAD:

/ HUGE SIZED COMEX OI LOSS+// A SMALL SIZED  EFP ISSUANCE/ VI)   HUGE SIZED NUMBER OF  T.A.S. CONTRACT ISSUANCE 612 CONTRACTS)/

 I AM NOW RECORDING THE DIFFERENTIAL IN OI FROM PRELIMINARY TO FINAL: REMOVED 33 CONTRACTS.

HISTORICAL ACCUMULATION OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS FEB. ACCUMULATION FOR EFP’S SILVER/JPMORGAN’S HOUSE OF BRIBES/STARTING FROM FIRST DAY/MONTH OF FEB

TOTAL CONTRACTS for 18 DAYS, total 11,652ontracts:   OR 58.260 MILLION OZ  (647 CONTRACTS PER DAY)

TOTAL EFP’S FOR THE MONTH SO FAR:  58.260 MILLION OZ

LAST 24 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  111.035 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: 143.750 MILLION OZ// 4TH HIGHEST ON RECORD.

APRIL: 161.770 MILLION OZ (THIS MONTH WILL BE A WHOPPER OF ISSUANCE OF EFPS//3RD HIGHEST EVER RECORDED FOR A MONTH)

MAY: 135.995 MILLION OZ  //WILL BE A STRONG MONTH FOR EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE

JUNE 110.575 MILLION OZ ( WILL BE ANOTHER STRONG MONTH ISSUANCE)

JULY: 108.870 MILLION OZ (WILL BE A STRONG ISSUANCE MONTH/ A TOUCH OVER 100 MILLION OZ/)

AUGUST; 99.740 MILLION OZ//THIS MONTH WILL BE STRONG FOR ISSUANCE BUT LESS THAN JULY.

SEPT: 112.415 MILLION OZ//WILL BE A HUGE MONTH FOR EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE

OCT; 97.485 MILLION OZ (WILL BE SMALLER ISSUANCE THIS MONTH )

NOV. 115.970 MILLION OZ ( HUGE THIS MONTH)

DEC: 132.54 MILLION OZ (THIS MONTH WILL BE A HUMDINGER FOR ISSUANCE BUT ISSUANCE SLOWED DRAMATICALLY THESE PAST FIVE DAYS/// WILL NOT EXCEED MARCH 2022 RECORD OF 209 MILLION OZ

YEAR 2024 TOTAL: 1363.84 MILLION OR 1.363 BILLION OZ

JANUARY 2025: 67.230 MILLION OZ///(THIS MONTH’S ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL WILL BE SMALL)

FEB. 58.260 MILLION OZ//EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE/FINAL

MARCH

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

RESULT: WE HAD A HUGE SIZED DECREASE IN COMEX OI SILVER COMEX CONTRACTS OF 3047 CONTRACTS WITH OUR NO GAIN IN PRICE OF SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX// THURSDAY.,.  THE CME NOTIFIED US THAT WE HAD A 25 CONTRACT EFP ISSUANCE  CONTRACTS: 1350 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 DEC OF  78.455 MILLION  OZ ON FIRST DAY NOTICE,

WE HAVE 1). A HUGE SIZED LOSS OF 3047 OI CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES WITH OUR ZERO LOSS IN  PRICE// 2.THE TOTAL OF TAS INITIATED CONTRACTS TODAY: A HUGE 612 CONTRACTS TRYING DESPERATELY TO CONTAIN SILVER’S PRICE RISE,//MONSTER FRONT END OF THE TAS CONTRACTS WERE LIQUIDATED DURING THE THURSDAY COMEX SESSION. HOWEVER THEY STILL NEED THESE ISSUANCES FOR REPLENISHMENT FOR FUTURE TRADING //3. SOME NET LONG SPECULATORS WERE BURNED ON THURSDAY DESPITE THE ZERO LOSS IN PRICE. ALSO 4. SOME OF OUR LONGS EXERCISED THEIR CONTRACTS AND TENDERED FOR PHYSICAL SILVER MUCH TO THE ANGER OF OUR BANKERS. SILVER IS NOT BASEL III COMPLIANT SO THE BANKERS CAN TAKE THEIR TIME WITH THE DELIVERY OF SILVER.

THE NEW TAS ISSUANCE THURSDAY NIGHT   (612 ) WILL BE PUT INTO “THE BANK” TO BE COLLUSIVELY USED AT A LATER DATE AND MOST LIKELY TODAY.

WE HAD  10,119 NOTICE(S) FILED TODAY FOR 50.595 million OZ

THE SILVER COMEX IS NOW BEING ATTACKED FOR METAL BY LONDONERS ET AL.

GOLD//OUTLINE

IN GOLD, THE COMEX OPEN INTEREST FELL BY A GOOD SIZED 5406 OI CONTRACTS  TO 508,807 AND CLOSER TO THE RECORD (SET JAN 24/2020) AT 799,105  AND  PREVIOUS TO THAT: (SET JAN 6/2020) AT 797,110. (ALL TIME LOW OF 390,000 CONTRACTS.)

THE DIFFERENTIAL FROM PRELIMINARY OI TO FINAL OI IN GOLD TODAY:  REMOVED A STRONG SIZED 1085 CONTRACTS//

WE HAD A GOOD SIZED DECREASE  IN COMEX OI (5406 CONTRACTS) OCCURRED WITH OUR LOSS OF $21.75 IN PRICE THURSDAY. THE FRBNY SUPPLIED THE NECESSARY SHORT PAPER.. WE ALSO HAD A HUMONGOUS INITIAL STANDING IN GOLD TONNAGE FOR MARCH AT 31.757 TONNES

/NEW STANDING FOR MARCH; 31.757 TONNES

/ ALL OF THIS HAPPENED WITH OUR   $21.75 LOSS IN PRICE  WITH RESPECT TO THURSDAY’S COMEX ///. WE HAD A FAIR SIZED LOSS OF 1846 OI CONTRACTS (5.741PAPER TONNES) ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES, WITH MANY LONGS, REMAINING AT THE END OF THE DAY, TENDERING FOR PHYSICAL GOLD VIA THE EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ROUTE, MUCH TO THE ANGER AND HORROR EXHIBITED BY OUR MAJOR BANKER, THE FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF NEW YORK. THE HORROR INTENSIFIED ONCE LONDON STARTED TO TRADE LAST WEEK, AND THROUGHOUT THE WEEK WITH MAJOR TENDERING FOR PHYSICAL VIA THE EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ROUTE! THE RESULT: A MASSIVE AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING FOR DELIVERY FOR THE FRONT MARCH CONTRACT MONTH. CENTRAL BANKERS ARE NOW WAITING PATIENTLY FOR THEIR DELIVERY OF GOLD VIA SLOW MOVING SHIPS.

E.F.P. ISSUANCE

THE CME RELEASED THE DATA FOR EFP ISSUANCE AND IT TOTALED A STRONG SIZED 3560 CONTRACTS:

The NEW COMEX OI FOR THE GOLD COMPLEX RESTS AT 507,722

IN ESSENCE WE HAVE A FAIR SIZED DECREASE IN TOTAL CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 1846 CONTRACTS  WITH 5406 CONTRACTS DECREASED AT THE COMEX// AND A STRONG SIZED 3560 EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL OI CONTRACT ISSUANCE WHICH NAVIGATED OVER TO LONDON. THUS TOTAL OI LOSS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 1846 CONTRACTS.. WE HAD THE FOLLOWING TAS CONTRACTS INITIATED (ISSUED): A FAIR SIZED AND CRIMINAL 1608 CONTRACTS ISSUED.

CALCULATIONS ON GAIN/LOSS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES

WE HAD A STRONG SIZED ISSUANCE IN EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS (5406 CONTRACTS) ACCOMPANYING THE GOOD SIZED DECREASE IN COMEX OI OF 5406 CONTRACTS/TOTAL LOSS FOR OUR THE TWO EXCHANGES: 1846 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 31.757 TONNES 

NEW STANDING FOR MARCH ADVANCES TO:

31.757 TONNES

//NEW STANDING MARCH: 31.757 TONNES

.

 / 3) HUGE T.A.S. LIQUIDATION TRYING TO LOWER GOLD’S PRICE THURSDAY WITH SOME SUCCESS IN REMOVING ANY NET SPECULATOR LONGS, AS WITH OUR1)  $21.75 PRICE LOSS WE HAD 2) MINOR NET LONG SPECS BEING CLIPPED AS WE HAD A FAIR LOSS OF 1846 CONTRACTS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES ) ALSO, 3)STICKY GOLD’S LONGS WERE REWARDED THURSDAY EVENING AS THEY EXERCISED EFP’S FROM LONDON TO TAKE DELIVERY OF BADLY NEEDED PHYSICAL AND THUS OUR RECORD NUMBER OF GOLD TONNES STANDING FOR FEBRUARY.

  4) STRONG SIZED COMEX OPEN INTEREST DECREASE 5)  STRONG ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL PAPER///FAIR T.A.S.  ISSUANCE: 1602 T.A.S.CONTRACTS//

HISTORICAL ACCUMULATION OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS IN 2023-2025 INCLUDING TODAY

FEB

ACCUMULATION OF EFP’S GOLD AT J.P. MORGAN’S HOUSE OF BRIBES: (EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL) FOR THE MONTH OF FEB :

TOTAL EFP CONTRACTS ISSUED: 66,621 CONTRACTS OF 6,662,100 OZ OR 207.21 TONNES IN 18 RADING DAY(S) AND THUS AVERAGING: 3701 EFP CONTRACTS PER TRADING DAY

TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA AS TO THE  SIZE OF THESE EFP TRANSFERS :  THIS MONTH IN 18TRADING DAY(S) IN  TONNES  207.21 TONNES

TOTAL ANNUAL GOLD PRODUCTION, 2024, THROUGHOUT THE WORLD EX CHINA EX RUSSIA: 3555 TONNES

THUS EFP TRANSFERS REPRESENTS  207.21 DIVIDED BY 3550 x 100% TONNES = 5.83% 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/SECOND HIGHEST ON RECORD

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: 352.21 TONNES//2ND HIGHEST EVER RECORDED EFP ISSUANCE.

APRIL: 267.05TONNES (WILL BE AN EXTREMELY STRONG MONTH BUT LESS THAN MARCH 2024)

MAY; 316.606 TONNES (WILL BE ANOTHER STRONG MONTH// 3RD HIGHEST RECORDED EFP ISSUANCE )// NOTICE THE HUGE INCREASES IN EX FOR PHYSICAL THESE PAST FEW MONTHS. THESE CONTRACTS ARE CIRCLED BACK FROM LONDON WHEREBY METAL IS REMOVED FROM THE COMEX.

JUNE 175.11 tonnes HEADING FOR A WEAKER MONTH AND MUCH LESS THAN THE THREE PREVIOUS MONTHS

JULY: 351. 65 TONNES (3RD HIGHEST EVER RECORDED EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL AND THE HIGHEST EVER RECORDED POST BASEL III) 

AUGUST: 274.79 TONNES//THIS MONTH WILL NO DOUBT BE A STRONG ISSUANCE OF EFP’S BUT MUCH LESS THAN LAST MONTH.

SEPT: 335 .104 TONNES//IF THIS CONTINUES WE WILL HAVE A HUMDINGER OF AN EFP ISSUANCE. WE WILL PROBABLY END JUST SHORT OF THE 3RD HIGHEST ISSUANCE EVER RECORDED.

OCT. 277.71 TONNES (THIS WILL BE A GOOD ISSUANCE THIS MONTH)

NOV: 393.875 TONNES ( A HUGE MONTH////NOW SURPASSED THE PREVIOUS 3RD AND 2ND HIGHEST EVER RECORDED EX FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE TO BECOME THE 2ND HIGHEST EVER RECORDED

DEC 360.03 TONNES THIRD HIGHEST EVER RECORDED FOR EFP ISSUANCE

TOTAL 2024 YEAR. 3,597.846 TONNES

JAN. 2025: 257.919 TONNES (ISSUANCE WILL BE PRETTY GOOD THIS MONTH BUT MUCH LOWER THAN LAST MONTH)

FEB: 207.21 TONNES//EX FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE (WILL BE A FAIR SIZED ISSUANCE THIS MONTH)

MARCH

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 (OCT), AND THAT IS WHEN THE CROOKS SELL THEIR SPREAD POSITIONS BUT NOT AT THE SAME TIME OF THE DAY.  THEY WILL USE THE SELL SIDE OF THE EQUATION TO CREATE THE CASCADE (ALONG WITH THEIR COLLUSIVE FRIENDS) AND THEN COVER ON THE BUY SIDE OF THE SPREAD SITUATION AT THE END  OF THE DAY. THEY DO THIS TO AVOID POSITION LIMIT DETECTION. THE LIQUIDATION OF THE SPREADING FORMATION CONTINUES FOR EXACTLY ONE WEEK AND ENDS ON FIRST DAY NOTICE.”

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

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

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

1.TODAY WE HAD THE OPEN INTEREST AT THE COMEX IN SILVER FELL BY A HUGE SIZED  3072 CONTRACTS OI  TO 158,793 AND FURTHER FROM 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  7 YEARS AGO.  HOWEVER WE HAVE NOW SET A NEW RECORD LOW OF 114,102 CONTRACTS JULY 3.2023

EFP ISSUANCE 25 CONTRACTS

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

MAY 25 and ALL OTHER MONTHS: ZERO. TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 25 CONTRACTS. EFP’S GIVE OUR COMEX LONGS A FIAT BONUS PLUS A DELIVERABLE PRODUCT OVER IN LONDON.  IF WE TAKE THE COMEX OI LOSS OF 5406 CONTRACTS AND ADD TO THE 25 E.FP. ISSUED

WE OBTAIN A HUGE SIZED LOSS OF OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES OF 3049  CONTRACTS

THUS IN OUNCES, THE LOSS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES  TOTALS 15.235 MILLION OZ OCCURRED WITH OUR $0.00 LOSS  IN PRICE  

OUTLINE FOR TODAY’S COMMENTARY

1a/COMEX GOLD AND SILVER REPORT

(report Harvey)

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

(Peter Schiff)

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

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

b. Other gold/silver commentaries

c. Commodity commentaries//

d)/CRYPTOCURRENCIES/BITCOIN ETC

2.ASIAN AFFAIRS  WEDNESDAY MORNING//TUESDAY  NIGHT

SHANGHAI CLOSED DOWN 67.17 PTS OR 1.98%

//Hang Seng CLOSED DOWN 776,97 PTS OR 3.28%

// Nikkei CLOSED DOWN 1100.67OR 2.88%//Australia’s all ordinaries CLOSED DOWN 1.20%

//Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) CLOSED DOWN TO 7.2786 CHINESE YUAN OFFSHORE CLOSED DOWN TO 7.2827/ Oil UP TO 69.36 dollars per barrel for WTI and BRENT UP TO 72.65Stocks in Europe OPENED ALL MIXED

ONSHORE USA/ YUAN TRADING ABOVE LEVEL OF OFFSHORE YUAN/ONSHORE YUAN  TRADING

WEAKER AGAINST US DOLLAR/OFFSHORE YUAN WEAKER

END

END

ASIA TRADING FRIDAY MORNING/THURSDAY  NIGHT

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

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

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

GOLD

 LET US BEGIN:

THE TOTAL COMEX GOLD OPEN INTEREST FELL BY A GOOD SIZED 5406 CONTRACTS TO 507,722 WITH OUR LOSS IN PRICE OF $21.75 WITH RESPECT TO THURSDAY’S TRADING/. WE LOST ZERO NET LONGS WITH THAT PRICE GAIN FOR GOLD. BUT AS YOU WILL SEE BELOW, OUR LOSS IN PRICE ALSO HAD A STRONG NUMBER OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUED (3560 ).

THE CME ANNOUNCED THURSDAY NIGHT, ZERO EXCHANGE FOR RISK CONTRACTS FOR NIL OZ OR 0 TONNES.

AND SO FAR IN FEBRUARY: WE HAVE HAD FIVE EXCHANGE FOR RISKS NOW TOTALLING 18.4527TONNES!. THE RECIPIENT OF THESE EXCHANGE FOR RISK CONTRACTS IS THE BANK OF ENGLAND WHO DESPERATELY WANT THEIR LEASED GOLD BACK. THUS WE HAVE TWO SEPARATE ENTITIES (CENTRAL BANKS) DEMANDING THEIR GOLD BACK:

1. THE BANK OF ENGLAND
2. THE FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF NEW YORK

THE COUNTERPARTY TO THE BANK OF ENGLAND’S EXCHANGE FOR RISK ARE BULLION BANKS THAT CANNOT VERIFY THAT THEIR GOLD IS UNENCUMBERED AND THUS THE BUYER, THE CENTRAL BANK OF ENGLAND, ASSUMES THE RISK OF THAT DELIVERY.

THUS IN TOTAL WE HAD A FAIR SIZED LOSS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES OF 1846 CONTRACTS WITH OUR LOSS IN PRICE. OUR FRIENDLY PHYSICAL LONDON BOYS HAD ANOTHER FIELD DAY AGAIN ON MONDAY NIGHT AS THEY WERE READY FOR THE FRBNY.S CONTINUED ORCHESTRATED RAID AS THEY TRIED TO ABSORB EVERYTHING IN SIGHT FROM THE DAILY ATTACKS WITH THE CONTINUAL LIQUIDATION OF T.A.S. CONTRACTS. LONDONERS EXERCISED THEIR BOUGHT CONTRACTS FOR PHYSICAL GOLD VIA THE EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ROUTE AND THANKED THE FRBNY FOR THE THOUGHTFULNESS. LONDON ANNOUNCED LATE (JAN 30) THAT THEY WERE OUT OF GOLD. WRONGLY IT WAS ATTRIBUTED TO THEIR SHIPPING PHYSICAL GOLD TO COMEX FOR STORAGE DUE TO TRUMP’S INITIATION OF TARIFFS. THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER IS THAT THIS GOLD LEFT LONDON TO CENTRAL BANKS, AND COMEX BANKS HAVE BEEN PAPERING THEIR LOSSES (DERIVATIVE) WITH KILOBAR ENTRIES. DELIVERY OF GOLD CONTRACTS ARE NOW TAKING SEVERAL WEEKS. NO DEFAULT HAS BEEN INITIATED AS DEALERS ARE AFRAID OF LOSS OF THEIR JOBS. SO THIS FRAUD CONTINUES. THE LEASE RATES IN LONDON HAVE NOW CLIMBED TO 10% AS GOLD IN LONDON IS NOW EXTREMELY SCARCE. WE CAN NOW SAFELY SAY THAT THERE IS A RUN ON A BANK AND THAT BANK IS THE BANK OF ENGLAND!!!

THE LIQUIDATION OF T.A.S. CONTRACTS THROUGHOUT THIS MONTH CONTINUES TO DISTORT OPEN INTEREST NUMBERS GREATLY AND IT SURELY WAS ON DISPLAY TODAY INCLUDING WITH OUR STRONG T.A.S. ISSUANCES AND FAIR T.A.S. LIQUIDATION. FRIDAY // THEY ISSUED A FAIR 1602 CONTRACT ANNOUNCEMENT (FRIDAY NIGHT/THURSDAY MORNING). THE T.A.S. ISSUANCE WAS ALSO COORDINATED WITH MONTH END SPREADER LIQUIDATION AND THAT IS WHY WE ARE HAVING A NEGATIVE TOTAL OPEN INTEREST COUPLED WITH HUGE AMOUNTS OF GOLD STANDING FOR DELIVERY. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PHYSICAL GOLD AND PAPER GOLD IS SURELY ON DISPLAY THESE PAST 4 RAID DAYS AT THE COMEX.

THE FED IS THE OTHER MAJOR SHORT OF AROUND 16+ TONNES OF GOLD OWING TO THE B.I.S. THE FED NEEDS TO COVER AS THEY ARE VERY WORRIED ABOUT WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO GOLD PRICES ONCE THE BRICS BEGIN THEIR INITIATIVE AND ABANDON THE US DOLLAR. THIS WAS SCHEDULED TO HAPPEN LATE OCT 2024/(AS OUTLINED IN OUR GOLD PHYSICAL COMMENTARIES//VIEW ANDREW MAGUIRE LATEST LIVE FROM VAULT PODCAST FRIDAY’S 197 , 199, 2001, , 203 , ,205  , 207 209 AND TODAY’S 210 AS HE TACKLES THIS IMPORTANT TOPIC). THE FOUR OR FIVE BANKS ARE ALSO WORRIED ABOUT THEIR HUGE PRECIOUS METAL DERIVATIVE EXPOSURE (NORTH OF ONE TRILLION DOLLARS) AND THIS IS PROBABLY THE MAJOR REASON FOR GOLD/SILVER’S RISE THESE PAST TWO MONTHS. THEY ARE TOTALLY TRAPPED., AND THEIR FAILURE TO STOP CENTRAL BANK PURCHASES OF PHYSICAL GOLD IS THE MAJOR ISSUE OF THE DAY!IT SURE LOOKS LIKE THE BIS HAS GIVEN THE FED ITS MARCHING ORDERS TO COVER ITS PHYSICAL GOLD SHORT AS TRUMP CAME INTO OFFICE MONDAY NOON JAN 20. TRUMP WILL PROBABLY BE FURIOUS WITH THE FED IF IT FINDS OUT THAT THEY (FRBNY) HAS BEEN MANIPULATING THE GOLD MARKET FOR THE PAST TWO YEARS.

OUR PHYSICAL LONDONERS BOUGHT NEW MASSIVE QUANTITIES OF LONGS AT ANY PRICE AND THIS GOLD BOUGHT WILL BE TENDERED FOR PHYSICAL ON A T + ???? BASIS. BECAUSE GOLD IS BASEL III COMPLIANT, GOLD IS SUPPOSED BE DELIVERED IN A VERY TIMELY ONE DAY. CENTRAL BANKS AROUND THE WORLD, BEING REPRESENTED BY OUR LONDONERS, ARE THE REAL PURCHASERS OF THIS GOLD.

THE PROBLEM FOR THOSE PROVIDING THE SHORT PAPER IS THE SHOCK TO THEM ON RECEIVING NOTICE THAT THE LONGS WANT THE PHYSICAL GOLD AS THEY TENDER FOR THAT SHINY YELLOW METAL. THE HIGH LIQUIDATION OF OUR TWO SPREADERS: 1) THE MONTH END SPREADERS AND 2. T.A.S DURING THESE PAST FEW WEEKS IS SURELY DISTORTING COMEX OPEN INTEREST BUT THAT DOES NOT STOP LONDON’S ACCUMULATION OF PHYSICAL! YOU CAN ALSO VISUALIZE THAT PERFECTLY WITH THE HUGE AMOUNTS OF QUEUE JUMPING ORCHESTRATED BY CENTRAL BANKERS BOLTING AHEAD OF ORDINARY LONGS AS THEIR NEED FOR PHYSICAL IS GREAT AS THEY SCOUR THE PLANET LOOKING FOR GOLD. 

EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE

WE ARE NOW DEEP INTO THE NON ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF MARCH TODAY BEING FIRST DAY NOTICE.…  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 A STRONG SIZED 3560 EFP CONTRACTS WERE ISSUED: :  /FEB  3560 & ZERO FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS:

TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 3560 CONTRACTS. THESE EFP;S CIRCLE AROUND LONDON ON A 13 DAY BASIS AND ARE NOW USED BY GLOBAL CENTRAL BANKS TO EXERCISE FOR PHYSICAL GOLD WITH THE OBLIGATION TO DELIVER BEING FORCED ONTO COMEX BANKS. THE GOLD GENERALLY DELIVERED COMES FROM LONDON BUT THEY ARE OUT!! THUS COMEX BECOMES THE MAJOR SOURCE FOR OUR CENTRAL BANKERS.

ON A NET BASIS IN OPEN INTEREST WE LOST THE FOLLOWING TODAY ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES: A SMALL SIZED TOTAL OF 761 CONTRACTS IN THAT 3560 CONTRACT LONGS WERE TRANSFERRED AS EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS TO LONDON AND WE HAD A GOOD LOSS OF 5406 COMEX  CONTRACTS..AND THIS LOSS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES HAPPENED WITH OUR LOSS IN PRICE OF $21.75 FOR THURSDAY/ COMEX. THE EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS WILL BE USED BY CENTRAL BANKS, TO EXERCISE FOR PHYSICAL GOLD AT THE COMEX AS MENTIONED  ABOVE.

T.A.S. ISSUANCE

AS PER OUR NEWBIE TRADE AT SETTLEMENT (TAS) MANIPULATION OPERATION (WHICH CRAIG HEMKE HAS POINTED OUT HAPPENS USUALLY DURING MID MONTH IN THE DELIVERY CYCLE), BUT NOW ON A DAILY BASIS, THE CME REPORTS THAT THE TOTAL T.A.S. ISSUANCE FOR THURSDAY NIGHT/FRIDAY MORNING WAS A FAIR SIZED SIZED 1602 CONTRACTS, AS AGAIN, ALL OF THE TRADING AND SUPPLY OF CONTRACTS HAVE BEEN ORCHESTRATED BY GOVERNMENT (FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF NEW YORK). AS PER THEIR MEGA 5 DAY ISSUANCE OF T.A.S OVER 4 WEEKS AGO, THE FED WAS EXPERIMENTING WITH EINSTEIN’S DEFINITION OF INSANITY….TRYING TO DO THE SAME THING OVER AND OVER AGAIN HOPING FOR A DIFFERENT RESULT. HIS DEFINITION STILL STANDS.. THE CROOKS ACCOMPLISHED LITTLE AS FEW LEFT OUR GOLD METAL ARENA. A HUGE RAID WAS ORDERED BY THE FED WITH END OF THE MONTH TRADING ( MONDAY TRADING// JAN 27) AS THE GOLD PRICE GOT HAMMERED A BIT WITH COMEX OPTIONS EXPIRY. AS YOU SAW WITH TUESDAY’S TRADING// JAN 28 IT HAS NO EFFECT ON GOLD AS IT SHOT UP AGAIN IN PRICE AND IT CONTINUED TO RISE THROUGHOUT THE WEEK. LONDON’S ANNOUNCEMENT TWO WEEKS AGO THAT THEY WERE OUT OF PHYSICAL GOLD SURELY HELPED TO PROPEL GOLD’S METEORIC RISE IN PRICE THESE PAST SEVERAL DAYS PROPELLING IT THROUGH THE 2900 DOLLAR BARRIER TO THE LEVEL IT IS NOW TRADING READY TO CLOSE IN ON THE 3000 DOLLAR LEVEL. THE RAIDS ON OPTIONS EXPIRY DOES TWO IMPORTANT THINGS FOR OUR CROOKS:

1. STALLS THE ADVANCE IN PRICE
2. LOWERS THEIR ADVANCING DERIVATIVE LOSSES.

MECHANICS OF T.A.S CONTRACTS/DECEMBER 2024

THROUGHOUT THE PAST SEVERAL WEEKS, THE BANKERS CONTINUE TO SELL OFF THE LONG SIDE OF THE SPREAD (T.A.S.) 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 ORCHESTRATED, ON DEC. 27, THEIR HUGE RAID TO LOWER THE PRICE OF GOLD TO MAKE THEIR COMEX BETS WHOLE ON OPTIONS EXPIRY WEEK AND THUS THE NEED FOR CONTINUAL STRONG T.A.S. ISSUANCE AND THEN LIQUIDATION. THIS WAS COUPLED WITH THE LIQUIDATION OF CALENDAR//MONTH END SPREADERS . THE USE OF OUR TWO SPREADER MECHANISMS WERE OF EXTREME IMPORTANCE TO OUR CROOKS IN LATE DECEMBER’S OPTIONS EXPIRY TRADING AND AGAIN WITH JANUARY OPTION EXPIRY MONTH. HALF WAY THROUGH THE JANUARY COMEX MONTH, THE CROOKS ISSUED FIVE CONSECUTIVE 30,000+ CONTRACT ISSUANCE.

AND NOW WE HAVE MONTH END OPTIONS EXPIRY FOR FEB. ALL OF THESE T.A.S. ISSUANCES WERE USED IN AN ATTEMPT TO THWART GOLD TRADING ESPECIALLY BEFORE TRUMP’S INAUGURATION AS THE FED MUST REDUCE ITS MASSIVE PHYSICAL GOLD SHORT OF 16 TONNES. THEY FAILED MISERABLY AS GOLD SKYROCKETED IN PRICE THIS MONTH AND NOW TO STILL CLOSE TO ALL TIME RECORD HIGHS IN USA DOLLAR TERMS AND OTHER CURRENCIES.

STANDING FOR GOLD FOR THE PAST 4 PLUS YEARS:

// WE HAD A HUGE AMOUNT OF GOLD TONNAGE STANDING:   FEB (256.607 TONNES) WHICH IS HUGE FOR OUR ACTIVE FEB DELIVERY MONTH AND THE HIGHEST STANDING FOR GOLD EVER RECORDED FOR ANY MONTH.

YEAR 2025:

JAN 2025: 113.30 TONNES

FEB: 2025: 256.607 TONNES (WHICH INCLUDES 18.4567 TONNES OF EX FOR RISK)

AND NOW MARCH:

INITIAL STANDING FOR GOLD : 31.753 TONNES WHICH IS EXTREMELY HIGH FOR A NON DELIVERY MONTH.

HERE ARE THE AMOUNTS THAT STOOD FOR DELIVERY IN THE PRECEDING 50 MONTHS OF 2021-2024:

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

2024

JAN ’24.      22.706 TONNES

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

MARCH: 18.8398 TONNES + 1.1695 EX FOR RISK = 20.093 TONNES

APRIL: 2024: 53.673TONNES FINAL

MAY/ 2024 8.5536 TONNES + 3.3716 TONNES EX FOR RISK/= 11.9325

JUNE; 95.578 TONNES. + 1.045 TONNES EXCHANGE FOR RISK =96.623 THIS IS THE HIGHEST RECORDED GOLD STANDING SINCE AUGUST 2022

JULY: 11.692 TONNES

AUGUST 69.602 TONNES//FINAL STANDING

SEPT. 13.164 TONNES.

OCT 39.474 TONNES + + 20.917 TONNES EXCHANGE FOR RISK =60.391 TONNES

NOV . 11.265 TONNES +4.665 TONNES EXCHANGE FOR RISK/TUESDAY + 3.11 TONNES OF EX. FOR RISK/PRIOR = 19.0425 TONNES

DEC: 80.4230 TONNES PLUS DEC MONTH EXCHANGE FOR RISK TOTAL 14.6836 TONNES  EQUALS 95.1066 TONNES

total year 2024: 540.30 tonnes

2025

January 2025: 70.102 TONNES + 43.208 EXCHANGE FOR RISK= 113.310 TONNES

FEBRUARY:/NEW STANDING ADVANCES TO 238.153TONNES +18.4527

= 256.607 TONNES.

MARCH: 31.753 TONNESS

COMEX GOLD TRADING/FEB CONTRACT MONTH

THE SPECS/HFT WERE SUCCESSFUL IN LOWERING GOLD’S PRICE( IT FELL BY $21.75/)/BUT WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING OFF ANY APPRECIABLE NET SPECULATOR LONGS AS WE DID HAVE A FAIR SIZED LOSS IN OUR TWO EXCHANGES. BUT AS EXPLAINED ABOVE WE HAD CONSIDERABLE T.A.S. SPREADER LIQUIDATION THURSDAY AS THEY WERE TRYING TO QUELL GOLD’S RISE AND STOP HUGE COMEX/OTC DERIVATIVE LOSSES FROM ALSO RISING. TUESDAY ENDED COMEX OPTIONXS EXPIRY. HOWEVER AS I EXPLAINED ON WEDNESDAY, WE HAVE THE MUCH BIGGER OTC.LONDON.OTC EXPIRY.THE BANKERS WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN SLOWING THEIR DERIVATIVE LOSSES IN PRECIOUS METAL BETS WITH OPTIONS EXPIRY LAST JAN 28 AT THE COMEX. OUR T.A.S. SPREADER LIQUIDATIONS THIS 3RD WEEK OF FEB, WERE DISTORTING OPEN INTEREST AS I EXPLAINED ABOVE, BUT IS HAVING NO EFFECT ON GOLD’S METEORIC RISE IN PRICE. PRIOR TO FRIDAY . THE RAIDS ON LAST FRIDAY, AND THIS WEEK WERE NEEDED TO QUELL PRICE RISES IN GOLD AND SILVER,. SILVER IS ALSO A BIG HEADACHE FOR OUR CROOKS AS THE PHYSICAL METAL IS BASICALLY UNATTAINABLE. DERIVATIVE LOSSES ON BOTH GOLD AND SILVER ARE HUGE!

THE CROOKS HOWEVER COULD NOT STOP CENTRAL BANK LONGS, SEIZING THE MOMENT, THEY EXERCISED AGAIN FOR PHYSICAL IN A BIG WAY TENDERING FOR PHYSICAL THURSDAY EVENING/FRIDAY MORNING AND THUS OUR RECORD NUMBER OF GOLD CONTRACTS STANDING FOR DELIVERY AT THE COMEX. CENTRAL BANKERS WAIT PATIENTLY FOR THE GOLD TO ARRIVE BY BOAT. IT IS NOW TAKING SEVERAL WEEKS TO DELIVER AND THUS THE REASON FOR THE HUGE LEASE RATE AT 10% (SCARCITY OF GOLD)

EXCHANGE FOR RISK EXPLANATION/DECEMBER AND JANUARYTRADING

DECEMBER MONTH EXCHANGE FOR RISK!

88 DAYS AGO, FRIDAY NIGHT (EARLY SATURDAY MORNING NOV 30) THE CME ANNOUNCED ANOTHER OF THOSE CRAZY DELIVERIES: THE ISSUANCE OF 250 EXCHANGE FOR RISK CONTRACTS WHICH TOTAL 25000 OZ (.7776 TONNES. HERE THE BUYER ASSUMES THE RISK THAT HE WILL BE DELIVERED UPON IN PHYSICAL METAL. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY INSANE AND A HUGE VIOLATION OF THE TRUE DISCOVERY PRICE MECHANISM WHICH IS THE COMEX MANTRA!. AND THEN GUESS WHAT? THE CME ANNOUNCED ANOTHER EXCHANGE FOR RISK, LATE TUESDAY EVENING/ EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING, (DEC 5) OF 617 CONTRACTS FOR 61,700 OZ OR GOLD (1.919 TONNES). THEN MUCH TO MY ANGER, THE CME ANNOUNCED A THIRD ISSUANCE FRIDAY NIGHT DEC 7 FOR A MONSTROUS 2254 EXCHANGE FOR RISK CONTRACTS OR 225,400 OZ OR 7.0108 TONNES. NOT TO BE UNDONE, THE CROOKS CONTINUED WITH THEIR NONSENSE WITH ANOTHER 50 CONTRACT EXCHANGE FOR RISK THE MORNING OF DEC 12 FOR 5000 OZ OR .1555 TONNES. AND THIS BRINGS US TO THIS EARLY FRIDAY MORNING (DEC 13) WHERE I WAS SHOCKED TO SEE FOR THE FIFTH TIME THIS MONTH AN ENTRY FOR 250 CONTRACTS OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK FOR 25000 OZ OR .7776 TONNES.THUS ALL FIVE OF THESE ISSUANCES WILL BE ADDED TO THE TOTAL GOLD BEING “DELIVERED UPON”. THIS BRINGS US TO EARLY SATURDAY MORNING DEC 21 WHERE TO MY SHOCK AGAIN WE HAD OUR 6TH ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK TOTALLING 1300 CONTRACTS FOR AN ASTOUNDING 4.043 TONNES. THIS BRINGS THE TOTAL ISSUANCE FOR THE MONTH OF DEC TO 6 FOR 14.6836 TONNES A NEW RECORD. THE COMEX IS TOTALLY SHATTERED TO PIECES.

EXCHANGE FOR RISK // JANUARY MONTH!!

LO AND BEHOLD, THE CROOKS ISSUED THEIR FIRST ISSUANCE A MONSTER 1700 CONTRACTS FOR EXCHANGE FOR RISK TOTALLING 170,000 OZ OR 5.28775 TONNES ON MONDAY JAN 6/2025. THEN TO MY HORROR, THEY ISSUED THEIR SECOND EXCHANGE FOR RISK ON JAN 8, TOTALLING 150 CONTRACTS FOR 15000 OZ OR .4665 TONNES. THIS TONNAGE WILL BE ADDED TO THE FIRST ISSUANCE. THUS TOTAL EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUANCE FOR OUR TWO EARLY JANUARY EX FOR RISK: 5.7533 TONNES. THEN MERCILESSLY THEY CONSUMMATED FOR THE THIRD TIME THIS MONTH 85 EXCHANGE FOR RISK LAST THURSDAY NIGHT (JAN 17) FOR 8500 OZ OR .2649 TONNES OF GOLD. THEN TO MY HORROR THEY ISSUED THEIR 4TH EXCHANGE FOR RISK THIS MONTH (JAN 22) FOR A MONSTER 5000 CONTRACTS OR 5,000,000 OZ.(15.562 TONNES).NOT TO BE UNDONE, THE CROOKS ISSUED THEIR FIFTH EXCHANGE FOR RISK LAST NIGHT FOR 500 CONTRACTS REPRESENTING 50,,000 OZ OR 1.555 TONNES OF GOLD. REMEMBER THAT THE BUYER ASSUMES THE RISK THAT HE WILL BE DELIVERED UPON WHICH IS TOTALLY ASININE!! THUS FOR THE 5 EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUED THIS MONTH TOTALS 23.134 TONNES OF GOLD. THIS BRINGS US TO , JAN 25 WHERE THE CME ANNOUNCED ITS SIXTH MAJOR EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUANCE OF 6454 CONTRACTS FOR 645,400 OZ OR 20.074 TONNES OF GOLD. THIS IS THE HIGHEST EVER RECORDED ISSUANCE IN NUMBER OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK, AT 6, AND FOR NEW TOTALS FOR THE MONTH OF JANUARY: 43.208 TONNES!!! AND A NEW RECORD FOR ISSUANCE.

EXCHANGE FOR RISK CONTRACTS/MONTH FOR FEBRUARY:

THE CME ANNOUNCED TO THE WORLD THAT ON FEB 4 THEY ISSUED 100 CONTRACTS OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK TO THE BANK OF ENGLAND.THEN A FEW NIGHTS AGO, THEY ISSUED THEIR SECOND CONSECUTIVE EXCHANGE FOR RISK OF 500 CONTRACTS FOR 50,000 OZ (1.555 TONNES OF GOLD. FEB 6 WAS THE THIRD ISSUANCE FOR A HUGE 2400 CONTRACTS, 240,000 OZ OR 7.465 TONNES. AND THEN FINALLY FRIDAY NIGHT, THE 4TH EXCHANGE FOR RISK WAS ISSUED REPRESENTED BY 2834 CONTRACTS OR 283400 OZ OR 8.8149 TONNES OF GOLD WITH THE OWNER OF THOSE CONTRACTS BEING THE BANK OF ENGLAND. THE BANK OF ENGLAND WANTS THEIR GOLD BACK. THIS NEW EXCHANGE FOR RISK WILL BE ADDED TO PREVIOUS EXCHANGE FOR RISK OF 9.3264 TONNES TO A NEW TOTAL EXCHANGE FOR RISK = 18.1413 TONNES. IN MID WEEK WE HAD ANOTHER .3114 TONNES OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUANCED//NEW TOTAL 18,4527 TONNES!..FINALLY THIS TOTAL WILL NOW BE ADDED TO OUR REGULAR DELIVERIES THROUGH THE MONTH. FOR FRIDAY FEB 28 ZERO EXCHANGE FOR RISK WAS ISSUED.

TOTAL INITIAL DELIVERIES MARCH GOLD TRADING

WE HAVE LOST A FAIR SIZED TOTAL OF 5.741 PAPER TONNES FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES, ACCOMPANYING OUR INITIAL  GOLD TONNAGE STANDING FOR MARCH (31.753TONNES) ON FIRST DAY NOTICE

ALL OF THIS WAS ACCOMPLISHED WITH OUR LOSS IN PRICE TO THE TUNE OF $21.75

WE HAD 1085CONTRACTS REMOVED FROM THE  COMEX TRADES TO OPEN INTEREST (CROOKS)//PRELIMINARY TO FINAL. AND THIS IS TOTALLY INSANE AS WELL

NET LOSS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES 1846 CONTRACTS OR 184,600 0Z (5.741 TONNES)

confirmed volume THURSDAY 174,241ontracts: POOR///

//speculators have left the gold arena

END

// THE FEB 2025 GOLD CONTRACT

FEB 28

FINAL

MARCH

// THE MARCH 2025 GOLD CONTRACT

FEB 28

INITIAL

dealer deposits: 2

2 ENTRIES


i) Asahi dealer 33,662.097 oz 1047 kilobars)
ii) Into dealer: Brinks 46,226.500 oz (1500 kilobars)

total dealer weight: 81,888.597 oz(2.628 tonnes)
exactly 2547 kilobars added to dealer comex

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

we have 4 customer deposits:

4 ENTRIES
i) Into Brinks customer acct 90,022.800 oz (2800 kilobars)
ii) Into HSBC: 96,453.000 oz (3000 kilobars)
iii) Into Int. Delaware; 64,302.000 oz (2000 kilobars
iv) Into JPMorgan 160,755.000 oz (5,000 kilobars)
total weight: customer 411,537.800 oz 12.8005 tonnes or exactly: 12,800 kilobars

total dealer and customer: 12.8005 plus 2.628 tonnes = 15.5285 tonnes

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

withdrawals: 2

2 entries

i) Out of Brinks enhanced: 194,2587.925 oz
or 488 London good delivery bars

ii) out of HSBC 104,893.189 oz

total weight withdrawal 300,152.114 oz

9.33 tonnes of gold.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

adjustments:2/comex is in chaos

a)customer to dealer

a) Brinks 64,334.151

b) Manfra 47.048 oz

thus basically what comes into eligible is transferred to dealer accounts and then out.

CALCULATIONS FOR THE AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING FOR MARCH

THE FRONT MONTH OF MARCH HAD A LOSS OF 1859CONTRACTS TO STAND AT 10,210

THUS BY DEFINITION, THE INITIAL AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING IN THIS NON ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF MARCH IS AS FOLLOWS;

10,210 CONTRACTS OPEN INTEREST STANDING FOR MARCH X 100 OZ

EQUALS 10,210,000 OZ OR 31.727 TONNES OF GOLD WHICH IS HUGE FOR A NON ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH.

APRIL HAD A LOSS OF 5495CONTRACTS DOWNTO 365,109CONTRACTS AS THIS MONTH BECOMES THE FRONT MONTH.

MAY GAINED 8 CONTRACTS UP TO 193.

We had 9711 contracts filed for today representing 971,100oz  

This is a huge major assault on the comex for gold and this time it is physical that will be requested.

Today, 0 notice(s) were issued from J.P.Morgan dealer and 0 notices issued from their client or customer account. The total of all issuance by all participants equate to 9711 contract(s) of which 0  notices were stopped (received) by  j.P. Morgan dealer and 0 notice(s) was (were) stopped  (received) by J.P.Morgan//customer account   

To calculate the FINAL total number of gold ounces standing for FEB /2025. contract month, we take the total number of notices filed so far for the month (76,567X 100 oz ) to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of  FEB.(188CONTRACTS)  minus the number of notices served upon today  (188 x 100 oz per contract) equals  7,656,700 OZ  OR 238.155 TONNES  TO WHICH WE ADD NEW EXCHANGE FOR RISK 18.4527 TONNES//NEW TOTAL STANDING 256.607TONNES

thus the FINAL standings for gold for the FEB contract month:  No of notices filed so far (76,093x 100 oz +we add the difference for front month of FEB ( 188 OI} minus the number of notices served upon today (188 x 100 oz) which equals  7,656,700 z (236,693ONNES  + 18,4527 tonnes ex for risk PRIOR = 256.607tonnes 

TOTAL COMEX GOLD STANDING FOR FEB.: 256.607 TONNES WHICH IS HUGE FOR THIS ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH IN THE CALENDAR AND THIS IS THE HIGHEST EVER RECORDED FOR ANY FEBRUARY AND THE HIGHEST FOR ANY MONTH FOR THAT MATTER IN COMEX HISTORY!!

NOW LETS MOVE ONTO MARCH:

To calculate the INITIAL total number of gold ounces standing for MARCH /2025. contract month, we take the total number of notices filed so far for the month (9711X 100 oz ) to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of  MARCH.(10,210 CONTRACTS)  minus the number of notices served upon today  (9711 x 100 oz per contract) equals  1,021,000 OZ  OR 31.857 TONNES 

thus the INITIAL standings for gold for the MARCH contract month:  No of notices filed so far (9711x 100 oz +we add the difference for front month of MARCH ( 10,210 OI} minus the number of notices served upon today (9711 x 100 oz) which equals  1,021,000 OR 31.757 TONNES

TOTAL COMEX GOLD STANDING FOR MARCH.: 31.757 TONNES WHICH IS HUGE FOR THIS NON ACTIVE ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH IN THE CALENDAR AND THIS IS THE HIGHEST EVER RECORDED FOR ANY FEBRUARY AND THE HIGHEST FOR ANY MONTH FOR THAT MATTER IN COMEX HISTORY!!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

COMEX GOLD INVENTORIES/CLASSIFICATION

NEW PLEDGED GOLD:

241,794.285 oz NOW PLEDGED /HSBC  5.94 TONNES

204,937.290 OZ 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: 2,083,828..092 oz 64.81onnes

TOTAL OF ALL GOLD ELIGIBLE AND REGISTERED GOLD: 39,261,573.799 .oz  

TOTAL REGISTERED GOLD 18,985,091,074or 590.51onnes

TOTAL OF ALL ELIGIBLE GOLD: 20,276,482.825 OZ  

REGISTERED GOLD THAT CAN BE SERVED UPON: 16.901,263oz (REG GOLD- PLEDGED GOLD)= 525.700 tonnes //

END

SILVER/COMEX

FEB 28

INITIAL

// THE FEB 2025  SILVER CONTRACT//INITIAL

FEB 28

INITIAL

// THE MARCH 2025  SILVER CONTRACT//INITIAL

i)  2 dealer  deposit/

2 entries









i) Into Asahi 6965,757.130 oz
ii) Into Loomis: 961.503.900 oz

total deposit dealer acct 1,658,261.03 oz

i) We had  0 dealer withdrawal

total dealer withdrawals: 0 oz

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

deposits customer side

4 entries

4 entries



i) Into Brinks customer acct 1280,036.822 oz
ii) Into CNT 600,049.01 oz
iii)Into JPMorgan: 1241,446.400 oz
iv) Into Loomis 645,561.100 oz

total weight customer acct: 3,367,293.332 oz

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

withdrawals 1

35,850.51 oz
Loomis

nil

ADJUSTMENTs 4customer to dealer:

i) Brinks 1,995,234.02 oz

ii) CNT 2,546,359.312 oz

iii) Delaware: 43,166.639 oz

iv) Manfra: 593,459.687 oz

total adj. 5178,254.600 oz

JPMorgan has a total silver weight: 162.577million oz/408.605million  or 39.74%

TOTAL REGISTERED SILVER: 135.084MILLION OZ//.TOTAL REG + ELIGIBLE. 408.695Million oz

CALCULATIONS FOR THE NEW STANDING FOR SILVER FOR FEBRUARY

silver open interest data:

FRONT MONTH OF MARCH /2025 OI: 15,691 OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS FOR A LOSS OF 5163 CONTRACTS.

THUS BE DEFINITION THE INITIAL AMOUNT OF SILVER STANDING FOR METAL ON THIS VERY ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF MARCH IS AS FOLLOWS:

15,691 NOTICES X 5000 OZ PER NOTICE =

78.455 MILLION OZ WHICH IS ABSOLUTELY ASTOUNDING!

APRIL SAW ANOTHER GAIN OF 64 CONTRACTS TO STAND AT 1402

MAY SAW A GAIN OF 2655 CONTRACTS UP TO 116,279CONTRACTS

TOTAL NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR TODAY: 10,119 or 78.455 MILLION oz

CONFIRMED volume; ON THURSDAY 104,666huge//

FINAL FIGUES FOR FEBRUARY:

To calculate the number of silver ounces that will stand for delivery in FEB. we take the total number of notices filed for the month so far at 4788 X5,000 oz = 23.94MILLION oz 

to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of FEB (16) AND the number of notices served upon today (16 )x (5000 oz)

Thus the  standings for silver for the FEB 2025 contract month:  4788 Notices served so far) x 5000 oz + OI for the front month of FEB(16)minus number of notices served upon today (16)x 5000 oz equals silver standing for the FEB contract month equating to 23.940MILLION OZ.  To which we add that stupid 100 contract exchange for risk for 500,000 oz//new standing 24.44 million oz

 New total standing: FINAL 24.400 million oz which is huge for a non active delivery month of February

AND NOW ONTO MARCH:

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 10,119 X5,000 oz = 50.596MILLION oz 

to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of MAR (15,691 AND the number of notices served upon today (10,119 )x (5000 oz)

Thus the  standings for silver for the MARCH 2025 contract month:  10,119 Notices served so far) x 5000 oz + OI for the front month of MAR(15,691) minus number of notices served upon today (10,119)x 5000 oz equals silver standing for the MARCH contract month equating to 78.757 MILLION OZ. 

 New total standing: INITIAL 78.757 million oz which is huge for this very active delivery month of March.

There are 135.054million 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.

Now that we have surpassed $28.40 the next big line in the sand for silver is $34.76. After that the moon

0 the next big line in the sand for silver is $34.76. After that the moon

END

BOTH GLD AND SLV ARE MASSIVE FRAUDS!

GLD AND SLV INVENTORY LEVELS/

FEB 28  WITH GOLD DOWN $44.70 TODAY HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD:A MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF 1.73 TONNES INTO THE GLD ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 906.10 TONNES

FEB 26  WITH GOLD DOWN $40,85 TODAY HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD:A MASSIVE DEPOSIT OF 3.45 TONNES INTO THE GLD ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 907.83 TONNES

FEB 25  WITH GOLD DOWN $40,85 TODAY HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD:A MASSIVE DEPOSIT OF 3.45 TONNES INTO THE GLD ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 907.83 TONNES

FEB 24  WITH GOLD UP 7,65 TODAY HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD:A MASSIVE DEPOSIT OF 20.66 TONNES FROM THE GLD ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 904.38TONNES

FEB 21  WITH GOLD DOWN $1.35 TODAY HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD:A DEPOSIT OF 5.77ONNES FROM THE GLD ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 883.72TONNES

FEB 20  WITH GOLD DOWN $10.40 TODAY HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD:A DEPOSIT OF 8.51TONNES FROM THE GLD ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 877,95TONNES

FEB 19/  WITH GOLD DOWN $10.40 TODAY HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD:A DEPOSIT OF 6.38TONNES FROM THE GLD ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 869.44TONNES

FEB 18/  WITH GOLD UP $43.00 TODAY HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD:A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.14TONNES FROM THE GLD ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 863.06TONNES

FEB 13/  WITH GOLD UP 11.00 TODAY HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD:A WITHDRAWAL OF 6.901 TONNES FROM THE GLD ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 866.50TONNES

FEB 12  WITH GOLD DOWN $3,40ON THE DAY; NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 864.19 TONNES

FEB 10  WITH GOLD UP $10.75 ON THE DAY; NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 864.19 TONNES

FEB 7  WITH GOLD UP $10.75 ON THE DAY; NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 864.19 TONNES

FEB 6  WITH GOLD DOWN $18.15 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD:A DEPOSIT OF 1.14 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 864.19 TONNES

FEB 5  WITH GOLD UP $27.10 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD:A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.72 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 863.05 TONNES

 FEB 4  WITH GOLD UP $25.00 ON THE DAY; SMALL CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD:A DEPOSIT OF 0.58 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 864.77 TONNES

JAN 31  WITH GOLD UP $4.80 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD:A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.15 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 864.19 TONNES

 JAN 30  WITH GOLD UP $40.95 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD:A MASSIVE DEPOSIT OF 4.30 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE THE GLD ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 865.34 TONNES

 JAN 29  WITH GOLD DOWN $6.25 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD:A MASSIVE DEPOSIT OF 4.02 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE THE GLD ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 861.04 TONNES

JAN 28  WITH GOLD UP $23.05 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD:A MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF 3.16 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD //

JAN 27  WITH GOLD DOWN $36.05 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD:A MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF 5.17 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD ///

JAN 24  WITH GOLD UP $16.00 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD:A MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF 5.17 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 864.19 TONNES

 JAN 23  WITH GOLD DOWN $1.00 ON THE DAY; HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD:A MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF 2.30 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 869.36 TONNES

 JAN 22  WITH GOLD UP $15.15 ON THE DAY; MEGA HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD:A MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF 7.46 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 871.66 TONNES

 JAN 20  WITH GOLD UP $35.30 ON THE DAY; MEGA HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD:A MASSIVE DEPOSIT OF 10.34 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 879.12 TONNES

GLD INVENTORY: 906.10 TONNES, TONIGHTS TOTAL

SILVER

FEB 28 WITH SILVER DOWN $0.56//HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.732 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV. //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 437.674 MILLION OZ

FEB 26 WITH SILVER DOWN $0.90//HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 6,245 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV. //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 441.4061MILLION OZ

FEB 25 WITH SILVER DOWN $0.90//HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 6,245 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV. //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 441.4061MILLION OZ

FEB 24WITH SILVER DOWN $0.15//NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV. //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 435.171MILLION OZ

FEB 21WITH SILVER DOWN $0.40//HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV : HUGE CHANGES AT THE SLV A WITHDRAWAL OF 0.456MILLION OZ/. //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 435,171MILLION OZ

FEB 20WITH SILVER UP $0.29//HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV : HUGE CHANGES AT THE SLV A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.547 MILLION OZ/. //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 435,171MILLION OZ

FEB 19WITH SILVER DOWN $0.16//HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV : HUGE CHANGES AT THE SLV A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.276 MILLION OZ/. //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 436.717MILLION OZ

FEB 18WITH SILVER UP $.56//HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV : NO CHANGES AT THE SLX/. //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 438.994MILLION OZ

FEB 14WITH SILVER UP $.01//HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV : A DEPOSIT OF 1.593 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV./. //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 437.401 MILLION OZ

FEB 12WITH SILVER UP $.01 //HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV : A DEPOSIT OF 8 MILLION OZ OUT OF THE SLV./. //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 437.401 MILLION OZ

FEB 10 WITH SILVER DOWN $0.26 //HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV : A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.73 MILLION OZ OUT OF THE SLV./. //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 428.66 MILLION OZ

 FEB 7 WITH SILVER DOWN $0.26 //HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV : A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.73 MILLION OZ OUT OF THE SLV./. //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 428.66 MILLION OZ

FEB 6 WITH SILVER DOWN $0.17 //HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV : A MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF 12.383 MILLION OZ OUT OF THE SLV./. //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 430.39 MILLION OZ

FEB 5 WITH SILVER UP $0.45 //HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV : A MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF 3.285 MILLION OZ OUT OF THE SLV./. //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 442.773 MILLION OZ

FEB 4 WITH SILVER UP $0.81 //HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV : A MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF 2.550 MILLION OZ OUT OF THE SLV./. //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 446.331 MILLION OZ

FEB 4 WITH SILVER UP $0.81 //HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV : A MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF 2.550 MILLION OZ OUT OF THE SLV./. //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 446.331 MILLION OZ

FEB 3 WITH SILVER UP ONE CENT //HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV : A MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF 2.550 MILLION OZ OUT OF THE SLV./. //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 446.331 MILLION OZ

JAN 31  WITH SILVER DOWN $0.19 //HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV : A MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF 2.369 MILLION OZ OUT OF THE SLV./. //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 448.881 MILLION OZ

jAN 30  WITH SILVER UP $0.76 //HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV : A MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF 2.003 MILLION OZ OUT OF THE SLV./. //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 451.249 MILLION OZ

jAN 29  WITH SILVER UP $0.34 //HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV : A MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF 1.639 MILLION OZ OUT OF THE SLV./. //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 453.252 MILLION OZ

jAN 28  WITH SILVER UP $0.34 //HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV : A MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF 1.821 MILLION OZ OUT OF THE SLV./. /

jAN 27  WITH SILVER DOWN $.61 //HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV : A MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF 1.64 MILLION OZ OUT OF THE SLV./. //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 457.395 MILLION OZ

JAN 24  WITH SILVER DOWN $.21 //HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV : A MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF 1.64 MILLION OZ OUT OF THE SLV./. //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 457.395 MILLION OZ

JAN 23  WITH SILVER DOWN $.41 //HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV : A MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF 4.738 MILLION OZ OUT OF THE SLV./. //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 459.035 MILLION OZ

JAN 22  WITH SILVER UP $.08 //SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV : A DEPOSIT OF 0.721 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV./. //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 464.043 MILLION OZ

JAN 20  WITH SILVER DOWN $.09 //NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV : A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.568 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV./. //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 463.315 MILLION OZ

CLOSING INVENTORY 437.674MILLION OZ//

PHYSICAL GOLD/SILVER COMMENTARIES

1/ PETER SCHIFF/SCHIFF GOLD/MIKE MAHARRY

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

Alasdair Macleod..

Batten down the hatches

A credit storm is about to hit US markets, to be reflected in portfolio shifts from equities to bonds, and bonds to gold. It will be driven by an impending economic slump.

The negative consequences of MAGA are beginning to hit the fan. Elon Musk’s aggressive actions through DOGE are undermining or threatening to undermine government contracts upon which a significant element of private sector activity depends. The consequences for business confidence, particularly in service sectors, are dire. Looking at potential job losses, influential voices in establishment institutions are now expressing fears of a deep recession.

We are beginning to see these fears reflected in markets. In the last six trading sessions, the NASDAQ 100 Index has fallen over a thousand points, about five per cent. And bitcoin has lost 16% from its December peak. The dollar’s trade weighted index has declined. The signs are of increasing uncertainties ahead, threatening volatility in financial markets which will prove difficult for ordinary investors to navigate.

Is this marking the end of the largest credit bubble ever seen and the start of a vicious bear market in equities? Will the Fed cut interest rates more rapidly than previously thought? And what are the likely consequences for gold?

The economy is already contracting

In a recent article, I demonstrated that stripped of inflationary government deficit spending that the private sector is already contracting. It is important to differentiate between demand for credit applied to genuine production, and inflationary credit generated by government deficits. No distinction between the two is made in GDP forecasts, undoubtedly because of the Keynesian belief that deficit spending stimulates the private sector.

I included the following table of estimated outcomes for the US private sector, based on the Congressional Budget Offices’ own forecasts.

Taking out deficit spending from the CBO’s nominal GDP forecasts leaves the private sector contracting in nominal terms by 2.19% this fiscal year to end-September. Adjusted for the CBO’s inflation estimate it becomes a contraction of 5.19% in real terms. In other words, before DOGE began wielding its chainsaw to government departmental spending, the US economy was already heading into a deep recession. And this is based on numbers produced by government statisticians discouraged from any extrapolation other than those based on generally optimistic assumptions.

Look at it from a foreign investor’s viewpoint. Collectively, they have $33 trillion in bank deposits, bond investments, and nearly half of that in equities. To a foreigner at least, the US scene under Trump appears to be politically and economically unpredictable, so they are nervous holders of dollar financial assets at best. Doubtless, this nervousness has contributed to the dollar’s trade weighted index declining from 110 in mid-January to 106.43 today, and the recent rise in gold.

And where the foreigners go with their investment sentiment, you can be sure that large and savvy US investors will not be far behind.

In previous posts, I have also made the point that with the exception of a gold standard, the position today has worrying similarities with the Wall Street Crash in 1929: the end of a Fed-induced credit bubble (the Roaring twenties) colliding with the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, passed by Congress in 1929 but signed into law by President Hoover in 1930. The parallels with today are uncanny.

There are two material differences compared with the 1929—32 slump. This time, global supply chains are being dismantled, with unknown consequences not just for nations which export goods to the US but significant disruption for US manufactures as well. Furthermore, in the absence of a gold standard, successive US governments have ensured the buildup of the largest credit bubble ever recorded. Commentators are generally unaware of it, but it is the other side of debt. And we all know how that has grown to record levels, much of it unproductive in nature. We see the debt, but fail to notice the balancing credit.

The US economy was already contracting, as I demonstrate in the table above. It will now do so at a faster rate. A debt and credit implosion has two principal consequences: it is their values which implode as opposed to its quantity. And the risk associated with exposure to credit rises, requiring higher interest rates to compensate for that risk and loss of value. Naturally, the Fed would want to reduce interest rates to stop indebted enterprises, the banks, and government itself from descending into irretrievable insolvency. That is the support promised to debtors. But debtors’ counterparties which are creditors will be eying credit risk and declining credit values, including exposure to government finances.

The US Government’s budget deficit is set to soar in these circumstances. Tariff income will fall far short, as will other revenue sources. And welfare costs will increase. The consequences for the government debt to GDP measure will be catastrophic. Not only will debt issuance rise far higher than currently forecast adding to debt outstanding, but with a contracting GDP the ratio will quickly rise to 150% and beyond.

This brings us to gold — real money without counterparty risk, as opposed to all forms of credit with increasing risk. We can be in no doubt that the Fed will have no option other than to supress short-term interest rates below the levels to adequately compensate creditors for credit risk. Consequently, the dollar will decline against gold. And it will continue to lead the way down for other currencies. Below, I repeat the chart showing how the loss of value for the four major fiat currencies is accelerating:

For the record, over the last 25 years, similar to the euro the dollar has lost 90% of its value, sterling 92.4%, and the yen 93.2%. A credit implosion will only accelerate this process further because credits’ values, which will be even further undermined, are completely detached from real money which in everyone’s common law is gold.

Short-term, as the credit bubble implodes there will be considerable volatility between equities, bonds, and gold. But above all else, these evolving conditions are bound to favour hoarding gold. It will be the phoenix which rises out of the ashes of the final fiat credit collapse.

END

The Gold At Fort Knox Was Stolen From Americans

by Tyler Durden

Thursday, Feb 27, 2025 – 05:40 PM

Authored by Ryan McMaken via The Mises Institute,

In recent days, President Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Senator Rand Paul, and some others have pressed for an audit of the US gold reserves, with a special focus on the gold at Fort Knox. This is perfectly reasonable given that the US gold reserves – which are the property of the US Treasury and not the Federal Reserve – have not undergone even a partial audit in at least forty years.

Part of the reason for the audit is to discover if any of the gold has been stolen. The US Mint, the government agency that acts as custodian of the gold, has reported for many years that the official size of the gold reserve is 8,133.46 metric tons of gold. Since there has been no audit in so many decades, though, the Mint’s position is essentially “trust us, bro.” Trusting federal bureaucrats has never been a particularly wise policy, and this is why there are ongoing demands for some sort of transparent audit.

If the total size of the US’s gold holdings is revealed to be a number below the official number, then it will just be the latest reminder that there a great many thieves and incompetents among the people running the US federal government. After all, if there is less gold than reported in the US gold reserves, it was presumably stolen at some point.

This would be a fitting destiny for the US government’s gold since much of that was stolen to begin with. When I say “stolen,” I don’t even mean in the sense that “taxation is theft” and that the US bought the gold using tax dollars. In truth, the way the US Treasury acquired much of its gold hoard is even more underhanded than ordinary taxation.

Rather, it is likely that most of the gold at Fort Knox, as with the US regime’s gold in general, is gold stolen from ordinary Americans as a part of Franklin Roosevelt’s efforts to end the gold standard and confiscate private gold holdings in the United States. That is, the US gold reserves are a legacy of the way the US government reneged on its promises to redeem US dollars in gold. Rather than pay out the gold that was owed to holders of US dollars, the US government hoarded it instead. That stolen gold is what the auditors will be counting if the US government ever allows an honest accounting of the Treasury’s gold reserves.

Where Did the Gold at Fort Knox Come From?

In his 1994 article for The Journal of Economic Education, economist William C. Wood writes that “the Fort Knox depository is now an artifact of gold standard days.“ He then adds, “The gold currently in Fort Knox came from the melting of Depression-era gold coins, from lend-lease arrangements in War II, and from government operations under the gold standard.”

That reference to “Depression-era gold coins” is telling. Most of those gold coins were likely the coins confiscated from private owners by the US government following Roosevelt’s Executive Order 6102 which outlawed the private ownership of gold. Few Americans owned gold bars, of course, and the gold that was in non-institutional private hands was mostly gold coin. Roosevelt’s edict required that private citizens hand this gold over to the US government in exchange for what was effectively below-market prices. And what if you would rather not give up your property to the US government? Too bad.

Moreover, private banks and the central bank held gold in the form of coins for dollar holders who, prior to confiscation, would occasionally present US dollars for redemption in gold. This is, in part, the gold in Fort Knox that that Wood classifies as gold held for “government operations under the gold standard.” After 1933, however, banks did not need to hold onto any gold coins for this purpose since Roosevelt’s effort to end the gold standard included a prohibition on banks paying out gold.

So, these coins ceased to have an immediate market value among banks. Where did all these gold coins end up? Most ended up with the US Treasury after the Treasury seized the Federal Reserve’s gold in 1934.

Evidence of this can be found in the nature of the gold that is now held at Fort Knox. Wood further explains that the gold there is not the type of gold usually found in gold bars used for international transactions: “The gold resulting from melting of coinage has considerably lower quality than the ‘fine’ or ‘good delivery’ gold commonly used in international trade. The majority of the gold in Fort Knox is the lower-quality coin gold.”

The legacy of the US regime’s gold theft is not limited to the coins that happened to be in private hands in 1933, however. Much of the gold that is in the US gold reserves today is gold that would have been paid out to the private sector had the US government not reneged in its promises to pay war bonds in gold. 

The 1934 Default on Gold-Based Liberty Bonds

Every time there is a debate over the so-called “debt ceiling,” various servants of the US regime like Jerome Powell or Janet Yellen claim that “the United States has never defaulted.” This is a lie. 

Arguably, it was a default, in the broad sense, when Roosevelt’s regime refused to make good on its obligations to dollar holders under the gold standard. The US also defaulted in a formal and legal sense when it refused to pay its World War I Liberty Bonds in gold as promised. Specifically, in 1934, the United States defaulted on the fourth Liberty Bond. The contracts between debtor and creditor on these bonds was clear. The bonds were to be payable in gold. This presented a big problem for the US, which was facing big debts into the 1930s after the First World War. As described by John Chamberlain:

By the time Franklin Roosevelt entered office in 1933, the interest payments alone were draining the treasury of gold; and because the treasury had only $4.2 billion in gold it was obvious there would be no way to pay the principal when it became due in 1938, not to mention meet expenses and other debt obligations. These other debt obligations were substantial. Ever since the 1890s the Treasury had been gold short and had financed this deficit by making new bond issues to attract gold for paying the interest of previous issues. The result was that by 1933 the total debt was $22 billion and the amount of gold needed to pay even the interest on it was soon going to be insufficient.

So how did the US government deal with this? Chamberlain notes “Roosevelt decided to default on the whole of the domestically-held debt by refusing to redeem in gold to Americans.”

In other words, thanks to its profligate deficit spending, the US government was running out of gold by the early 1930s. So, the regime defaulted on the gold bonds. The gold that would have passed into private hands was hoarded by the federal government and declared off limits to the public. Much of that gold remains in the US gold reserves today.

Defaulting on International Gold Obligations

Not all of the US Treasury’s gold is stolen from ordinary Americans. Some is stolen from foreign governments. Another illustration of the dishonesty of the “we never defaulted” narrative is the fact that the US government defaulted in 1971 on its obligations to foreign government under the Bretton Woods system. That is, rather than pay what was owed to foreign governments, the US government once again decided to steal this gold and simply said “tough luck” to everyone with a legal claim to the gold. Or, as Treasury Secretary John Connally said at the time, the dollar “is our currency, but it’s your problem.”

US Gold Reserves: A Legacy of Theft and Lies

The gold reserve was never supposed to be a static, untouchable hoard of the US federal government, as it is now. It was supposed to be there for Americans and other users of dollars who traded in their dollars for gold. Gold was supposed to flow in and out. Then, the US government slammed the doors of the federal gold vaults shut and declared “the gold is all ours forever.” 

Like most everything else the US government “owns,” the gold in the US gold reserves is there due to many years of lies, gaslighting, and deception. The gold is there because the US regime defaulted on its debts and reneged on its promises to back dollars in gold.

If a true auditing team is ever allowed to actually examine the US regime’s gold, it will be examining the evidence of crimes from long ago. The auditors will be counting the gold stolen from our ancestors to enrich the state and its friends.

.3 CHRIS POWELL AND GATA DISPATCHES

Chris Powell…..

4 ANDREW MAGUIRE/LIVE FROM THE VAULT NO 212//ANDREW MAGUIRE INTERVIEWING DR DANIEL LACALLE

Kinesis.money/live-from-the-vault/trump-expose-feds-gold-coverup/

Episode 212

Posted 28th February 2025

Can Trump Expose Fed’s Gold Cover-Up? Feat. Daniel Lacalle

In this week’s Live from the Vault, Andrew Maguire sits down with renowned economist Daniel Lacalle to dissect the shifting global financial landscape, from the erosion of trust in political institutions to the rise of gold as a preferred reserve asset.

As resistance grows against mainstream narratives, political and economic turns in Europe, the US, and beyond are driving demand for gold, whilst central banks are reducing reliance on sovereign debt, signalling significant market changes ahead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoEe4qn1a-E&list=PLE1y8hGSqr8ar1gKUdfqFDK5ygLIlrdmz&index=1

5B GLOBAL COMMODITY ISSUES/FOOD IN GENERAL//FREIGHT/COMMODITIES: COMMODITY//EGGS

Trump’s Bold Plan: Boost Egg Imports To Reverse Biden’s Bird Flu Blunder That Tanked Nation’s Hen Population

Thursday, Feb 27, 2025 – 11:05 AM

The Trump administration is planning a significant increase in US egg imports to counter the Biden-Harris administration’s questionable handling of the avian flu crisis. The previous administration’s approach—mass culling of tens of millions of birds at commercial broilers with little consideration for the marketplace—has led to record-high egg prices. Ramping up egg imports temporarily should help alleviate sky-high prices.

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump told top officials at a Cabinet meeting that “Eggs are a disaster,” adding, “We have to get the prices down, get the inflation down, the prices of eggs and various other things.”

To do this, the US Department of Agriculture will import between 70 million and 100 million eggs over the next two months in an effort to cap egg prices. This initiative is part of a five-part plan, backed by $1 billion in funding, aimed at addressing the bird flu crisis and fixing the Biden administration’s mass culling policies of these hens at commercial broilers that ignited prices at the supermarket. 

Millions of birds at commercial broilers have been mass-culled as the nation’s egg-laying laying hen population fell to its lowest level since 2016 last month.

One very questionable policy under the previous administration was the mass culling of egg-laying hens at commercial broilers without any countermeasure to offset plunging output. It almost seemed as if the administration intended for egg prices to skyrocket. Now, Trump is cleaning up the mess by boosting egg imports while implementing new domestic policies to contain the biosecurity threat. 

Monday’s print of the Urner Barry Egg Index EBP shows wholesale prices jumped to $7.59, a new record high. Since late Decemeber, wholesale prices have jumped to new record highs by the week, with reports of egg shortages nationwide.  

According to the USDA’s bird flu dashboard, 19 million birds across the Lower 48 have been infected by avian influenza over the last 30 days.

Dr. Robert Malone questioned Biden’s bird flu approach, noting earlier this week:

The key question everyone must ask is: Why was the Biden-Harris administration laser-focused on culling and decimating the egg-laying hen population nationwide, with no countermeasures to prevent egg price inflation? A war on food? Most likely…

This is deeply concerning—another reason readers should take control of their own food supply chains rather than relying on globalist mega-corporations.

6 CRYPTOCURRENCY NEWS

END

ASIA TRADING FRIDAY MORNING THURSDAY  NIGHT

SHANGHAI CLOSED DOWN 67.17 PTS OR 1.98%

//Hang Seng CLOSED DOWN 776,97 PTS OR 3.28%

// Nikkei CLOSED DOWN 1100.67OR 2.88%//Australia’s all ordinaries CLOSED DOWN 1.20%

//Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) CLOSED DOWN TO 7.2786 CHINESE YUAN OFFSHORE CLOSED DOWN TO 7.2827/ Oil UP TO 69.36 dollars per barrel for WTI and BRENT UP TO 72.65Stocks in Europe OPENED ALL MIXED

ONSHORE USA/ YUAN TRADING ABOVE LEVEL OF OFFSHORE YUAN/ONSHORE YUAN  TRADING

WEAKER AGAINST US DOLLAR/OFFSHORE YUAN WEAKER

END

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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

ONSHORE YUAN:   CLOSED DOWN AT 7.2786

OFFSHORE YUAN: DOWN TO 7.2821

SHANGHAI CLOSED CLOSED DOWN 67.17 PTS OR 1.98%

HANG SENG CLOSED CLOSED DOWN 776,97 PTS OR 3.28%

2. Nikkei closed DOWN 1100.67OR 2.88%

3. Europe stocks   SO FAR:  ALL MIXED

USA dollar INDEX UP TO  107,26// EURO FALLS TO 1.0404 DOWN 11 BASIS PT HEADING TO PARITY WITH USA

3b Japan 10 YR bond yield: RISES TO. +1.365//Japan buying 100% of bond issuance)/Japanese YEN vs USA cross now at 150.42…… JAPANESE YEN NOW FALLING AS WE HAVE NOW REACHED THE RE EMERGING OF THE YEN CARRY TRADE AGAIN AFTER DISASTROUS POLICY ISSUED BY UEDA

3c Nikkei now  ABOVE 17,000

3d USA/Yen rate now well ABOVE the important 120 barrier this morning

3e Gold DOWN /JAPANESE Yen DOWN CHINESE ONSHORE YUAN: DOWN OFFSHORE: DOWN

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

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

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

3h European bond buying continues to push yields lower on all fronts in the EMU. German 10yr bund YIELD DOWN TO +2.3955/Italian 10 Yr bond yield DOWN to 3.470 SPAIN 10 YR BOND YIELD DOWN TO 3.047

3i Greek 10 year bond yield DOWN TO 3.239

3j Gold at $2863.70 Silver at: 31.13  1 am est) SILVER NEXT RESISTANCE LEVEL AT $50.00//AFTER 28.40

3k USA vs Russian rouble;// Russian rouble DOWN 0 AND 70 /100  roubles/dollar; ROUBLE AT 88.39

3m oil into the 69 dollar handle for WTI and  73 handle for Brent/

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

JAPAN ON JAN 29.2016 CONTINUES NIRP. THIS MORNING RAISES AMOUNT OF BONDS THAT THEY WILL PURCHASE UP TO .5% ON THE 10 YR BOND///YEN TRADES TO 150.42 10 YEAR YIELD AFTER FIRST BREAKING .54% LAST YEAR NOW EXCEEDS THAT LEVEL TO 1.365 % STILL ON CENTRAL BANK (JAPAN) INTERVENTION//YEN CARRY TRADE IS NOW UNWINDING.

30 SNB (Swiss National Bank) still intervening again in the markets driving down the FRANC. It is not working: USA/SF this 0.9017 as the Swiss Franc is still rising against most currencies. Euro vs SF:   0.9380well 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: 4.254 DOWN 3 BASIS PTS…

USA 30 YR BOND YIELD: 4.531 DOWN 2 BASIS PTS/

USA 2 YR BOND YIELD:  4.055 DOWN 3 BASIS PTS

USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 36.52…

10 YR UK BOND YIELD: 4.487 DOWN 6 PTS

10 YR CANADA BOND YIELD: 2.971 DOWN 2 BASIS PTS

5 YR CANADA BOND YIELD: 2.669 DOWN 2 PPTS.

2a New York OPENING REPORT

S&P Futures Rebound From Thursday Rout Which Wiped Out All 2025 Gains; Bitcoin Crash Continues

Friday, Feb 28, 2025 – 08:15 AM

US equity futures are higher, rebounding from an overnight rout driven by a plunge in Chinese and Japanese stocks, while the ongoing crash in bitcoin which sent the token briefly below $80K and down 25% from its all time high, is not helping the dismal sentiment. As of 8:00am ET, S&P futures were up 0.2% and well off the lows,signaling a rebound after the underlying index erased the last of its 2025 gains on Thursday and outperforming both Nasdaq and Russell. Mag 7 are higher led by META (+0.5%) and NVDA (+0.5%). Crypto-linked stocks are lower as Trump’s latest trade-tariff threats prompted a rush by some investors to safer assets, deepening the recent rout in Bitcoin. Bond yields are 1-2bp lower and the USD is higher as the yen finally cracks lower. Commodities are mostly lower: WTI -1.1%, copper -0.7%. Overall, we have seen equities trying to rebound modestly from yesterday’s selloff, but macro narrative has been pressured from trade/policies uncertainties (Trump is set to talk with Zelensky today) and stagflation concerns ; today we get the January PCE and income/spending report: core PCE is expected to print 2.6% YoY, vs. 2.8% prior.

In premarket trading, Meta is leading gains among the Mag 7, meanwhile, Tesla is on track to drop for a record-matching seventh consecutive session (Meta Platforms +0.6%, Alphabet +0.2%, Amazon ,Apple, Microsoft and Nvidia are little changed, while Tesla -0.2%). US-listed Chinese stocks decline in premarket trading, putting the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index on course for its first week of decline in seven. Traders are paring bets following Donald Trump’s additional 10% tariffs on Chinese goods. Cryptocurrency-exposed stocks slid as a rout in Bitcoin deepened on Friday, with investors rushing to safer assets in the wake of Donald Trump’s latest tariff threats. Here are some other notable movers:

• Acadia Health shares sink 19% in premarket trading after the psychiatric hospital chain gave revenue and adjusted Ebitda forecast for the year that fell short of Wall Street’s expectations. The firm also reported fourth-quarter results that missed the average analyst estimate. S
• Bath & Body Works Inc. shares are up 1.5% in premarket trading, after Citi upgraded the retailer of personal care products to buy from neutral.
• Bloom Energy rises 8.0% after the electrical power equipment company reported revenue for the fourth quarter that beat the average analyst estimate.
• Cava Group shares gain 1.9% in premarket trading after Piper Sandler raised the Mediterranean chain to overweight from neutral, saying it’s one of the best ways to invest in the growth of the fast-casual restaurant industry.
• DLocal shares slump as much as 23% in US premarket trading, after the payment platform operator’s earnings and guidance undershot expectations. Analysts saw this as a sign commissions are coming under pressure and Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to equal-weight.
• Investors in shares of JD.com Inc. face a gut check in next week’s earnings report from the online retailer as it girds for battle in the food-delivery space currently dominated by Meituan.
• Iovance Biotherapeutics shares tumble 19% in premarket trading as analysts cut their price targets on the drugmaker, citing weaker-than-expected sales for its advanced melanoma drug, Amtagvi, in the fourth quarter. Analysts see risk to the firm’s 2025 guidance.
• Monster Beverage shares gain 2.1% in premarket trading Friday after the energy-drink maker’s fourth-quarter gross margin topped the average analyst estimate. Net sales were also roughly in line with Wall Street expectations.
• PubMatic shares are down 14% in premarket trading, after the advertising technology company gave a first-quarter outlook that missed expectations. The company said the outlook “includes the continued headwind from one of our top DSP buyers that revised its auction approach in late May 2024.”
• Redfin shares are down 11% in premarket trading, after the online real estate company reported fourth-quarter results that were weaker than expected on key metrics and gave an outlook that is seen as disappointing.
• Rocket Lab shares drop as much as 13% in US premarket trading after the space company delayed the launch of its Neutron rocket to the second half of the year and issued a revenue forecast for the first quarter which fell short of estimates. This prompted analysts to either lower or place their price targets under review.
• Vital Farms shares gain 2.3% in premarket trading after Stifel raised the egg producer to buy from hold, touting the outlook for near-term growth.
• Walgreens Boots Alliance drops 3.7% in premarket trading as Deutsche Bank downgrades to sell from hold and says reports of a potential take-private deal from Sycamore Partners could be very tough to complete

The S&P 500 has slipped almost 3% this month, in part on worries that Trump’s proposed tariffs would fuel a global trade war. It’s now just about 1% from its closing level of 5,783 points on Nov. 5, the day of the Presidential election. About half of S&P 500 members are now down since election day, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. On the outlook for stocks, BofA’s Michael Hartnett said a reversal of the post-election rally would spark investor expectations for intervention by the US president to support the market.  The Nov. 5 closing level is the “first strike price of a Trump put, below which investors currently long risk would very much expect and need some verbal support for markets from policymakers,” BofA’s Michael Hartnett wrote in a note.

Attention turns later to the core personal consumption expenditures price index — which excludes often-volatile food and energy costs. The index probably rose 2.6% in the year through January, after an increase of 2.8% in December, according to Bloomberg economists. It likely ticked up to 0.27% monthly compared with 0.16% in December. A hotter-than-expected reading would prompt concern among investors, said Kevin Thozet, a portfolio advisor at Carmignac. “It would be another hint that there hasn’t been much progress on US inflation since June 2024,” he said. The inflation reading is in sharper focus after Trump said 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico will be enforced from March 4, while Chinese imports would face a further 10% levy. Economists say tariffs may hurt US growth, worsen inflation and possibly spark recessions in Mexico and Canada.

Bitcoin plunged, extending declines from its January peak to over 25%, in a striking pullback for one of the most popular Trump trades. The dollar edged up and Treasuries advanced, with US 10-year yields touching levels not seen since December.

“This is not an environment for de-risking,” said Laura Cooper, global investment strategist at Nuveen, on Bloomberg Television. “Perhaps it is just the case of finding hedges to protect the downside, because that 4th of March deadline is looming.”

In Europe, the Stoxx 600 fell 0.3%, although has recovered off its worst levels, with mining and technology shares faring worst  as broader risk sentiment starts to stabilize having been rocked by US President Trump’s latest pronouncements on tariffs. The benchmark was off its Friday lows after French and Italian inflation data boosted the case for European Central Bank interest-rate cuts. Here are the biggest movers Friday:

• Nexi shares rise as much as 7.2% as the payments firm said it’s going to distribute its first-ever €300 million in dividends, on top of a share repurchase program
• Fugro shares jump as much as 11%, their biggest gain in more than two years, after the geological data company beat earnings estimates, aided by a strong margin performance
• Amadeus shares rise as much as 7.1% to the highest in five years, after the travel IT services provider announced a €1.3b buyback program, equivalent to about 4% of market value
• Proximus gains as much as 5.4% after the Brussels-listed communications firm reported broad-based beats to fourth-quarter estimates, and reassured analysts with its outlook for 2025
• Dino Polska gains as much as 6.2%, touching a record after the food supermarket chain reported same-store sales stronger than estimates and gave upbeat guidance for 2025
• Holcim shares rise as much as 2.7% in early trading as the cement maker reported a beat in margins, particularly in North America. Analysts also noted strong cash generation
• Weir Group shares rise as much as 3.2% after the mining engineering company’s earnings beat expectations, with analysts especially positive on its margins and 2025 outlook
• Valeo shares drop as much as 11% on Friday, denting the stock’s strong start to the year, as analysts note a continued tough environment for auto suppliers
• Teleperformance shares slump as much as 16%, the most in almost a year, after the digital business services firm issued weak margin guidance for 2025
• Logitech International shares drop as much as 9% as BofA Global Research cuts its rating on the electronics maker to underperform from neutral due to its valuation and earnings outlook
• Puig shares fall as much as 5.5%, with analysts pointing to its sales guidance for 2025 which Jefferies says is “conservative” and reflects a slowdown in growth in some end markets
• Clariant shares slide as much as 12%, the most in three years and hitting the lowest since July 2012, after the chemicals maker released full-year results

Asian equities slumped, on track to snap their longest weekly winning streak in nearly a year, as US President Donald Trump’s latest tariff threats and underwhelming Nvidia results damped investor sentiment.  The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 2.5%, set to cap its worst day since Feb. 3, with Alibaba, Tencent and Meituan among the biggest drags. Shares in Hong Kong led the declines, after Trump said he would impose an additional 10% levy on imports from the Asian nation. The move aggravates growth concerns for the world’s No. 2 economy and threatens to derail a rally induced by optimism over artificial intelligence. South Korea was also among the worst performers, with the Kospi down more than 3%, as tech stocks including Samsung and SK Hynix tracked Nvidia lower after its “good-but-not-great” quarterly raised doubts on the sector’s outlook. Japanese stocks were also hit by trade and chip sector worries. Southeast Asian stocks tumbled as currency weakness and tariffs weighed on sentiment, with Thailand’s SET Index on track to enter a bear market.

The additional tariffs “deliver a negative signal to the market that the trade conflict between the two nations still exists,” said Jason Chan, a senior investment strategist at Bank of East Asia in Hong Kong. “The market in general expects trade talks will be held before a new round of tariff hikes occurs, but Trump’s latest announcement may be a surprise.”

In FX, the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1% advancing for a third session, and hitting its highest since Feb. 13, after President Donald Trump said the 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico would come into force from March 4, while Chinese imports would face a further 10% levy. The kiwi is the weakest of the G-10’s, falling 0.6% against the greenback. The pound erased losses after Bank of England Deputy Governor Dave Ramsden said policymakers will have to take “great care” when cutting interest rates given signs of persistent inflation Earlier, the pound slipped to its lowest in more than a week against the dollar. USD/JPY rose 0.4% to 150.4, its highest level in a week.

In rates, treasuries are little changed as US session gets under way after erasing gains that sent yields to fresh YTD lows. US 10-year yield at 4.25% is back within 1bp of Thursday’s closing level after declining as much as 4bp to 4.22%, last seen in Dec. 11; earlier gains in Treasury futures were backed by a rally in JGBs after domestic inflation slowed more than expected. Core European rates outperformed after French inflation fell to its lowest level in four years and prices in Italy unexpectedly held steady — bolstered expectations for ECB rate cuts. bunds and gilts in the sector outperform by 2bp and 2.5bp; bunds gapped higher at the open, tracking the overnight rally in Treasuries and later showed little reaction to German state inflation data. French and Italian EU harmonized CPI rose less than forecast. German 10-year yields fall 3 bps to 2.38%. Gilts also gain, with UK 10-year borrowing costs dropping 3 bps to 4.48%. Bank of England interest-rate cut bets are steady after Deputy Governor Ramsden said policymakers will have to take great care when lowering rates. Focal point of US day is January personal income and spending data that include PCE price indexes, with core gauge expected to show first deceleration since September.

In commodities, oil prices decline, with WTI falling 1% to $69.60 a barrel. Spot gold falls $15 to around $2,862/oz. Bitcoin briefly tumbles below $80000, plunging 25% from its all time high a little over a month ago.

US economic data calendar includes January personal income/spending and advance goods trade balance (8:30am), February MNI Chicago PMI and February Kansas City Fed services activity (11am). Fed speaker slate includes Goolsbee at 10:15pm.

Market Snapshot

• S&P 500 futures up 0.3% to 5,894.25
• STOXX Europe 600 down 0.4% to 554.88
• MXAP down 2.4% to 183.53
• MXAPJ down 2.4% to 577.29
• Nikkei down 2.9% to 37,155.50
• Topix down 2.0% to 2,682.09
• Hang Seng Index down 3.3% to 22,941.32
• Shanghai Composite down 2.0% to 3,320.90
• Sensex down 1.8% to 73,280.16
• Australia S&P/ASX 200 down 1.2% to 8,172.35
• Kospi down 3.4% to 2,532.78
• German 10Y yield little changed at 2.39%
• Euro little changed at $1.0400
• Brent Futures down 0.9% to $73.40/bbl
• Gold spot down 0.5% to $2,862.59
• US Dollar Index little changed at 107.34

Top overnight news

• Trump has said he is working on a trade deal with the UK and suggested Britain could escape tariffs if the country secured one, but the allies failed to agree on US security guarantees for Ukraine. FT
• Trump said on Truth that they are working very hard with the House and Senate to pass a clean, temporary government funding bill. Trump also announced he nominated Paul Dabbar to be the US Deputy Secretary of Commerce.
• Economists added a big disclaimer — Trump — to their view that the ECB will lower rates three more times. After an almost-certain quarter-point move next week, there’s scope for forecasts to shift abruptly. BBG
• The Treasury’s cash balance plummeted to $569 billion, the lowest since September 2023, as it navigates the debt-ceiling impasse by reducing bill auctions. Meanwhile, overnight repo rates climbed. BBG
• Mexico will extradite drug criminals to the US in a bid to avoid Trump’s tariffs. WSJ
• Donald Trump’s additional 10% tariffs on Chinese goods again brought geopolitical risks to the forefront of investors’ mind, prompting the biggest selloff in Chinese stocks in months: BBG
• President Volodymyr Zelenskiy arrives at the White House on Friday with a personal appeal to persuade Donald Trump not to sell out his country in the rush to make a peace deal with Russia: BBG
• French inflation retreated to its lowest level in four years, bolstering the case for further interest-rate cuts by the European Central Bank, whose next move is likely to arrive next week: BBG
• China’s Ministry of Commerce said Friday that it “firmly opposes” Trump’s latest threat to ramp up tariffs on Chinese goods (Trump announced plans for an additional 10% tariff on Chiina yesterday) and vowed retaliation, if necessary. CNBC
• Japan’s Tokyo CPI comes in below the Street at +2.9% headline (down from +3.4% in Jan and under the consensus estimate of +3.2%) and +1.9% core (flat vs. Jan and below the Street’s +2% forecast). BBG
• India’s economic growth probably accelerated to 6.2% year on year in the fourth quarter, from 5.4% in the prior period. BBG
• France’s CPI for Feb cools below expectations, coming in at +0.9% Y/Y on an EU harmonized basis, down from +1.8% in Jan and lower than the consensus forecast of +1.1%. WSJ

Tariffs

• US Treasury Secretary Bessent said he’s open to the idea that other countries’ tariffs could come down or go away, while it was separately reported that South Korea’s Acting President Choi and US Treasury Secretary Bessent discussed tariffs, investment, and forex policy in a video call, according to South Korea’s finance ministry.
• China’s MOFCOM said China opposes US President Trump’s latest tariffs on Chinese goods and hopes the US will avoid making the same mistake again and return to the right track of properly resolving differences through dialogue as soon as possible. Furthermore, it stated if the US insists on its own path, China will take all necessary countermeasures to defend its legitimate rights and interests.
• China’s Foreign Minister, on the remarks from US President Trump around an additional 10% tariff, says the US is once again using fentanyl as a pretext for threatening China. China opposes the tariff move. Will take all necessary measures to safeguard their legitimate interests. Rubio’s speech was filled with “cold war mentality”, adds the US coercion will backfire. China is willing to cooperate.

A more detailed look at global markets courtesy of Newsquawk

APAC stocks declined with heavy pressure seen at month-end following the sell-off on Wall St with global risk sentiment hit by tariff threats and following a slump in NVIDIA shares post-earnings. ASX 200 was pressured with nearly all sectors in the red and the declines led by underperformance in miners and tech. Nikkei 225 slumped from the open and briefly dipped below the 37,000 level with the index down by more than a thousand points amid tech-related selling, while there were  mixed data releases from Japan including softer-than-expected Tokyo CPI, a miss on Retail Sales and a slightly narrower-than-feared contraction in Industrial Production. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp conformed to the broad downbeat mood amid trade-related frictions after US President Trump announced that an additional 10% of tariffs on China is set to take effect on March 4th which is on top of the 10% tariffs the US had previously imposed earlier this month. Nonetheless, the losses in the mainland were somewhat cushioned ahead of next week’s annual ”Two Sessions” in Beijing, where markets will be hoping for fiscal stimulus.

Top Asian News

• China’s Politburo said it will implement a more proactive macro policy, expand domestic demand and will stabilise the housing market and stock market. Furthermore, it will also prevent and resolve risks and external shocks in key areas, as well as promote the sustained recovery of the economy.
• China’s state planner issued measures on promoting high-quality inclusive elderly care services and will leverage central budget investment to boost the construction of affordable elderly care facilities.
• BoJ Deputy Governor Uchida said there is no change to the stance on short-term policy rate or JGB taper despite recent yield moves, and JGB yields fluctuate depending on market views on the economy, prices, and overseas developments. Uchida added the BoJ guides monetary policy towards achieving price stability not to monetise government debt.
• Japan is to crack down on the booming market for JGB-backed loans, according to Bloomberg.
• Chinese banks are reducing US dollar deposit rates following guidance from the PBoC, according to sources cited by Reuters.
• PBoC did not conduct purchase or sale of Chinese sovereign bonds from primary dealers in Feb.

European bourses (STOXX 600 -0.4%) began the session entirely in the red, continuing the down-beat and risk-off mood seen in US and APAC hours. As the morning progressed, there has been an upward bias, attempting to pare back some of the early morning pressure; indices still generally reside in the red. European sectors hold a strong negative bias, given the risk-off sentiment. Construction & Materials tops the pile, lifted by post-earning strength in Holcim (+3.5%). Basic Resources is the underperformer today, given the risk-tone which has weighed on underlying metals prices. It is also no surprise that Tech is amongst the laggards, following the significant losses in NVIDIA (-8.5%) in the prior session; ASML (-2.5%)

Top European News

• BoE’s Ramsden says his conclusion from the “current elevated degree of uncertainty is that it increases the range of plausible states that the UK economy might end up in in the medium term”. “I no longer think that risks to hitting the 2% inflation target sustainably in the medium term are to the downside. Instead, I think they are two sided, reflecting the potential for more inflationary as well as disinflationary scenarios.” & On descending the Table Mountain “There may be circumstances when a slower than expected descent is justified but there will also be times when conditions require that the pace has to quicken.”

FX

• USD remains underpinned by the Trump administration’s trade policies. As a reminder, Trump clarified that there will be a “10+10” tariff on China for a total of 20% additional tariffs and that the proposed tariffs on Canada and Mexico are scheduled to go into effect on March 4th. On the data slate, the obvious highlight is monthly PCE data for January with core M/M expected to tick higher to 0.3% from 0.2%, and the Y/Y metric forecast at 2.6% vs. prev. 2.8%.
• EUR is flat vs. the USD and pivoting around the 1.04 mark. On the data front, CPI releases thus far today have seen a softer-than-expected outturn for French inflation, whilst German state CPIs have been broadly in-line with expectations of the national release at 13:00GMT; firmer on a M/M basis and steady Y/Y. Elsewhere on the inflation front, the ECB’s survey of consumer expectations saw the 12-month forecast slip to 2.6% from 2.8% and the 3yr remain at 2.4%. Tariffs also remain on the mind of investors with the EU still in the firing line of the Trump admin, after President Trump reaffirmed his criticism of EU VAT taxes. EUR/USD briefly slipped below its 50DMA at 1.0387 before just about returning to a 1.04 handle.
• Overnight, USD/JPY saw mild downside amid haven flows into the Japanese currency but saw two-way price action with a brief surge triggered by softer-than-expected Tokyo inflation data. USD/JPY has gained a firmer footing on a 150 handle with a current session peak at 150.68 vs. the YTD low printed on 25th February at 148.55.
• GBP is flat vs. the USD after briefly slipping onto a 1.25 handle. GBP has been more resilient vs. the USD compared to other peers with the UK seen to have less exposure to US tariffs than peers. Furthermore, US President Trump said the US is going to have a deal done on trade with the UK “rather quickly” and that UK PM Starmer tried to convince him not to impose tariffs on the UK during their meeting. Elsewhere, BoE’s Ramsden presented an even-handed speech in which he noted inflation risks “are two-sided. Cable, the earlier session low sits at 1.2574; if breached, last week’s low kicks in at 1.2562.
• Antipodeans are softer alongside the risk-off tone triggered by the latest Trump tariff tirade and tech losses on Wall Street.
• PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 7.1738 vs exp. 7.2873 (prev. 7.1740).

Fixed Income

• USTs are bid, benefitting from the marked equity sell-off seen in the second half of Thursday’s US session which reverberated into APAC trade and the European open; driven by losses in Tech and Trump confirming that the 10% measure on China is in addition to the 10% tariff he had already announced. Action that took USTs to a 111-03+ peak in APAC trade which is a YTD high for the June contract and takes us back to the 111-08 and 111-20+ peaks from November and December respectively. Focus today is on US PCE.
• Bunds are trading in tandem with USTs for the first part of the session but has since experienced a marginal pullback from highs and while still comfortably in the green, the benchmark finds itself in the lower-half of a 132.94-133.46 band. A pullback which has occurred despite the cooler-than-expected French preliminary inflation measures and the broadly in-line, when compared to expectations for the nationwide figure, German State CPIs; though, while expected, the M/M German figures did see a marked move higher which may be weighing on EGBs. The ECB SCE saw 12-month inflation expectations ease a touch whilst 3yr remained steady.
• Gilts are following the above. UK specifics include Nationwide House Price figures which lifted from the prior and showed the sixth consecutive monthly gain. Alongside that, an extensive text release from BoE’s Ramsden in which he noted that uncertainty has increased and as such a data-dependent and meeting-by-meeting approach is warranted. Firmer but at the lower-end of 93.24 to 93.48 parameters. A further pullback brings into view the figure and then the 92.22 base from earlier in the week. While a pickup would first encounter resistance at 93.49 from mid-February and then the current WTD peak of 93.51.
• BoJ plans to buy bonds in March at same pace as February, according to a release.

Commodities

• Crude futures are lower on Friday, giving back some of the upside seen in the prior session. Some of the pressure today could be attributed to month-end profit-taking, and with traders mindful of US PCE later. Brent May sits in a USD 72.76-73.37/bbl range.
• Subdued trade across precious metals as European players reacted to the surge in the Dollar yesterday amid US President Trump’s tariff rhetoric, with nothing new to add during European hours. Spot gold resides in a USD 2,851.11-2,885.24/oz range.
• Base metals are lower across the board amid the risk-off sentiment amid Trump’s tariff rhetoric which seeks to impose an additional 10% tariff on China on top of the February 4th 10% levy. 3M LME copper fell further below USD 9,500/t and resides in a USD 9,331.90-9,405.65/t range at the time of writing.
• Oman crude OSP USD 77.63/bbl in April vs. March USD 80.26/bbl, according to GME data cited by Reuters.
• Iraq Oil Ministry says it will announce a resumption of oil exports in the next few hours; initial oil flows from Iraq’s Kurdistan region through Turkey will be at 185k barrels, and will increase gradually.
• A group of eight oil firms operating in Iraqi Kurdistan and Apikur say there will be no resumption of oil exports through Iraq-Turkey pipeline on Friday, has not been any formal outreach to member companies with regards to resumption of oil exports yet

Geopolitics

• Israeli army storms the West Bank city of Nablus, via Sky news Arabia citing Palestinian News Agency

US Event Calendar

• 08:30: Jan. Core PCE Price Index MoM, est. 0.3%, prior 0.2%
  • Jan. Core PCE Price Index YoY, est. 2.6%, prior 2.8%
  • Jan. PCE Price Index MoM, est. 0.3%, prior 0.3%
  • Jan. PCE Price Index YoY, est. 2.5%, prior 2.6%
  • Jan. Personal Income, est. 0.4%, prior 0.4%
  • Jan. Personal Spending, est. 0.2%, prior 0.7%
  • Jan. Real Personal Spending, est. -0.1%, prior 0.4%
• 08:30: Jan. Advance Goods Trade Balance, est. -$116.6b, prior -$122.1b, revised -$122b
• 08:30: Jan. Retail Inventories MoM, est. 0.2%, prior -0.3%
  • Jan. Wholesale Inventories MoM, est. 0.1%, prior -0.5%
• 09:45: Feb. MNI Chicago PMI, est. 40.8, prior 39.5
• 11:00: Feb. Kansas City Fed Services Activ, prior -4

DB’s Jim Reid concludes the overnight wrap

Happy Friday. It’s been a busy week of travel and dinners, and on getting home last night our kitchen cupboards had finished being repainted. I couldn’t tell any difference. When I told my wife that, she said (and I’m paraphrasing to get through compliance), “How on earth can you not tell? They were getting disgusting and now they look new”. I didn’t think they needed doing but I can’t tell if that’s me lacking standards or whether my wife has too high ones. Now we’re 7-8 years on since we gutted our house and starting again I fear this is the first of many redecoration altercations!

Markets were in a stressed mood of their own yesterday, with renewed tariff threats from President Trump in addition to a sharp tech sell-off that saw the Magnificent 7 (-3.03%) post its worst day of 2025 so far as Nvidia slumped -8.48% after its earnings the previous evening. This marked a sixth consecutive decline for the Mag-7, the first time that’s happened since April last year, and it now leaves the index -13.56% beneath its December peak. In turn, the S&P 500 fell -1.59%, moving back into the red YTD and on course for its worst week since September, while the VIX closed above 20 for the first time this year (+2.03pts to 21.13).

Risk assets had already come under some pressure after President Trump confirmed that 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico were still scheduled for this Tuesday, March 4. In a post on Truth Social, President Trump said that “Drugs are still pouring into our Country from Mexico and Canada”, and that “until it stops, or is seriously limited, the proposed TARIFFS scheduled to go into effect on MARCH FOURTH will, indeed, go into effect, as scheduled.” On top of that, he said that China would face an additional 10% tariff, and then on April 2, the reciprocal tariffs would also go into force.

Of course, it’s worth bearing in mind that at the start of February, the proposed tariffs were extended by a month with just hours to spare. And President Trump’s post did leave some room for another extension or deal, as he used the phrase “until it stops, or is seriously limited”, suggesting there was a way of avoiding them. However, if they do come into place for a prolonged period, then the same framework from before would apply, with Canada and Mexico likely to go into an imminent recession. Moreover, it would raise US inflation, and make it more likely that the Fed doesn’t cut this year at all. Our US economists have previously suggested that the 25% tariffs on their two neighbours would reduce US growth by between 0.4 to 0.7% in 2025 and raise core PCE by between 0.3% to 0.7% if sustained. See their analysis here.

In terms of whether a deal could be reached, officials in Canada and Mexico were both still talking as though that was possible. Indeed, Mexican President Sheinbaum said yesterday that “I hope we can reach an agreement and that on March 4 we can announce something else”. Meanwhile, Canada’s public safety minister David McGuinty said in Washington yesterday that “We are quite convinced that the efforts we’ve made thus far should satisfy the US administration”. And given the last extension was made in the final 24 hours, it’s not implausible that markets won’t start to price the full impact of tariffs until after they actually come into force. However, in the case of China, it’s worth bearing in mind that they didn’t reach a deal, and the 10% tariff did come into force earlier this month, so this would be an extra 10% on top of that.  

Although investors are still anticipating a potential last-minute deal again, the most tariff-sensitive assets saw an immediate reaction to Trump’s post. For instance, the Canadian dollar weakened by -0.69% against the US Dollar, while the euro fell to back below 1.04 against the dollar posting its worst day in eight weeks (-0.83%). Elsewhere in Europe, the STOXX Automobiles and Parts index was already having a bad day given President Trump’s announcements of 25% auto tariffs on the EU, but it extended its losses to close -3.73% lower. More broadly, there was underperformance for the DAX in Germany (-1.07%) and the FTSE MIB in Italy (-1.53%), two countries relatively more exposed to trade with the US, while the STOXX 600 fell -0.46%.

On top of the tariffs, we got some more inflationary news from the latest Q4 GDP data, as the Fed’s preferred inflation measure of PCE was revised up on the second estimate. It showed that headline PCE was now running at +2.4% in Q4, an upward revision of a tenth, whilst core PCE was revised up two-tenths to +2.7%. So it’s in a zone where it’s still lingering above target, and that’s before the imposition of any Trump tariffs. With WTI crude oil prices also moving +2.52% higher yesterday to $70.35/bbl, investors moved to price in higher inflation, with the 1yr inflation swap bouncing +5.7bps higher on the day to 2.925%. Looking forward, that inflation focus will continue today, as we’ve got the PCE numbers for January coming out, and our US economists are expecting a core PCE reading of +0.27%.

For rates, the combination of a risk-off tone and a more inflationary backdrop drove a curve steepening. Despite the rise in near-term inflation pricing, the front-end saw a modest rally as investors moved to price in 61bps on Fed cuts by December (+1.4bps on the day). This saw 2yr Treasury yields (-2.0bps) fall to a new 4-month low of 4.05%, while the 2yr real yield fell to 0.87%, its lowest since August 2022. By contrast, 10 year yields ended a run of 6 consecutive declines (+0.4bps to 4.26%). However, overnight in Asia they’ve rallied a sizeable -4bps for this time of day, trading at 4.22% as I type.

Over in Europe, sovereign bonds had seen a modest rally, with yields on 10yr bunds (-2.0bps) and OATs (-0.9bps) moving slightly lower. That came as the Spanish CPI release for February was in line with expectations, with the EU-harmonised measure at +2.9%, so the lack of an upside surprise helped reassure investors ahead of the numbers from other countries, including France, Italy and Germany today.

President Trump’s comments again drew attention later in the day with Keir Starmer’s visit to Washington. On trade, President Trump said he envisaged “a real trade deal” with the UK, which could mean that tariffs were “not necessary”. On Ukraine, the UK Prime Minister said that the UK would be ready to puts “boots on the ground” to support a peace deal. While saying he supported NATO’s Article 5, President Trump refrained from promising any US backstop for European involvement in Ukraine, stating “I don’t like to talk about peacekeeping until we have a deal”. Ukraine will remain in the headlines today with President Zelenskiy due to visit Trump in Washington, as the two are expected to sign a deal on Ukrainian minerals. The ongoing focus on European defence saw Germany’s Rheinmetall (+3.20%) continue to outperform yesterday, taking its YTD gains to +62.87%.

Asian equity markets are tumbling this morning with the KOSPI (-3.28) and the Nikkei (-3.10%) the largest underperformers with the latter plunging to its lowest level since mid-September 2024 while the Hang Seng (-2.78%) is also trading sharply lower as local tech shares are slumping following the Nvidia sell-off on Wall Street overnight. Elsewhere, the S&P/ASX 200 (-1.18%) and the Shanghai Composite (-1.29%) are also trading lower. US equity futures have stabilised and are up around a tenth of a percent.

Early morning data showed that headline inflation for Tokyo came in at +2.9% y/y in February (v/s +3.2% expected) down from +3.4% in January. At the same time, Tokyo’s core consumer prices rose by +2.2% y/y in February, a deceleration from January’s 2.5% increase, an 11-month high, and a tenth lower than expectations. The same miss as core/core inflation. Separately, other data showed that Japan’s industrial production in January decreased by -1.1% m/m, aligning with market expectations and compared to a -0.2% contraction in December. Concurrently, retail sales experienced a +3.9% y/y gain in January, in line with projections as against a +3.5% gain in the prior month.

To the day ahead now, and data releases include the French, German and Italian CPI prints for February, along with US PCE inflation for January. Otherwise, we’ll get Canada’s Q4 GDP, and German unemployment for February. Elsewhere, central bank speakers include the BoE’s Ramsden.

2B European Report

ES/NQ gain ahead of US PCE, sentiment hit amid trade angst but off worst levels – Newsquawk US Market Open

Friday, Feb 28, 2025 – 06:13 AM

• European bourses are in the red, but with sentiment off lows; ES/NQ gain ahead of US PCE.
• USD remains underpinned by trade angst; Antipodeans lag given the risk-tone.
• Bonds bid after Trump’s latest on tariffs & tech pressure, though benchmarks are off highs.
• Commodities lower on month end and ahead of weekend uncertainty.
• Looking ahead, German CPI US PCE & Dallas Fed, Canadian GDP. Credit Reviews for Germany & France.

More Newsquawk in 3 steps:

1. Subscribe to the free premarket movers reports

2. Listen to this report in the market open podcast (available on Apple and Spotify)

3. Trial Newsquawk’s premium real-time audio news squawk box for 7 days

TARIFFS/TRADE

• US Treasury Secretary Bessent said he’s open to the idea that other countries’ tariffs could come down or go away, while it was separately reported that South Korea’s Acting President Choi and US Treasury Secretary Bessent discussed tariffs, investment, and forex policy in a video call, according to South Korea’s finance ministry.
• China’s MOFCOM said China opposes US President Trump’s latest tariffs on Chinese goods and hopes the US will avoid making the same mistake again and return to the right track of properly resolving differences through dialogue as soon as possible. Furthermore, it stated if the US insists on its own path, China will take all necessary countermeasures to defend its legitimate rights and interests.
• China’s Foreign Minister, on the remarks from US President Trump around an additional 10% tariff, says the US is once again using fentanyl as a pretext for threatening China. China opposes the tariff move. Will take all necessary measures to safeguard their legitimate interests. Rubio’s speech was filled with “cold war mentality”, adds the US coercion will backfire. China is willing to cooperate.

EUROPEAN TRADE

EQUITIES

• European bourses (STOXX 600 -0.4%) began the session entirely in the red, continuing the down-beat and risk-off mood seen in US and APAC hours. As the morning progressed, there has been an upward bias, attempting to pare back some of the early morning pressure; indices still generally reside in the red.
• European sectors hold a strong negative bias, given the risk-off sentiment. Construction & Materials tops the pile, lifted by post-earning strength in Holcim (+3.5%). Basic Resources is the underperformer today, given the risk-tone which has weighed on underlying metals prices. It is also no surprise that Tech is amongst the laggards, following the significant losses in NVIDIA (-8.5%) in the prior session; ASML (-2.5%)
• US equity futures are mixed, with the ES/NQ attempting to make back some of the hefty losses seen in the prior session and ahead of the US PCE later today.
• Click for the sessions European pre-market equity newsflow
• Click for the additional news
• Click for a detailed summary

FX

• USD remains underpinned by the Trump administration’s trade policies. As a reminder, Trump clarified that there will be a “10+10” tariff on China for a total of 20% additional tariffs and that the proposed tariffs on Canada and Mexico are scheduled to go into effect on March 4th. On the data slate, the obvious highlight is monthly PCE data for January with core M/M expected to tick higher to 0.3% from 0.2%, and the Y/Y metric forecast at 2.6% vs. prev. 2.8%.
• EUR is flat vs. the USD and pivoting around the 1.04 mark. On the data front, CPI releases thus far today have seen a softer-than-expected outturn for French inflation, whilst German state CPIs have been broadly in-line with expectations of the national release at 13:00GMT; firmer on a M/M basis and steady Y/Y. Elsewhere on the inflation front, the ECB’s survey of consumer expectations saw the 12-month forecast slip to 2.6% from 2.8% and the 3yr remain at 2.4%. Tariffs also remain on the mind of investors with the EU still in the firing line of the Trump admin, after President Trump reaffirmed his criticism of EU VAT taxes. EUR/USD briefly slipped below its 50DMA at 1.0387 before just about returning to a 1.04 handle.
• Overnight, USD/JPY saw mild downside amid haven flows into the Japanese currency but saw two-way price action with a brief surge triggered by softer-than-expected Tokyo inflation data. USD/JPY has gained a firmer footing on a 150 handle with a current session peak at 150.68 vs. the YTD low printed on 25th February at 148.55.
• GBP is flat vs. the USD after briefly slipping onto a 1.25 handle. GBP has been more resilient vs. the USD compared to other peers with the UK seen to have less exposure to US tariffs than peers. Furthermore, US President Trump said the US is going to have a deal done on trade with the UK “rather quickly” and that UK PM Starmer tried to convince him not to impose tariffs on the UK during their meeting. Elsewhere, BoE’s Ramsden presented an even-handed speech in which he noted inflation risks “are two-sided. Cable, the earlier session low sits at 1.2574; if breached, last week’s low kicks in at 1.2562.
• Antipodeans are softer alongside the risk-off tone triggered by the latest Trump tariff tirade and tech losses on Wall Street.
• PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 7.1738 vs exp. 7.2873 (prev. 7.1740).
• Click for a detailed summary
• Click for NY OpEx Details

FIXED INCOME

• USTs are bid, benefitting from the marked equity sell-off seen in the second half of Thursday’s US session which reverberated into APAC trade and the European open; driven by losses in Tech and Trump confirming that the 10% measure on China is in addition to the 10% tariff he had already announced. Action that took USTs to a 111-03+ peak in APAC trade which is a YTD high for the June contract and takes us back to the 111-08 and 111-20+ peaks from November and December respectively. Focus today is on US PCE.
• Bunds are trading in tandem with USTs for the first part of the session but has since experienced a marginal pullback from highs and while still comfortably in the green, the benchmark finds itself in the lower-half of a 132.94-133.46 band. A pullback which has occurred despite the cooler-than-expected French preliminary inflation measures and the broadly in-line, when compared to expectations for the nationwide figure, German State CPIs; though, while expected, the M/M German figures did see a marked move higher which may be weighing on EGBs. The ECB SCE saw 12-month inflation expectations ease a touch whilst 3yr remained steady.
• Gilts are following the above. UK specifics include Nationwide House Price figures which lifted from the prior and showed the sixth consecutive monthly gain. Alongside that, an extensive text release from BoE’s Ramsden in which he noted that uncertainty has increased and as such a data-dependent and meeting-by-meeting approach is warranted. Firmer but at the lower-end of 93.24 to 93.48 parameters. A further pullback brings into view the figure and then the 92.22 base from earlier in the week. While a pickup would first encounter resistance at 93.49 from mid-February and then the current WTD peak of 93.51.
• BoJ plans to buy bonds in March at same pace as February, according to a release.
• Click for a detailed summary

COMMODITIES

• Crude futures are lower on Friday, giving back some of the upside seen in the prior session. Some of the pressure today could be attributed to month-end profit-taking, and with traders mindful of US PCE later. Brent May sits in a USD 72.76-73.37/bbl range.
• Subdued trade across precious metals as European players reacted to the surge in the Dollar yesterday amid US President Trump’s tariff rhetoric, with nothing new to add during European hours. Spot gold resides in a USD 2,851.11-2,885.24/oz range.
• Base metals are lower across the board amid the risk-off sentiment amid Trump’s tariff rhetoric which seeks to impose an additional 10% tariff on China on top of the February 4th 10% levy. 3M LME copper fell further below USD 9,500/t and resides in a USD 9,331.90-9,405.65/t range at the time of writing.
• Oman crude OSP USD 77.63/bbl in April vs. March USD 80.26/bbl, according to GME data cited by Reuters.
• Iraq Oil Ministry says it will announce a resumption of oil exports in the next few hours; initial oil flows from Iraq’s Kurdistan region through Turkey will be at 185k barrels, and will increase gradually.
• A group of eight oil firms operating in Iraqi Kurdistan and Apikur say there will be no resumption of oil exports through Iraq-Turkey pipeline on Friday, has not been any formal outreach to member companies with regards to resumption of oil exports yet
• Click for a detailed summary

NOTABLE DATA RECAP

• German State CPIs: Y/Y & M/M broadly in-line with German Mainland expectations of an unchanged Y/Y figure and a jump higher in M/M.
• German Retail Sales YY Real (Jan) 2.9% (Prev. 1.8%).
• German Import Prices MM (Jan) 1.1% vs. Exp. 0.7% (Prev. 0.4%); YY (Jan) 3.1% vs. Exp. 2.7% (Prev. 2.0%)
• German Unemployment Rate SA (Feb) 6.2% vs. Exp. 6.2% (Prev. 6.2%); Unemployment Change SA (Feb) 5.0k vs. Exp. 15.0k (Prev. 11.0k); Unemployment Total SA (Feb) 2.886M (Prev. 2.88M) ; Unemployment Total NSA (Feb) 2.989M (Prev. 2.993M)
• UK Nationwide House Price MM (Feb) 0.4% vs. Exp. 0.2% (Prev. 0.1%); YY (Feb) 3.9% vs. Exp. 3.4% (Prev. 4.1%)
  • French CPI (EU Norm) Prelim MM (Feb) 0.0% vs. Exp. 0.30% (Prev. -0.20%); YY (Feb) 0.9% vs. Exp. 1.2% (Prev. 1.8%)
  • Italian CPI (EU Norm) Prelim MM (Feb) 0.1% vs. Exp. 0.1% (Prev. -0.8%); CPI (EU Norm) Prelim YY * (Feb) 1.7% vs. Exp. 1.8% (Prev. 1.7%); Consumer Price Prelim YY (Feb) 1.7% vs. Exp. 1.7% (Prev. 1.5%); Consumer Price Prelim MM (Feb) 0.2% (Prev. 0.6%)

NOTABLE EUROPEAN HEADLINES

• BoE’s Ramsden says his conclusion from the “current elevated degree of uncertainty is that it increases the range of plausible states that the UK economy might end up in in the medium term”. “I no longer think that risks to hitting the 2% inflation target sustainably in the medium term are to the downside. Instead, I think they are two sided, reflecting the potential for more inflationary as well as disinflationary scenarios.” & On descending the Table Mountain “There may be circumstances when a slower than expected descent is justified but there will also be times when conditions require that the pace has to quicken.”

NOTABLE US HEADLINES

• Fed’s Harker (2026 voter) said the policy rate remains restrictive enough to continue putting downward pressure on inflation. Harker also commented that he was on the fence in December between thinking one or two rate cuts were appropriate this year and right now, there is a lot of uncertainty and he’s in the let’s stay where they are for now camp.
• US President Trump said on Truth that they are working very hard with the House and Senate to pass a clean, temporary government funding bill. Trump also announced he nominated Paul Dabbar to be the US Deputy Secretary of Commerce.

GEOPOLITICS

• Israeli army storms the West Bank city of Nablus, via Sky news Arabia citing Palestinian News Agency

CRYPTO

• Bitcoin is on the backfoot and has slipped below USD 80k; Ethereum now down to USD 2.1K.

APAC TRADE

• APAC stocks declined with heavy pressure seen at month-end following the sell-off on Wall St with global risk sentiment hit by tariff threats and following a slump in NVIDIA shares post-earnings.
• ASX 200 was pressured with nearly all sectors in the red and the declines led by underperformance in miners and tech.
• Nikkei 225 slumped from the open and briefly dipped below the 37,000 level with the index down by more than a thousand points amid tech-related selling, while there were mixed data releases from Japan including softer-than-expected Tokyo CPI, a miss on Retail Sales and a slightly narrower-than-feared contraction in Industrial Production.
• Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp conformed to the broad downbeat mood amid trade-related frictions after US President Trump announced that an additional 10% of tariffs on China is set to take effect on March 4th which is on top of the 10% tariffs the US had previously imposed earlier this month. Nonetheless, the losses in the mainland were somewhat cushioned ahead of next week’s annual ”Two Sessions” in Beijing, where markets will be hoping for fiscal stimulus.

NOTABLE ASIA-PAC HEADLINES

• China’s Politburo said it will implement a more proactive macro policy, expand domestic demand and will stabilise the housing market and stock market. Furthermore, it will also prevent and resolve risks and external shocks in key areas, as well as promote the sustained recovery of the economy.
• China’s state planner issued measures on promoting high-quality inclusive elderly care services and will leverage central budget investment to boost the construction of affordable elderly care facilities.
• BoJ Deputy Governor Uchida said there is no change to the stance on short-term policy rate or JGB taper despite recent yield moves, and JGB yields fluctuate depending on market views on the economy, prices, and overseas developments. Uchida added the BoJ guides monetary policy towards achieving price stability not to monetise government debt.
• Japan is to crack down on the booming market for JGB-backed loans, according to Bloomberg.
• Chinese banks are reducing US dollar deposit rates following guidance from the PBoC, according to sources cited by Reuters.
• PBoC did not conduct purchase or sale of Chinese sovereign bonds from primary dealers in Feb.

DATA RECAP

• Tokyo CPI YY (Feb) 2.9% vs. Exp. 3.3% (Prev. 3.4%)
• Tokyo CPI Ex. Fresh Food YY (Feb) 2.2% vs. Exp. 2.3% (Prev. 2.5%); Ex. Fresh Food & Energy YY (Feb) 1.9% vs. Exp. 2.0% (Prev. 1.9%)
• Japanese Industrial Production MM SA (Jan P) -1.1% vs. Exp. -1.2% (Prev. -0.2%)
• Japanese Retail Sales YY (Jan) 3.9% vs. Exp. 4.0% (Prev. 3.7%, Rev. 3.5%)

2C Asian Report

APAC stocks plunge after Wall St. losses amid new Trump tariffs, NVDA – 8.5% – Newsquawk Europe Market Open

Friday, Feb 28, 2025 – 01:55 AM

• US President Trump clarified that there will be a 10+10 tariff on China for a total of 20% additional tariffs and that the proposed tariffs on Canada and Mexico are scheduled to go into effect on March 4th.
• US stocks closed notably in the red with the Nasdaq 100 (-2.8%) the clear laggard as the Technology sector was heavily pressured alongside significant losses in NVIDIA (-8.6%).
• APAC stocks declined with heavy pressure seen at month-end following the sell-off on Wall St with global risk sentiment hit by tariff threats and following a slump in NVIDIA shares post-earnings.
• European equity futures indicate a lower cash market open with Euro Stoxx 50 futures down 1.1% after the cash market finished with losses of 1.0% on Thursday.
• Bitcoin continued its slump and dipped under USD 80,000 after falling more than 25% from its record high.
• Looking ahead, highlights include German Retail Sales, CPI & Unemployment, French/Italian CPI, US PCE & Dallas Fed, Canadian GDP, ECB SCE, Comments from BoE’s Ramsden, Earnings from Fubo, Holcim, BASF, Allianz & Rightmove, Credit Reviews for Germany & France.

SNAPSHOT

• Click for the Newsquawk Week Ahead.

More Newsquawk in 3 steps:

1. Subscribe to the free premarket movers reports

2. Listen to this report in the market open podcast (available on Apple and Spotify)

3. Trial Newsquawk’s premium real-time audio news squawk box for 7 days

US TRADE

EQUITIES

• US stocks closed notably in the red with the Nasdaq 100 (-2.8%) the clear laggard as the Technology sector was heavily pressured alongside significant losses in NVIDIA (-8.6%) post-earnings, while risk sentiment was also weighed on by the latest tariff remarks after President Trump clarified that there will be a 10+10 tariff on China for a total of 20% additional tariffs and that the proposed tariffs on Canada and Mexico are scheduled to go into effect on March 4th.
• SPX -1.59% at 5,862, NDX -2.75% at 20,551, DJI -0.45% at 43,240, RUT -1.59% at 2,140.
• Click here for a detailed summary.

TARIFFS/TRADE

• US President Trump said there will be an additional 10% tariff on China and clarified that there will be a 10+10 tariff on China for 20%, while he stated they are not seeing progress on drugs coming into the country and that Canada should be apprehending much more fentanyl. Trump also criticised EU VAT taxes and said he doesn’t like the way the EU is treating US companies, as well as noted they are going to have reciprocal tariffs and responded will have to take a look when asked if there will be sanctions on the UK.
• US President Trump said UK PM Starmer is a tough negotiator and that the US and UK have a special relationship, while he added that meetings with UK PM Starmer were tremendously productive and they are going to have a deal done on trade with the UK rather quickly.
• US Treasury Secretary Bessent said he’s open to the idea that other countries’ tariffs could come down or go away, while it was separately reported that South Korea’s Acting President Choi and US Treasury Secretary Bessent discussed tariffs, investment, and forex policy in a video call, according to South Korea’s finance ministry.
• China’s MOFCOM said China opposes US President Trump’s latest tariffs on Chinese goods and hopes the US will avoid making the same mistake again and return to the right track of properly resolving differences through dialogue as soon as possible. Furthermore, it stated if the US insists on its own path, China will take all necessary countermeasures to defend its legitimate rights and interests.
• Canadian PM Trudeau said they will have an immediate and extremely strong response if the US imposes tariffs next Tuesday.
• Mexico’s Deputy Economy Minister said Mexico is analysing other measures, after imposing tariffs on low-cost imports.

NOTABLE HEADLINES

• Fed’s Hammack (2026 voter) said the Fed is likely to hold rates steady ‘for some time’ and seeks evidence inflation moving to 2% inflation before supporting more cuts, while she added that Fed rate policy may be close to neutral right now. Hammack said monetary policy has the ‘luxury of being patient’ right now and patient policy will also allow the Fed to monitor the jobs market, as well as noted that Fed policy does not appear ‘meaningfully restrictive’.
• Fed’s Harker (2026 voter) said the policy rate remains restrictive enough to continue putting downward pressure on inflation. Harker also commented that he was on the fence in December between thinking one or two rate cuts were appropriate this year and right now, there is a lot of uncertainty and he’s in the let’s stay where they are for now camp.
• US President Trump said on Truth that they are working very hard with the House and Senate to pass a clean, temporary government funding bill. Trump also announced he nominated Paul Dabbar to be the US Deputy Secretary of Commerce.

APAC TRADE

EQUITIES

• APAC stocks declined with heavy pressure seen at month-end following the sell-off on Wall St with global risk sentiment hit by tariff threats and following a slump in NVIDIA shares post-earnings.
• ASX 200 was pressured with nearly all sectors in the red and the declines led by underperformance in miners and tech.
• Nikkei 225 slumped from the open and briefly dipped below the 37,000 level with the index down by more than a thousand points amid tech-related selling, while there were mixed data releases from Japan including softer-than-expected Tokyo CPI, a miss on Retail Sales and a slightly narrower-than-feared contraction in Industrial Production.
• Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp conformed to the broad downbeat mood amid trade-related frictions after US President Trump announced that an additional 10% of tariffs on China is set to take effect on March 4th which is on top of the 10% tariffs the US had previously imposed earlier this month. Nonetheless, the losses in the mainland were somewhat cushioned in early trade ahead of next week’s annual ”Two Sessions” in Beijing, where markets will be hoping for fiscal stimulus.
• US equity futures languished at the prior day’s lows after the S&P 500 turned negative for the year but with further downside limited overnight as participants awaited PCE data.
• European equity futures indicate a lower cash market open with Euro Stoxx 50 futures down 1.1% after the cash market finished with losses of 1.0% on Thursday.

FX

• DXY took a breather after strengthening yesterday as the threat of US tariffs continued to be felt by markets with President Trump noting that the proposed Canada and Mexico tariffs are scheduled to take effect on March 4th and China will be charged an additional 10% tariff to lift the total additional tariffs on China to 20%. The attention now turns to the incoming PCE data which is the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge.
• EUR/USD marginally extended on recent losses after suffering against the firmer buck and amid the looming tariff threat with US President Trump reiterating criticism and tariff threats against the EU.
• GBP/USD remained subdued and trickled back beneath the 1.2600 handle but with the downside stemmed as the UK is seen to have less exposure to US tariffs than peers, while US President Trump said they are going to have a deal done on trade with the UK rather quickly and that UK PM Starmer tried to convince him not to impose tariffs on the UK during their meeting.
• USD/JPY mildly declined amid haven flows into the Japanese currency but saw two-way price action with a brief surge triggered by softer-than-expected Tokyo inflation data.
• Antipodeans continued the recent downward trend amid the risk-off mood and the US tariff threat.
• PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 7.1738 vs exp. 7.2873 (prev. 7.1740).

FIXED INCOME

• 10yr UST futures extended on the prior day’s late rebound amid a flight to safety owing to the stock market rout.
• Bund futures benefitted from haven demand and returned to above the 133.00 level, while participants now look ahead to German Retail Sales and CPI data.
• 10yr JGB futures tracked the gains in global counterparts following mixed data releases, including the softer-than-expected Tokyo CPI data for February, which provides a leading indicator of national price trends.

COMMODITIES

• Crude futures were marginally lower but held on to most of the prior day’s gains after advancing amid Trump tariff rhetoric and reports that OPEC+ is hesitant to go ahead with the planned April oil output hike.
• OPEC+ is hesitant to go ahead with the planned April oil output hike due to uncertainty over sanctions and tariffs, according to Reuters sources. Furthermore, it was stated that Russia and UAE would like to proceed with the April oil output hike and other members including Saudi Arabia favour a delay.
• Spot gold remained lacklustre after it recently slipped beneath the key USD 2,900/oz level.
• Copper futures retreated amid the sell-off in stock markets and as its largest buyer, China, faces additional US tariffs.

CRYPTO

• Bitcoin continued its slump and dipped under USD 80,000 after falling more than 25% from its record high.

NOTABLE ASIA-PAC HEADLINES

• China’s Politburo said it will implement a more proactive macro policy, expand domestic demand and will stabilise the housing market and stock market. Furthermore, it will also prevent and resolve risks and external shocks in key areas, as well as promote the sustained recovery of the economy.
• China’s state planner issued measures on promoting high-quality inclusive elderly care services and will leverage central budget investment to boost the construction of affordable elderly care facilities.
• BoJ Deputy Governor Uchida said there is no change to the stance on short-term policy rate or JGB taper despite recent yield moves, and JGB yields fluctuate depending on market views on the economy, prices, and overseas developments. Uchida added the BoJ guides monetary policy towards achieving price stability not to monetise government debt.
• Japan is to crack down on the booming market for JGB-backed loans, according to Bloomberg.

DATA RECAP

• Tokyo CPI YY (Feb) 2.9% vs. Exp. 3.3% (Prev. 3.4%)
• Tokyo CPI Ex. Fresh Food YY (Feb) 2.2% vs. Exp. 2.3% (Prev. 2.5%)
• Tokyo CPI Ex. Fresh Food & Energy YY (Feb) 1.9% vs. Exp. 2.0% (Prev. 1.9%)
• Japanese Industrial Production MM SA (Jan P) -1.1% vs. Exp. -1.2% (Prev. -0.2%)
• Japanese Retail Sales YY (Jan) 3.9% vs. Exp. 4.0% (Prev. 3.7%, Rev. 3.5%)

GEOPOLITICS

RUSSIA-UKRAINE

• US President Trump said they can get a peace deal on Ukraine. Trump also said that having the rare earth deal will be a backstop for Ukraine and that they are very well advanced on the deal but not done yet and have had very good talks with Russia and Ukraine. Furthermore, he said Russia has been acting very well and is well advanced on a peace deal and responded “Did I say that?” when asked if he still believed Ukraine President Zelensky is a dictator.
• US President Trump said they are working very hard to get the war in Ukraine to end and are moving along rapidly, as well as noted that the US will be a major partner in developing Ukraine’s oil and gas. Trump said he discussed a ceasefire with UK PM Starmer and will meet Ukrainian President Zelensky at 11:00 EST on Friday, while UK PM Starmer said the UK is ready to put boots on the ground and planes in the air to sort out a Ukraine peace deal.
• US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Ukraine critical minerals deal is done with no more negotiation and the Ukraine deal covers critical minerals, oil and gas, and infrastructure assets, while he added the Ukraine deal shows American people that their money has not been squandered.
• NATO Chief Rutte said allies to Ukraine are preparing billions more in aid and contributions to security guarantees.

OTHER

• US State Department said following an agreement between Secretary of State Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov to initiate talks, delegations from both countries met on February 27th in Istanbul, while the US raised concerns with Russia regarding access to banking and contracted services, and the need to ensure stable staffing levels at the embassy in Moscow. Furthermore, both Russia and the US identified concrete initial steps to stabilise bilateral mission operations and Deputy Assistant Secretary Coulter and Ambassador Darchiyev agreed to hold a follow-up meeting in the near term.
• North Korea said it test-fired a strategic cruise missile to test nuclear deterrence, while leader Kim said attack capability ensures deterrence and ordered readiness with nuclear forces, according to Yonhap.

EU/UK

NOTABLE HEADLINES

• UK Energy Secretary Ed Miliband is to visit China from March 17th-19th to restart the UK-China energy dialogue and meet with Chinese investors, according to sources cited by Reuters.

DATA RECAP

• UK Lloyds Business Barometer (Feb) 49 (Prev. 37)

3 .ASIA

3A NORTH KOREA/SOUTH KOREA

end

3BJAPAN

end

3C. CHINA/

CHINA

CHINA/USA

4.EUROPEAN AFFAIRS//UK /SCANDINAVIAN AFFAIRS

UK

5 RUSSIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS

ISRAEL

Palestinian illegal resident did the damage:

At least 14 wounded in combined terror ramming, stabbing attack in central Israel

Terrorist hit police car, attempted stabbing with a screwdriver before being gunned down • Terrorist identified as Palestinian illegal resident

By MATHILDA HELLERFEBRUARY 27, 2025 16:35Updated: FEBRUARY 27, 2025 19:16

https://trinitymedia.ai/player/trinity-player.php?language=en&pageURL=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jpost.com%2Fbreaking-news%2Farticle-844044&unitId=2900003088&userId=1938e01a-2e38-4f76-9d42-6dd0304d8a0a&isLegacyBrowser=false&isPartitioningSupport=1&version=20250225_eab6a653f4759423d63a849fb76f9f0d4185dca4&useBunnyCDN=0&themeId=140&unitType=tts-player

At least 14 pedestrians were wounded after a terrorist rammed into pedestrians on Highway 65 near the Pardes Hanna-Karkur intersection, Israel Police confirmed on Thursday afternoon. 

According to MDA, at around 4:18 p.m. local time, a vehicle drove into several pedestrians, and ten people were wounded. 

Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Hadera said it had received 14 individuals from the incident; one is in critical condition, two in serious condition, and three in moderate condition. MDA reported that a 17-year-old girl was the person who was critically wounded.

Israeli media reported that two police officers were stabbed at the scene at the Karkur intersection.

The terrorist was shot dead by Israel Police. Police sources initially told Israeli media that the terrorist was a 24-year-old Israeli Arab from Ma’ale Iron with no criminal or security record. 

However, Israel Police later said he was actually a 50-year-old Palestinian illegal resident from the northern West Bank.

Israel Police spokesperson: “The terrorist ran over several people at a bus station, then proceeded to stab others with a screwdriver and crashed into a police vehicle.”

Details of the attack

MDA Paramedic Avi Cohen said the responders arrived at a “complex scene with a lot of commotion.” There were two people in serious condition, three in moderate condition, and three in mild condition.

“They were near a bus stop at the Pardes Hanna Junction, in the westbound lane, when the vehicle hit them. When we arrived, they were lying in the back area. We immediately began providing medical treatment, including stopping bleeding and bandaging wounds.”

This is a developing story. 

end

ISRAEL VS HAMAS

Trump’s solution is the only one!

Hamas repurposing explosives, repairing tunnels as ceasefire deadline nears – WSJ

Hamas’s armed wing has appointed new commanders and also begun repairing its underground tunnel network in preparation for the possibility of returning to war with Israel.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFFFEBRUARY 27, 2025 10:12Updated: FEBRUARY 27, 2025 15:11

https://trinitymedia.ai/player/trinity-player.php?language=en&pageURL=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jpost.com%2Fmiddle-east%2Farticle-843950&unitId=2900003088&userId=1938e01a-2e38-4f76-9d42-6dd0304d8a0a&isLegacyBrowser=false&isPartitioningSupport=1&version=20250225_eab6a653f4759423d63a849fb76f9f0d4185dca4&useBunnyCDN=0&themeId=140&unitType=tts-player

Hamas terrorists have repurposed unexploded material into improvised explosive devices and scanned properties for listening devices left behind by the IDF to track their movements, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

According to the report, Hamas is monitoring Gaza for potential spies and has designated a separate unit to detect and counter any Israeli infiltration, Arab officials told the WSJ.

In addition, Hamas’s armed wing has appointed new commanders and begun repairing its underground tunnel network in preparation for the possibility of returning to war with Israel, according to officials.

These preparations from Hamas come as Israel and US officials push to extend the current ceasefire agreement in Gaza, which is meant to expire on Saturday. The 42nd day of the ceasefire is supposed to signal the transition from phase one to phase two of the signed deal.

However, if no negotiations are reached, Israel and Hamas will return to war, putting a pause on any further release of Israeli hostages in Gaza or Palestinian prisoners. 

Commitment to ceasefire deal

On Thursday morning, soon after the remains of four slain Israeli hostages and some 600 Palestinian prisoners were released, Hamas stated that the only way the remaining hostages would be freed was through a commitment to a ceasefire deal, The Jerusalem Post reported.

“We reiterate that the only way to secure the release of the occupation’s prisoners in Gaza is through negotiation and adherence to the agreed-upon terms,” Hamas’s statement read.

“Any attempts by Netanyahu and his government to backtrack on or obstruct the agreement will only lead to further suffering for the prisoners and their families.”

“We have closed the door on the enemy’s false justifications, leaving it with no option but to begin negotiations for the second phase.”

Although the terrorist organization claims that it is ready to negotiate, phase two negotiations have stalled, Israeli officials told The Post.

“Witkoff did have a conversation with Dermer, and the mediators – there were ideas and inquiries, but no real negotiation with Hamas,” said one of the sources.

iSRAEL VS HAMAS

Israel is not leaving Philadelphi Corridor, official says

The IDF was supposed to reduce its presence on the Philadelphi Corridor and then withdraw from it completely over the course of the first 50 days.

By AMICHAI STEIN, JERUSALEM POST STAFFFEBRUARY 27, 2025 10:14Updated: FEBRUARY 27, 2025 12:01

https://trinitymedia.ai/player/trinity-player.php?language=en&pageURL=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jpost.com%2Fbreaking-news%2Farticle-843955&unitId=2900003088&userId=1938e01a-2e38-4f76-9d42-6dd0304d8a0a&isLegacyBrowser=false&isPartitioningSupport=1&version=20250225_eab6a653f4759423d63a849fb76f9f0d4185dca4&useBunnyCDN=0&themeId=140&unitType=tts-player

Israel will not leave the Philadelphi Corridor in the Gaza Strip, an Israeli official said on Thursday.

“We will not allow the Hamas murderers to once again roam around with pickup trucks and guns on our border. We will not allow them to regain strength from smuggling,” the source said.

According to the original ceasefire agreement, the IDF was supposed to reduce its presence on the Philadelphi Corridor and then withdraw from it completely over the course of the first 50 days.

Israel wanted to supervise the Philadelphi Corridor, but this request was rejected. According to foreign media reports, Israel was convinced of the need to withdraw from the area.

The prime minister will hold several consultations today on Gaza, the hostage deal and is expected to make a decision if/when to send a delegation either to Doha or Cairo, an Israeli official tells the Jerusalem Post.

Hamas open to extending ceasefire

Hamas announced in a statement on Thursday morning that it renews its “full commitment to the ceasefire agreement, and confirm our readiness to enter into negotiations for the second phase of the agreement.”

END

Israel sends delegation to Cairo for Gaza talks as ceasefire’s future put in doubt

Prime Minister’s Office mum on whether negotiators will discuss phase two of hostage-ceasefire deal; official says troops will remain in Gaza-Egypt border zone, defying agreement

By Lazar Berman Follow
and Sam Sokol Follow
Today, 5:50 pm

International Red Cross (ICRC) vehicles arrive at the scene shortly before Hamas fighters release of three Israeli hostages as part of the seventh hostage-prisoner swap, in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip on February 22, 2025. (Eyad Baba/AFP)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dispatched negotiators to Cairo, his office said Thursday, amid uncertainty over the future of a deal with the Hamas terror group that paused fighting in Gaza and freed hostages held by the terror group.

The Prime Minister’s Office announced the move in a terse statement that did not include what the negotiators will discuss, but other officials indicated that the talks would revolve around maintaining the Gaza ceasefire deal, with the first phase set to officially conclude on Saturday.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu ordered a negotiating team to leave today for Cairo, to continue talks,” the PMO said.

Speaking at a press conference in Jerusalem, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said the team would explore “whether we have common ground to negotiate.”

But he signaled that Israel was seeking to extend the first phase, which has left Israeli troops in some areas of Gaza, rather than advance to the second stage, which would call for a full military withdrawal from the Strip; Israeli leaders have rejected going through with the pullout as long as Hamas remains in power.

“We said we are ready to extend the framework [of phase one] in return for the release of more hostages,” Sa’ar said. “If it is possible, we’ll do that. It will be better to speak at length about it after the return of the delegation from Cairo.”

The decision to send the delegation came after Netanyahu held two meetings on Thursday with senior security officials, including Katz, Sa’ar, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and Shas chairman Aryeh Deri, according to Channel 12.

According to Hebrew media reports, the prime minister wants to extend the current first phase of the deal beyond the designated 42 days, which is set to end on March 1, and secure the freedom of more hostages as part of phase one, including more hostages Israel now believes are in poor health.

An Israeli source quoted by Hebrew media said Jerusalem was expecting more hostages to be released on Saturday, though it was unclear if this was based on any actual Hamas concessions.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives at the District Court in Tel Aviv, to testify in his ongoing corruption trial, February 24, 2025. (Moti Milrod/Pool)

Hamas early Thursday returned the bodies of the last four hostages it was set to release during the first phase of the truce, while Israel released more than 600 security inmates — more than 100 of whom were serving life sentences or were convicted of murder — in return.

According to the PMO, citing information from the military, hostages Ohad Yahalomi, Tsahi Idan, and Itzik Elgarat were murdered in captivity.

Shlomo Mantzur, the fourth hostage whose body was handed over in the exchange, was killed on October 7, during the Hamas-led invasion, hostage-taking, and massacres that sparked the war, and his body was taken to Gaza, the PMO said.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said Thursday that phase one of the deal “is complete.”

Under the ceasefire outline agreed to by Israel and Hamas, Israel’s remaining living hostages — believed to include 24 people —  are to be released during the second stage of the deal. A third stage is also ostensibly planned, during which the bodies of hostages killed on October 7 or in captivity would be released, and the war would end permanently.

Israel not withdrawing from Philadelphi Corridor

An Israeli official sent a statement to reporters Thursday rejecting any withdrawal of Israel Defense Forces troops from the so-called Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border, despite the deal’s requirement that it do so by the 50th day of the ceasefire.

Israel contends that the border zone is a major smuggling route that will be used by Hamas to bring more weapons and fortifications into Gaza to rebuild its decimated forces unless it is policed by Israeli troops. Both Hamas and Egypt reject a continued Israeli presence there.

“We will not leave the Philadelphi Corridor. We will not allow the Hamas murderers to again roam our borders with pickup trucks and guns, and we will not allow them to rearm through smuggling,” the Israeli official said.

IDF troops operate along the Philadelphi Corridor at the Gaza-Egypt border in August 2024. (IDF)

Israel, with backing from the US, has repeatedly said it will not allow Hamas any role in the future governance of Gaza and that it is prepared to resume fighting to prevent such an outcome. Netanyahu has also refused any role for the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority.

Hamas said Thursday it was ready to begin talks on a second phase, after the exchange of the four hostages for the 602 prisoners and detainees had concluded.

The terror group said the only way remaining hostages in Gaza would be freed is through commitment to the ceasefire.

Hamas fighters are deployed in Rafah ahead of the planned release of two among six Israeli hostages set to be handed over to the Red Cross, Gaza Strip, on February 22, 2025. (AP/Jehad Alshrafi)

“We renew our full commitment to the ceasefire agreement and confirm our readiness to enter into negotiations for the second phase of the agreement,” the group said in a statement.

Gantz: PM dragging out phase one for politics

National Unity party head Benny Gantz alleged Thursday, in a video message recording during a tour of Israel’s north, that Netanyahu wants to draw out the first phase of the ceasefire in Gaza out of “political interest,” and argued that “extending the deal strengthens Hamas.”

National Unity chairman Benny Gantz in a video statement during a tour of northern Israel, February 27, 2025. (Video screenshot)

It is in Israel’s national interest “to get as many hostages as possible, as quickly as possible” and not in “trickles,” said Gantz, a former member of Netanyahu’s war cabinet.

This is both because the hostages remaining in Gaza are in danger and because “time is working in favor of Hamas, which is arming itself and rehabilitating itself militarily and politically,” he said, appealing to Netanyahu to “stop dragging it out.”

“Bringing everyone home will allow us to deal with Hamas without our hands tied,” he asserted.

end

ISRAEL HAMAS

Report: Israeli team returning from Cairo as result of Hamas rejecting proposal to extend 1st phase of deal

Today, 7:07 pm

Protesters at Begin Gate in Tel Aviv on February 22, 2025, call for the release of all remaining hostages. Poster on the left reads: “The defender of Israel he is not,” referring to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Yoav Loeff / Pro-Democracy Protest movement)

The Israeli negotiating team is returning from Gaza as a result of Hamas opposing Israel’s proposal to extend the ongoing first phase of the hostage-ceasefire by an additional 42 days, Channel 12 reports.

The Channel 12 report comes soon after it is said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold consultations this evening with senior ministers and defense officials on the subject of the hostage-ceasefire deal. It is rare for the premier to hold such discussions on a Friday evening, the Jewish Sabbath.

An Israeli delegation dispatched to Cairo yesterday for “intensive” talks on the future of the Gaza hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas was said to have proposed the first phase extension.

Hamas reportedly opposes the extension and insists on proceeding to the second phase of the deal as originally agreed. The second phase is meant to include steps leading to a permanent end to the war, including a withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Strip.

A diplomatic source said the Israeli delegation was to return from Cairo Friday night.

END

ISRAEL/HAMAS/OPINION

Despite hurdles, inertia could keep Gaza ceasefire, hostage deal going – analysis

The UAE, Saudi Arabia, and other Gulf countries are increasingly important in some of this focus on what happens next.

By SETH J. FRANTZMANFEBRUARY 27, 2025 21:08Updated: FEBRUARY 27, 2025 22:04

https://trinitymedia.ai/player/trinity-player.php?language=en&pageURL=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jpost.com%2Fmiddle-east%2Farticle-844088&unitId=2900003088&userId=1938e01a-2e38-4f76-9d42-6dd0304d8a0a&isLegacyBrowser=false&isPartitioningSupport=1&version=20250225_eab6a653f4759423d63a849fb76f9f0d4185dca4&useBunnyCDN=0&themeId=140&unitType=tts-player

The first phase of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire appears to be headed for an extension. This is because it is in Hamas’s interest to keep the ceasefire going. Now that Hamas has emerged above ground and Gazans are seeking to return to a more peaceful life amid the destruction of the war, many people will want the ceasefire to continue. Hamas has shown flexibility. It always wanted a ceasefire, and it wanted to use the hostage deal to draw it out.

Hamas also faces some diminishing returns in trying to be tough in the deal. It is willing to be flexible because now that there is a deal, it prefers to play for time. It knows voices in Israel want a return to the fighting, and it knows that Israeli politicians continue to promise “victory” and the defeat of Hamas. Hamas assumes that Israel is happy to talk about victory but that achieving it is so difficult that there is inertia against returning to fighting.

Will the ceasefire be extended?

Regional media appear to think the same way. Al-Ain media in the UAE has said that despite Israel’s demands to remain in the Rafah corridor and other issues, the ceasefire is likely to be extended. The report explores several scenarios, such as Hamas withdrawing from the deal or the US finding a way to broker a deal that gets Israel to leave the Rafah area. However, the report seems optimistic that the first phase of the deal will be extended. This is what happened in Lebanon as well, as the 60-day ceasefire was extended.

The same Al-Ain media is also focused on Israel’s operations in the West Bank, where the IDF is changing the equation. The IDF is remaining in some Palestinian areas, and tanks have been used for the first time in two decades. This is important because the reports believe Israel is now looking to a “day after” scenario in the northern West Bank. The fact that this has gone smoothly for Israel illustrates that countries in the region may now accept these increased Israeli operations. 

The UAE, Saudi Arabia, and other Gulf countries are increasingly important in some of this focus on what happens next. Although so far, they do not seek a larger role in Gaza or the West Bank, their position and how they view these issues are important. For instance, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun recently expressed hope that “the upcoming extraordinary Arab Summit, scheduled to be held next week in Cairo, would yield a unified Arab position to address the region’s current challenges, especially since it targets the joint interests of the brotherly Arab countries.”He was meeting Wednesday with Omani Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad Al-Busaidi, who was accompanied by a diplomatic delegation to Beirut. Aoun said that “amid the developments in southern Lebanon, Syria and Palestine, the challenges are significant and ongoing and require a unified Arab stance to face them.” 

Meanwhile Egypt has rejected playing a larger role in Gaza. This was in response to Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid’s suggestion that Egypt could run Gaza. “Any notions or proposals that circumvent the constants of the Egyptian and Arab stance (on Gaza)… are rejected and unacceptable,” the official MENA news agency in Egypt quoted foreign ministry spokesman Tamim Khallaf as saying, Arab News noted.

GAZA/SAUDI ARABIA

Arab League: Netanyahu remark on establishing Palestinian state in Saudi Arabia a ‘detachment from reality’

By Agencies and ToI Staff9 February 2025, 3:19

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit attends the closing press conference of the joint extraordinary leaders summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Arab League in Riyadh on November 11, 2024. (Fayez Nureldine / AFP)

The Arab League says remarks by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appearing to suggest the establishment of a Palestinian state on Saudi soil show “a complete detachment from reality.”

“The logic behind them is unacceptable and reflects a complete detachment from reality,” the regional bloc’s chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit says in a statement, adding that ideas like the one aired by Netanyahu during a recent media interview “are nothing more than mere fantasies or illusions.”

Netanyahu appeared to be joking on Thursday when he responded to an interviewer on pro-Netanyahu Channel 14 who mistakenly said “Saudi state” instead of “Palestinian state,” before correcting himself.

Netanyahu was also quick to correct anchor Yaakov Bardugo, but quipped back that “the Saudis can create a Palestinian state in Saudi Arabia; they have a lot of land over there.”

Bardugo responded that it was an interesting idea that shouldn’t be “ruled out,” and Netanyahu repeated himself, saying Saudi Arabia does have “a lot of territory.”

END

TURKEY/KURDS ET AL

PKK Founder Orders Kurdish Group To Lay Down Its Arms, Dissolve In Historic Statement

Friday, Feb 28, 2025 – 02:45 AM

A grand deal involving Turkey, Syria, and the Kurds is in the works, and on Thursday a historic announcement was made by the leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Abdullah Ocalan, speaking from a Turkish prison, has called on the group that he founded to lay down its arms and disband. This is the result of years of running Turkish-PKK battles as well as fragile negotiations. The PKK has long been in an official state of war with the Turkish government, which considers it a terrorist organization.

“Convene your congress and make a decision,” Ocalan said in the statement, read aloud both in Kurdish and in Turkish. “All groups must lay down their arms and the P.K.K. must dissolve itself.”

Turkey’s war against the PKK, as well as the conflict’s extension into Syria and Iraq (the YPG/YPJ), has taken tens of thousands of lives. The crackdown on the PKK was its most intense in the 1990s. More recently and connected with the Syria crisis, Turkish warplanes have bombed Syrian Kurdish enclaves connected with the Rojava project.

“The rare message from Mr. Ocalan raised the possibility that a conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people over four decades could finally end,” the NY Times has stated. “It could also echo across borders, given Mr. Ocalan’s profound influence over members of the group in Turkey and Iraq as well as affiliated Kurdish militias in Syria and Iran.”

Ocalan has actually been in prison for a quarter-century at this point, but the influence of his leadership has remained strong, as Kurdish fighters almost worship him. His political doctrine is widely read and quoted.

But even with this huge step of the PKK’s dissolution, the question of implementing details as well as the next steps are highly uncertain. There’s also the question of whether the more hardline Kurdish factions will actually heed the call to lay down arms:

His message was greeted with joy in the Istanbul conference room where Öcalan’s allies gathered to broadcast his call, after displaying a photo of supporters visiting the white-haired septuagenarian. A group of older Kurdish peace activists ululated as the call to lay down arms was read out.

“This is the breaking point of history and it is a positive one,” said Sırrı Süreyya Önder of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) party. “We are here with a compass to find a possible route out of these dark chaotic days.”

Önder hinted at some of the potential problems to come, adding that while Öcalan called for the PKK’s dissolution and to lay down arms, this “requires the recognition of democratic politics”, and legal support for a sustained peace.

The Kurdish-led SDF in Syria is unlikely to immediately heed the call. They are supported by the US occupation in northeast Syria and American special forces advisors.

However this does mean the clock is ticking for the US occupation – which Turkey has long wanted to squeeze out. At the same time, the new HTS rulers in Damascus have been making overtures – offering Syria’s Kurds integration into the state and military, if they abandon hopes for a Kurdish autonomous state.

Thus this ‘grand bargain’ will ultimately be another win for Turkey in the region, and the Pentagon will eventually be forced to pull back. But this is also reportedly what Trump has wanted – a US withdrawal done in a way that doesn’t leave a security vacuum.

ISRAEL/HAMAS EDITORIAL

ISRAEL/LEBANON/HEZBOLLAH

IAF kills Hezbollah terrorist Mohammed Mahdi Ali Shaheen in Lebanon

Shaheen was responsible for overseeing transactions for the buying of weapons on the Syrian-Lebanese border during the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire. 

By JERUSALEM POST STAFFFEBRUARY 28, 2025 09:38Updated: FEBRUARY 28, 2025 11:

https://trinitymedia.ai/player/trinity-player.php?language=en&pageURL=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jpost.com%2Fbreaking-news%2Farticle-844137&unitId=2900003088&userId=0825748c-83eb-4fa6-9d99-5d5781551d74&isLegacyBrowser=false&isPartitioningSupport=1&version=20250225_eab6a653f4759423d63a849fb76f9f0d4185dca4&useBunnyCDN=0&themeId=140&unitType=tts-player

An Israel Air Force aircraft eliminated Hezbollah terrorist Mohammed Mahdi Ali Shaheen in the Hermel area of Lebanon on Thursday, the military announced on Friday. 

Shaheen was responsible for overseeing transactions for the buying of weapons on the Syrian-Lebanese border during the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire. 

A senior member in the terror group’s Geographical Unit, Shaheen conducted deals to purchase weapons and acted as a middleman for the arrival of the shipments and transferring them to the Hezbollah units.

To do so, Shaheen worked with various smugglers and dealers on the Syrian-Lebanese border, the IDF noted.  

A ‘violation of understandings’

“Shaheen’s actions posed a threat to the State of Israel and constituted a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” the military said in its statement. 

END

RUSSIA VS UKRAINE

Trump levels Zelensky:

(zerohedge)

“Make A Deal Or We’re Out”: Trump And Vance Unload Both Barrels On Zelensky During Explosive White House Exchange

by Tyler Durden

Friday, Feb 28, 2025 – 11:58 AM

Just days after calling him a ‘dictator without elections,’ President Donald Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House on Friday, where the two discussed US efforts to end the war in Ukraine and the related minerals deal — and then got into a giant argument that included VP Vance dropping serious shade to Zelensky’s face (see below)

As for the minerals deal to end the Ukraine war, Trump said there’s a ‘very fair deal’ on the table, which would allow the US to use Ukraine’s rare earths for AI and military applications, adding that once the minerals deal is done, the war will be over, and “Russia won’t want to return.”

Trump said they’ve “made a deal.”

Then Things Got Tense

Trump then slammed Zelensky for ‘gambling with world war three,” adding “You either make a deal or we are out…”

“I gave you the Javelins to take out all those tanks. Obama gave you sheets… You got to be more thankful because let me tell you, you don’t have the cards. With us, you have the cards — but without us you don’t have any cards.”

Vice President JD Vance chimed in, asking “Have you said thank you once? You went to Pennsylvania to campaign on the opposition.”

end

6.GLOBAL ISSUES//COVID ISSUES/VACCINE ISSUES/HEALTH ISSUES

they right thing to do!

(EpochTimes)

RFK Jr Pauses Multi-Million Dollar Contract To Develop New COVID-19 Vaccine

Thursday, Feb 27, 2025 – 09:35 AM

Authored by Jeff Louderbeck via The Epoch Times,

Clinical trials for a new COVID-19 vaccine were halted after a multi-million contract authorized by the Biden administration to develop the inoculation was paused by Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Kennedy implemented a 90-day stop-work order on Feb. 21 regarding the HHS contract with Vaxart Inc., according to the announcement, which was first reported by Fox News Digital on Feb. 25.

Vaxart, an American biotech company, is creating a new COVID-19 inoculation for oral use.

Before the stop-work order, 10,000 individuals were scheduled to start clinical trials on Feb. 24, an HHS spokesperson confirmed with The Epoch Times.

Kennedy noted in comments to Fox News Digital that “it is crucial” that the HHS support pandemic preparedness, “four years of the Biden administration’s failed oversight have made it necessary to review agreements for vaccine production, including Vaxart’s.”

The trial is not terminated, according to the HHS.

Kennedy and other health officials will determine the next steps after reviewing their findings over the next 90 days.

As part of the Biden administration’s $4.7 billion Project NextGen program launched in 2023, the Vaxart vaccine was funded through an agreement with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).

That panel is part of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, which is managed by HHS.

BARDA allocated around $460 million for Vaxart to develop the new vaccine, including $240 million that has already been approved.

The announcement to pause Vaxart’s contract was followed by a report that an Food and Drug Administration (FDA) vaccine advisory committee meeting slated for March has been canceled, according to committee member Dr. Paul Offit, who is the director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and a vocal critic of Kennedy.

Offit told multiple media outlets on Feb. 26 that members of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee received an email from the FDA letting them know the meeting would not take place. The meeting had been set to choose the strains for next season’s flu shot.

The FDA is one of 13 agencies under the HHS umbrella.

On Feb. 28, a World Health Organization (WHO) advisory committee is scheduled to gather and discuss which strains should be included in the next flu vaccines across the Northern Hemisphere. The FDA often adheres that that committee’s recommendations.

Trump issued an executive order in January to start the process of withdrawing the United States from the WHO.

A pharmacist prepares a dose behind a counter lined with vials of COVID-19 vaccines in Toronto on June 18, 2021. Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press

Two weeks ago, Kennedy gained Senate confirmation to become HHS secretary. He was sworn in that day, and moments later Trump signed an executive order establishing the president’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission.

Kennedy serves as chairman of the commission, which directs executive departments and federal agencies to primarily advise the president on how to “address the childhood chronic disease crisis.”

The MAHA Commission is tasked to explore possible causes of such diseases, including “the American diet, absorption of toxic material, medical treatments, lifestyle, environmental factors, government policies, food production techniques, electromagnetic radiation, and corporate influence or cronyism.”

For years, critics have called Kennedy an “anti-vaxxer,” a claim he has denied.

During his presidential campaign and the Senate confirmation process, he repeatedly said he is an advocate for vaccine safety, informed consent, and “gold standard science” behind vaccine efficacy studies.

“I’ve never been anti-vaccine,” Kennedy told The Epoch Times in September 2024.

“People should have a choice, and that choice should be informed by the best information possible.

“I’m going to ensure that there are science-based safety studies available, and people can make their own assessments about whether a vaccine is good for them.”

Under the Biden administration, COVID-19 vaccines were mandated throughout the federal government.

Multiple private sector businesses, and public and private universities, also required the inoculation.

Since Trump took office last month, he has signed several executive orders related to COVID-19 mandates implemented by the Biden administration.

On Feb. 14, Trump signed an executive order barring funding to universities and schools with COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

In his first week back in office, Trump reinstated service members dismissed for refusing the COVID vaccine, giving them full back pay and benefits.

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the press before signing an Executive Order, alongside U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (L) and U.S. Secretary of Commerce nominee Howard Lutnick (R), at the Oval Office in Washington, on Feb. 25, 2025. Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

Last week, Kennedy told HHS staff members that he wanted his tenure as secretary of the agency to usher in a “new era of radical transparency” and that he wanted to work on ending the “chronic disease epidemic” across the United States.

“I’m not going to come in here and impose my belief over any of yours,“ Kennedy said. ”Instead, we’re going to work together to launch a new era of radical transparency.

“Only through radical transparency can we provide Americans with genuine informed consent, which is the bedrock and the foundation stone of democracy.”

The Feb. 21 decision to pause Vaxart’s contract and subsequent COVID-19 vaccine trial reflects Kennedy’s vow to study vaccine efficacy and safety.

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) vaccine advisory committee postponed its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) meeting.

The ACIP was scheduled to meet in Atlanta from Feb. 26 to Feb. 28.

ACIP conducts public meetings at least three times a year—typically in February, June, and October—to review recommendations and new vaccine data before voting on proposals.

The CDC director does not have to adopt ACIP’s recommendations but often does as was the case with COVID-19 vaccines used during the pandemic.

In his first address to HHS employees, Kennedy also said that he will review the childhood vaccine schedule.

He added that the MAHA Commission will investigate anti-depressants, vaccines, and pesticides to determine if they have played a role in the rise of chronic disease in the United States.

This year, more health care professionals have spoken out about the need for increased study of vaccine efficacy and safety.

In January, the western province of Alberta in Canada released a 269-page report—the first of its kind—examining the information and data that informed its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Gary Davidson, an emergency physician and primary author of the report, told American Thought Leaders that the study discovered that pandemic lockdowns, masking mandates, and vaccine mandates all failed to achieve their intended results.

“There’s just so much data out there. The Nordic countries did a huge study—millions of people, showing that if you’re under 50 years old, and if you don’t have any really good reason, you probably shouldn’t get this vaccine,” Davidson said.

“And so that’s what we recommend doing in Alberta.”

Dr. Robert Redfield served as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) during Trump’s first term.

He called for more vaccine research in his address at a health care event hosted by Politico on Feb. 19.

“I’m in clinical practice two half days a week right now, and largely doing COVID and long COVID, and I have a number of patients that have very serious long-term consequences from the mRNA vaccines,” Redfield said during Politico’s First 100 Days: Health Care event.

“Let’s get that systematically reviewed by the experts.”

END

US Health Secretary Delays Rule Updating Definition Of ‘Healthy’ On Food Labels

by Tyler Durden

Thursday, Feb 27, 2025 – 07:15 PM

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has ordered the delay of a new rule updating the definition of “healthy” on food product labels.

The new Food and Drug Administration (FDA) final rule will not go into effect until April 28, a delay from the originally announced implementation date of Feb. 25, Kennedy said in an update on Tuesday.

Kennedy pointed to President Donald Trump’s recent executive order, which directs agencies to consider postponing the effective dates for pending rules to review them for “questions of fact, law, and policy that the rules may raise.”

“The temporary delay in the effective date until April 28, 2025, is necessary to give Agency officials the opportunity for further review and consideration of the new regulation, consistent with the memorandum described previously,” Kennedy said.

The FDA announced in late 2024 that it was updating the definition of healthy on food labels, in the first major revision since the FDA first defined the word in 1994.

“Given that nutrition science has evolved since the 1990s, this final rule updates the definition of ‘healthy’ to be consistent with current nutrition science and Federal dietary guidance to help ensure that consumers have access to more complete, accurate, and up-to-date information on food labels,” the agency said at the time.

Under the new definition, manufacturers could label certain foods as healthy that currently cannot be, such as salmon, while others that are currently eligible for a healthy label, such as sugary cereal, would become ineligible.

The framework established under the rule includes mandating that a vegetable product must have at least half a cup of a vegetable to be labeled healthy. A dairy product must have at least two-thirds a cup of dairy to meet the updated requirements.

Proteins such as eggs and some oils, including 100 percent oils, can also be labeled healthy under the rule.

The compliance date for the rule was to be February 2028. That date has not been changed, Kennedy said on Tuesday.

Manufacturers are welcome to start complying with the rule ahead of the compliance date, officials have said.

The FDA says the purpose of the healthy label is “to highlight those foods that, based on their nutrient levels, are particularly useful in constructing a diet that conforms to current dietary guidelines.”

Kennedy was recently confirmed by the Senate as health secretary. He campaigned as an independent presidential candidate on a “Make America Healthy Again” platform before dropping out of the 2024 race and endorsing Trump for president.

At Kennedy’s swearing-in ceremony, Trump said that his confirmed nominee “is going to lead a great national mission to make America healthy again.”

END

What We Know About African Mystery Illnesses That Have Sickened Over 400 People And Can Kill Within Hours

by Tyler Durden

Friday, Feb 28, 2025 – 05:45 AM

Something sinister is lurking in the heart of Africa, and no one knows what it is. A mysterious illness has swept through two remote villages in northwestern Congo, killing 53 people in just five weeks – some within hours of falling sick.

Health officials are scrambling to figure out what’s behind the deadly outbreaks in Equateur Province, but answers remain elusive. With 419 reported cases and the death toll rising, fear and speculation are gripping the region.

A Tale of Two Villages

The outbreaks began on January 21 in two villages separated by more than 120 miles. In the tiny village of Boloko, the first victims were children who had eaten a bat (oh?). Within 48 hours, they were dead, according to the Associated Press. Weeks later, hundreds more cases surfaced in Bomate, where at least some patients also tested positive for malaria. Are the two outbreaks connected? Health officials still don’t know.

Dr. Serge Ngalebato, medical director of Bikoro Hospital, says this is an ‘unusual situation.’

“The first one with a lot of deaths, that we continue to investigate because it’s an unusual situation, (and) in the second episode that we’re dealing with, we see a lot of the cases of malaria.” 

Congo’s Ministry of Health reports that about 80% of patients share symptoms including fever, chills, body aches, and diarrhea. These symptoms are common in many tropical infections, but what has scientists on edge is the rapid death of many victims.

Initially, fears of Ebola ran high, as the virus has struck Congo multiple times before. But lab tests in Kinshasa ruled out Ebola and its deadly cousin, Marburg. Now, health officials are considering everything from viral hemorrhagic fever to food poisoning, typhoid, and even meningitis.

“The speed at which people are dying in Boloko is alarming,” the WHO Africa office said in a statement. “We need to accelerate laboratory investigations, improve case management, and strengthen surveillance before it spreads further.”

Congo’s Deadly Pattern

This isn’t the first time an unknown illness has swept through Congo. Just last December, a similar outbreak claimed dozens of lives. The country’s weak healthcare system and remote geography make it difficult to track and contain diseases before they spiral out of control.

Many of these deadly outbreaks stem from the region’s deep forests, where viruses jump from animals to humans. Scientists warn that as long as people continue eating bushmeat—including bats, a known carrier of deadly pathogens—Congo will remain a hotbed for mysterious diseases.

“All these viruses have reservoirs in the forest,” said Gabriel Nsakala, a professor of public health at Congo’s National Pedagogical University. “As long as these forests exist, we will always have outbreaks.”

The Congolese government has sent teams of experts to the affected villages, but the remote locations are making containment efforts difficult. Patients are receiving treatments targeting their symptoms, but without a known cause, there’s no cure in sight.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization is calling for urgent international assistance. The U.S. has historically been the largest donor to Congo’s health sector, but with foreign aid currently under review, it’s unclear whether resources will arrive in time.

As the mystery illness continues its deadly march, one thing is clear: Congo is once again at the mercy of an invisible killer. And until scientists can crack the case, fear and uncertainty will reign supreme.

MARK CRISPIN MILLER

DIED SUDDENLY..

Roberta Flack dead at 88: Killing Me Softly singer died ‘peacefully’ surrounded by family

February 24, 2025

Singer Roberta Flack has died at the age of 88 in Manhattan after suffering a heart attack. The 1970s R&B legend was known for hits like Killing Me Softly With His Song and The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face. Her representatives announced her passing but did not offer a cause of death, as reported by Variety. ‘We are heartbroken that the glorious Roberta Flack passed away this morning, February 24, 2025,’ her representatives said in a statement issued on Monday. ‘She died peacefully surrounded by her family. Roberta broke boundaries and records. She was also a proud educator.’ Flack’s friend and manager Suzzaner Koga told The New York Times the singer died on her way to the hospital after suffering cardiac arrest. Flack announced in 2022 she had ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and could no longer sing.

Link

Upgrade to paid

Playboy model Ariane Bellamar dead at 46 after heart complications

February 18, 2025

Nevada’s Clark County Office of the Coroner/Medical Examiner received a report of her death on December 20, 2024, TMZ reported on Tuesday. Bellamar’s cause of death was reportedly a heart attack, as stated in a GoFundMe organized by her ex-husband Tanner Slaught. ‘While this unbelievable news is shocking because she was only 46, I can assure you that I have verified this truth,’ Slaught wrote. He added, ‘Unfortunately, Ariane, and the rest of us, were not prepared for this sudden turn of events.” Born in Florida and raised in Toronto, Ariane gained recognition as a Playboy model. She also made TV appearances on Beverly Hills Nannies and Bravo’s former dating series The Millionaire Matchmaker. She was a Playboy model 20 years ago. Additionally, she landed small roles in Suicide Squad and The Hangover Part. There is no mention of a condition that led to the heart attack of this otherwise healthy-appearing performer.

Link

Legendary Isley Brothers member and soul music star Chris Jasper dies

February 24, 2025

2025 has been devastating to soul music fans, but this one cuts me the deepest. We are absolutely devastated to inform SoulTrackers of the death of Chris Jasper, legendary keyboardist and important songwriter for the Isley Brothers, and for more than three decades a pioneering independent soul music artist. He was 73 and died just two months after a diagnosis of cancer.

Link

‘Grosse Pointe Blank’ Director George Armitage Dead at 82

February 21, 2025

George Armitage, famous for directing movies like “Grosse Pointe Blank” and “Miami Blues,” is dead … TMZ has learned. The longtime Hollywood producer and director’s niece tells TMZ … George died last Saturday surrounded by family, including his wife, his son, his daughter-in-law and his grandkids. The cause of death is unclear.

Link

David St. John, ‘I Am Jazz’ and ‘America’s Next Top Model’ Producer, Dies at 56

February 20, 2025

David St. John, a TV producer who worked on shows including “America’s Next Top Model,” died Dec. 19 of pancreatic cancer in Seattle [WA]. He was 56. St. John, whose death was only recently announced, started his career at MTV on the series “Taildaters,” rising from assistant to story producer. He moved on to “America’s Next Top Model,” co-executive producing more than 100 episodes of the hit reality show. St. John previously experienced two craniotomies to remove tumors, and became a volunteer meeting with patients preparing for brain surgery.

Link

Lynne Marie Stewart, “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” “Pee-wee’s Playhouse” actor, dies at age 78

February 23, 2025

Lynne Marie Stewart, who starred on-screen in productions like “Pee-wee’s Playhouse” and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” died at age 78 on Friday after a quick illness, a spokesperson told CBS News on Saturday. The 78-year-old actor starred as Miss Yvonne originally in the 1981 film, “The Pee-Wee Herman Show” and went on to play the character on the CBS Saturday morning show, “Pee-wee’s Playhouse.” The program ran from 1986-1991.

No cause of death reported.

Link

Two Hollywood hairstylists “died suddenly”:

Jesús Guerrero, the hairdresser of big stars like Rosalía, Jennifer Lopez or Katy Perry, has passed away

February 24, 2025

Jesús Guerrero, the hairdresser of big stars like Rosalía, Jennifer Lopez or Katy Perry, has passed away this Sunday, February 23, at the early age of 34. The person in charge of revealing the sad news has been his sister Cris Guerrero, who has communicated the loss of the stylist in a publication through a fundraising page. ”Unfortunately, his passing came suddenly and unexpectedly. His family is currently taking care of his personal belongings and accommodations to bring him back to Houston,” his sister explained in the statement. Jesús Guerrero, Kylie Jenner’s trusted stylist, has also worked with stars such as Demi Moore, who is nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in 2025 for her role in The Substance.

No cause of death reported.

Link

Beloved celebrity hairstylist dies suddenly in the gym age 39

February 19, 2025

A celebrity stylist who counted the likes of Demi Moore, Serena Williams, and Catherine O’Hara as clients has sadly passed away at the age of 39. Graham Nation, who posted his latest work on Instagram less than a week ago, died suddenly at a Los Angeles gym on February 14, according to People. Graham’s passing came completely unexpected. The family is left bereft and bewildered and is in a state of tragic shock and sorrow.

No cause of death reported.

Link

Mourning in the boxing world! Greg Haugen passed away

February 23, 2025

Mourning in the boxing world! Greg Haugen, a ring warrior who left an indelible mark, has passed away at the age of 64. The former world champion, known for his bravery and sharp tongue, has left us, but his legacy will live on forever. A true fighter, Haugen earned the respect of fans with his gritty style and ability to overcome any obstacle.

No cause of death reported.

Link

UNLV College Football OL Cause of Death Revealed

February 19, 2025

Ben Christman, a former college football player, passed away on February 11, 2025, just a day before turning 22. His family said he died from natural causes. Christman’s college football journey included time at several schools. He started at Ohio State University, where he was a four-star recruit, played for two seasons, and appeared in one game. After that, he transferred to the University of Kentucky and played for two more seasons before moving on to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), where he had two years of eligibility left. In his obituary, Christman was remembered as a strong and determined athlete with a strong presence. Christman’s death is a tragic reminder for the UNLV football team, as he was the second player to die in two years; former player Ryan Keeler passed away in February 2023 due to heart issues. The detailed reasons for Christman’s death were not shared, except for the family’s statement about it being natural causes. Keeler was found unresponsive in his apartment in Las Vegas at the time, and the Clark Co. (Nev.) Coroner’s Office said the player died of cardiac dysrhythmia. Further information about the specifics of his death has not been released.

Researcher’s note - Ohio State University Requiring Students, Staff To Get COVID-19 Vaccine [sic]: Link

Link

Former Jets quarterback Bill Demory dead at 74

February 24, 2025

A Jets quarterback who filled in when Joe Namath went down with an injury died earlier this month. Bill Demory, 74, passed away on Feb. 14 from prostate cancer and Parkinson’s, according to an online obituary. He was signed by the Jets in 1973 after playing his college ball at Arizona, where he threw 28 touchdowns in three seasons.

Link

Mike Collier, Steelers Super Bowl Champ, Dead At 71

February 20, 2025

Former Pittsburgh Steeler and Super Bowl X winner Mike Collier died at the age of 71 at his home in Maryland on Sunday. According to an online obituary … Collier passed away at a local hospital in Hagerstown [MD]. No cause of death was provided.

Link

Former Rams and Dolphins star Eddie Hill dead at 67 after brain cancer battle

February 24, 2025

Former running back Eddie Hill, who played for both the Los Angeles Rams and Miami Dolphins, has died at the age of 67. Hill had been battling brain cancer and, according to the Sun Sentinel , he also believed he was showing early signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Many former NFL players suffer from CTE, which is thought to be linked to repeated head injuries and blows to the head. But Hill, who reached the Super Bowl with both the Rams and the Dolphins, once said he would not swap his NFL career for anything.

Link

Former Ohio State Buckeyes Defender Donovan Munger Passes Away at 30

February 21, 2025

The Ohio State Buckeyes have lost another former defender that played for the program during the 2014 and 2015 seasons. Donovan Munger, who played defensive tackle for Ohio State, has passed away at just 30 years old. His mother made the announcement on Instagram. At this point in time, no cause of death has been shared.

Link

Ex-MLB pitcher Scott Sauerbeck dies at 53 after heart attack

February 20, 2025

Former Pittsburgh Pirates left-hander Scott Sauerbeck has died at the age of 53, the team announced on Thursday. While the Pirates did not provide details on his passing, Pittsburgh Baseball Now reports that Sauerbeck suffered a fatal heart attack in his Florida home on Tuesday. He leaves behind wife Carly and their two children.

Link

Kevin Braswell dies: Former Breakers great and coach dies aged 46

February 24, 2025

ILLNESS

Michael Tilson Thomas, Kansas and the Mavericks, Italian singer Gigi Finizio and Swedish rocker “Henka” Andersson all halt performing due to cancer; Spurs sideline Victor Wembanyama (blood clot)

Pope Francis cancels week’s events; NZ: World heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois withdraws from Joseph Parker title fight after medical exam

UNITED STATES

Michael Tilson Thomas to Wind Down Performances Due to Resurgent Brain Cancer

February 24, 2025

After a resurgence of glioblastoma, the renowned conductor has announced that he will scale back his public appearances after a celebration of his 80th birthday with the San Francisco Symphony. In 2021, conductor Michael Tilson Thomas was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer. At first, the news resulted in multiple cancelations, but he returned to the podium later that same year. Since then, he has continued to perform internationally. Today, the conductor has revealed that the tumor has returned. He will work with the UCSF Brain Tumor Center, in California, to treat it, “but the odds are uncertain.” With this news, Thomas has decided that it’s time to “wind down” his public appearances. His upcoming concerts include those with New World Symphony in March and, on April 26, the San Francisco Symphony will celebrate his 80th birthday. Thomas notes that “at that point, we all get to say the old show business expression, ‘It’s a wrap.'”

Researcher's Note - The SF symphony & opera were some of the longest vaxxpass holdouts here (and that's really remarkable, as the insanity here went on for years): “Vaccine” mandate creates discord among San Francisco Symphony musicians.

Link

Upgrade to paid

The Mavericks’ Raul Malo Hospitalized After Cancer Surgery Complications

February 23, 2025

Raul Malo’s health issues are continuing. In a Feb. 20 Instagram post, The Mavericks announced that their frontman is suffering complications from his December cancer surgery. “Hey everyone, unfortunately The Mavericks will no longer be performing with Dwight [Yoakam] this weekend in OKC (Feb. 21st) & Hidalgo (Feb. 23rd),” the post read. “Raul has been experiencing complications from his December surgery and is back in the hospital getting the care he needs to make a full recovery.” Malo [59] first revealed his cancer diagnosis in June, sharing that he had “two cancerous spots” in his intestines. In August, Malo offered another update to fans on Instagram, revealing that “doctors are pleased with my progress.” Then, in October, Malo revealed that he’d be undergoing surgery on his liver in December. After the operation, Malo said that doctors “successfully removed a tumor from the liver.”

Link

Legendary Rock Musician Reveals Cancer Diagnosis

February 20, 2025

Kansas frontman Ronnie Platt [64] announced the sad news in a Facebook post last Saturday, informing followers that he had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer on Feb. 11. “But before everyone gets all excited,” he stipulated, “it has a 99 percent survival rate [and] it has not spread.” Kansas has rescheduled shows in Oklahoma that were set to take place in November, citing “band illness and doctor advisement.” The iconic band’s assistant manager, J.R. Rees, told Ultimate Classic Rock that the band’s “goal is to be back on the road as soon as possible.” He added: “Right now, we’re all focused on supporting Ronnie through this.”

Link

Spurs shut down Victor Wembanyama over blood clot in shoulder

February 20, 2025

AUSTIN, Texas – San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama [21] is expected to miss the remainder of the season with deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder, the team announced Thursday. The Spurs said in a statement that the condition, a form of a blood clot, was discovered after Wembanyama returned to San Antonio after the All-Star Game. The condition is typically treated with blood-thinning medication, which usually precludes a player from participating in a contact sport such as basketball. Wembanyama started feeling symptomatic recently but believed he would feel better after two days off following the All-Star Game, sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania. When symptoms persisted, Wembanyama underwent a battery of tests that showed the clot. A team source told ESPN that the Spurs are optimistic that Wembanyama will make a full recovery by the beginning of the 2025-26 season. Wembanyama’s departure is a second big loss for the Spurs this season, coming about 3½ months after coach Gregg Popovich had a stroke and was forced to take an indefinite leave from the sideline.

DR PAUL ALEXANDER

BREAKING! Federal judge blocks Trump administration’s mass firings of federal workers, finding them unlawful writing “OPM does not have any authority whatsoever, under any statute in the history of

the universe,” to hire or fire any employees but its own”…DEVELOPING story! said “firings were predicated on a lie of poor performance by the workers.” These deepstate black robes strike AGAIN!

SLAY NEWS

EVOL NEWS

NEWS ADDICTS

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

7.OIL AND NATURAL GAS ISSUES/GLOBAL/ENERGY/

8. EMERGING MARKETS//AUSTRALIA NEW ZEALAND ISSUES//

MEXICO/USA

tariff threats are working; Mexico extradites 29cartel drug lords to the USA for punishment

(zerohedge)

Mexico Extradites 29 Cartel Drug Lords To US As Trump Not Backing Away From Tariff War

Friday, Feb 28, 2025 – 07:45 AM

The US Justice Department revealed Thursday evening that Mexico has begun extraditing dozens of high-level cartel leaders to the US, as President Trump reiterated that 25% tariffs on Mexican goods will take effect next Tuesday.

“The defendants taken into US custody today include leaders and managers of drug cartels recently designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists,” the DoJ wrote in a statement, adding these terrorists are facing charges including racketeering, drug-trafficking, murder, illegal use of firearms, money laundering, and other crimes.

Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office and Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection released this statement: “This morning, 29 people who were deprived of their liberty in different penitentiary centers in the country were transferred to the United States of America, which were required due to their links with criminal organizations for drug trafficking, among other crimes.” 

The Mexican government released these photos of 29 cartel leaders… 

The Associated Press reported that the extradition of high-level cartel leaders, including Rafael Caro Quintero, a former leader of the Guadalajara cartel involved in the kidnapping and murder of a DEA agent, came after Mexican Foreign Minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente and other Mexican officials met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in recent days. 

“As President Trump has made clear, cartels are terrorist groups, and this Department of Justice is devoted to destroying cartels and transnational gangs,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement.

Ahead of the extradition, Trump wrote on Truth Social: 

Drugs are still pouring into our Country from Mexico and Canada at  very high and unacceptable levels. A large percentage of these Drugs, much of them in the form of Fentanyl, are made in, and supplied by, China. More than 100,000 people died last year due to the distribution of these dangerous and highly addictive POISONS. Millions of people have died over the last two decades. The families of the victims are devastated and, in many instances, virtually destroyed. We cannot allow this scourge to continue to harm the USA, and therefore, until it stops, or is seriously limited, the proposed TARIFFS scheduled to go into effect on MARCH FOURTH will, indeed, go into effect, as scheduled. China will likewise be charged an additional 10% Tariff on that date. The April Second Reciprocal Tariff date will remain in full force and effect.

Trump’s 25% tariff threat on Mexico has led to Mexican officials beefing up US-Mexico border security to dismantle human trafficking networks, cartels, and fentanyl production. This all comes as Trump’s mandate from the American people is to fix the border crisis and stop the drug overdose crisis, which claims the lives of 100,000 Americans annually.

Last week, US Border Czar Tom Homan told Fox News’ Jesse Watters that Trump intends to dismantle the command and control centers of Mexican drug cartels, vowing to “put them out of business” and “wipe them off the face of the Earth.” 

Readers should understand that the disrupt-and-dismantle strategy is broad, targeting not only Mexican cartels but also transnational criminal organizations spanning from Canada to China.

We must caution that the fight against cartels could get messy, considering the Biden-Harris regime intentionally flooded the nation with thousands of Tren de Aragua terrorists.  

Next, the US will likely prepare sanctions on financial institutions to bust cartel funding networks. 

This is what ‘America First’ looks like.

YOUR EARLY CURRENCY/GOLD AND SILVER PRICING/ASIAN CLOSING MARKETS AND EUROPEAN BOURSE OPENING AND CLOSING/ INTEREST RATE SETTINGS FRIDAY MORNING 6;30AM//OPENING AND CLOSING

EURO VS USA DOLLAR:  1.0404 DOWN 11 BASIS PTS

USA/ YEN 150.42 UP .334 NOW TARGETS INTEREST RATE AT 1.00% AS IT WILL BUY UNLIMITED BONDS TO GETS TO THAT LEVEL…//YEN  STILL FALLS//END OF YEN CARRY TRADE BEGINS AGAIN OCT 2024/Bank of Japan raises rates by .15% to 1.15..UEDA ENDS HIKING RATES AND NOW CARRY TRADES RE INVENTS ITSELF//

GBP/USA 1.2598 UP 0.0001 OR 1 PTS

USA/CAN DOLLAR:  1.4434 DOWN 0.0013(CDN DOLLAR UP 13 BASIS PTS)

 Last night Shanghai COMPOSITE CLOSED DOWN 67.17 PTS OR 1.98%

 Hang Seng CLOSED DOWN 776.97 PTS OR 3.28%

AUSTRALIA CLOSED DOWN 1.20%

 // EUROPEAN BOURSE:     ALL MIXED

Trading from Europe and ASIA

I) EUROPEAN BOURSES:  ALL MIXED

2/ CHINESE BOURSES / :Hang SENG CLOSED DOWN 776.97 PTS OR 3.28%

/SHANGHAI CLOSED DOWN 67.17 PTS OR 1.98%

AUSTRALIA BOURSE CLOSED DOWN 1.20%

(Nikkei (Japan) CLOSED DOWN 1100.676 PTS OR 3.88%

INDIA’S SENSEX  IN THE RED

Gold very early morning trading: 2863.70

silver:$31.13

USA dollar index early FRIDAY  morning: 107.26 UP 8 BASIS POINTS FROM  THURSDAY’s CLOSE.

FRIDAY  MORNING NUMBERS ENDS

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

And now your closing FRIDAY NUMBERS 1: 30 AM

Portuguese 10 year bond yield: 2.920 % DOWN 6 in basis point(s) yield

JAPANESE BOND YIELD: +1.366% up 2 FULL POINTS AND 3/100  BASIS POINTS /JAPAN losing control of its yield curve/

SPANISH 10 YR BOND YIELD: 3.079DOWN 1 in basis points yield

ITALIAN 10 YR BOND YIELD 3.476 DOWN 6 points in basis points yield ./ THE ECB IS QE’ ING ITALIAN BONDS (BUYING ITALIAN BONDS/SELLING GERMAN BUNDS)

GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD: 2.3916 DOWN 6 BASIS PTS

IMPORTANT CURRENCY CLOSES :  MID DAY FRIDAY

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

Euro/USA 1.0408 UP .0013OR 13 basis points

USA/Japan: 150.63 UP 0.543 OR YEN IS DOWN 54 BASIS PTS//

Great Britain 10 YR RATE 4.524 DOWN 4 BASIS POINTS //

Canadian dollar UP .0006 OR 6 BASIS pts  to 1.4441

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The USA/Yuan,  CNY ON SHORE CLOSED DOWN AT 7.2838ON SHORE)..CHINA MUST DEVALUE TO GOLD  

THE USA/YUAN OFFSHORE:    (YUAN CLOSED (DOWN)…. (7.2904)

TURKISH LIRA:  36.528EXTREMELY DANGEROUS LEVEL/DEATH WATCH/HYPERINFLATION TO BEGIN.//

the 10 yr Japanese bond yield  at +1.366

Your closing 10 yr US bond yield DOWN 5 in basis points from THURSDAY at  4.233% //trading well ABOVE the resistance level of 2.27-2.32%)

 USA 30 yr bond yield  4.526 DOWN 3 in basis points  /11:00 AM

USA 2 YR BOND YIELD: 4.049 DOWN 3BASIS PTS.

GOLD AT 11;00 AM 2837.00

SILVER AT 11;00: 30.92

Your  11:00 AM bourses for Europe and the Dow along with the USA dollar index closing and interest rates: FRDAY CLOSING TIME 11:00 AM//

London: CLOSED UP 52.53 pts or 0.61%

German Dax : UP 0.54pts or 0.00% 

Paris CAC CLOSED UP 9.41 or 0.11%

Spain IBEX CLOSED UP 76.70 PTS OR 0.58%

Italian MIB: CLOSED UP 32.25PTS OR 0.08%

WTI Oil price  69.23 11 EST/

Brent Oil:  72.13 1:00 EST

USA /RUSSIAN ROUBLE ///   AT:  88.82 ROUBLE DOWN 1 AND  11 100      

GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD; +2.3915 DOWN 6 BASIS PTS.

UK 10 YR YIELD: 4.526 DOWN 4 BASIS POINTS

CDN 10 YEAR RATE: 2.954 DOWN 5 BASIS PTS.

CDN 5 YEAR RATE: 2.649DOWN 7 BASIS PTS

CLOSING NUMBERS: 4 PM

Euro vs USA 1.0368 DOWN 0.0026 OR 26 BASIS POINTS//HEADING TO PARITY WITH THE DOLLAR

British Pound: 1.2578 DOWN .0017OR 17 basis pts/HEADING FOR PARITY /USA

BRITISH 10 YR GILT BOND YIELD:  4.4836DOWN 2 BASIS PTS//

JAPAN 10 YR YIELD: 1.364

USA dollar vs Japanese Yen: 150.47 UP 0.384 BASIS PTS// HEADING FOR 160 TO THE DOLLAR

USA dollar vs Canadian dollar: 1.4465UP 0.0019 BASIS PTS CDN DOLLAR DOWN 19 BASIS PTS

West Texas intermediate oil: 69.96

Brent OIL:  73.01

USA 10 yr bond yield DOWN 8 BASIS pts to 4.210

USA 30 yr bond yield DOWN 6 BASIS PTS to 4.498%

USA 2 YR BOND: DOWN 9 PTS AT  3.987

CDN 10 YR RATE 2.921 DOWN 9 BASIS PTS

CDN 5 YEAR RATE: 2.622DOWN 5 BASIS PTS

USA dollar index: 107.53 UP 35 BASIS POINTS

USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 36.52 GETTING QUITE CLOSE TO BLOWING UP/

USA DOLLAR VS RUSSIA//// ROUBLE:  89.37UP 1 AND  67/100 roubles

GOLD  2952.00 (3:30 PM)

SILVER: 31.09 (3:30 PM)

DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE: UP 600.49TS OR 1.39%

NASDAQ 100 UP 333.46 PTS OR 1,62%

VOLATILITY INDEX: 20.59 DOWN 0.54 PTS OR 2.56%

GLD: $ 263.27OR DOWN 1.66 PTS OR 0.63%

SLV/ $28.31 PTS OR DOWN 0.09 OR 0.32%

TORONTO STOCK INDEX// TSX INDEX: CLOSED UP 148.10OR 0.59%

end

TRADING today ZEROHEDGE/

“Thank F**k February’s Over!” – Rate-Cut Hopes Jump As Stocks & Crypto Dump

ZEROHEDGE/HEADLINE CLOSING MARKETS

USA DATA

Americans’ Savings Rate Soars As First Official Signs Of DOGE Success Emerg

Friday, Feb 28, 2025 – 08:41 AM

Tl;dr: Fed’s favorite inflation indicator dipped as expected but all eyes were on the sudden surge in incomes and plunge in ‘spending’ in January (that sent the savings rate for Americans soaring) as USAID flows to the rest of the world dried up…

Incomes up, spending down – very positive for Americans’ savings rate…

https://x.com/zerohedge/status/1895476406257426481?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E18954

…and a sign that DOGE is working!

After hotter-than-expected CPI and PPI (and various survey-based inflation expectations), today brings the Big Kahuna – The Fed’s preferred inflation indicator, Core PCE – which is expected to show a dovish downturn (from +2.8% YoY to +2.6% YoY). And that is exactly what happened with headline PCE rising 0.3% MoM (as expected) and Core up 0.3% MoM (as expected). That pushed the YoY shifts lower on a sequential basis (Core PCE YoY at its lowest since June 2024)…

Source: Bloomberg

That is the biggest MoM jump in headline PCE since April 2024…

Source: Bloomberg

Core services prices – a closely watched category that excludes housing and energy – rose 0.2% from a month earlier. 

Goods prices excluding food and energy were up 0.4%, the most since early 2023.

The so-called SuperCore PCE (Services ex-shelter) rose 0.2% MoM, dragging the YoY print down to 3.09% – its lowest since Feb 2021…

Source: Bloomberg

On the other side of today’s data binge, Personal Spending tumbled 0.2% MoM in January (+0.2% MoM exp) even as incomes soared 0.9% MoM (+0.4% exp). That is the biggest drop in spending since Feb 2021

Source: Bloomberg

Sending the savings rate soaring (after all those revisions)…

Where did the sudden jump in incomes come from? Why, the dear old government of course – transfer payments spiked over $80BN…

Source: Bloomberg

BUT – and it’s a big but!! 

Why the sudden plunge in spending?

Simple – goodbye USAID – and the billions of outflows to foreign nations…

Source: Bloomberg

Inflation-adjusted consumer spending fell 0.5%, marking the biggest monthly decline in almost four years…

Source: Bloomberg

Finally, we note that PCE was the only one of the ‘hard’ inflation indices to drop in January…

Source: Bloomberg

How long can The Fed rely on this gauge with liquidity rebounding?

END

USA ECONOMIC NEWS

Atlanta Fed suddenly signals USA recession as stagflation is taking hold of the USA economy

(zerohedge0

Atlanta Fed Model Suddenly Signals US Recession As Stagflation Takes Hold

Friday, Feb 28, 2025 – 11:31 AM

A recession is imminent…

The Atlanta Fed’s GDPNOW model  – forecasting US economic growth – just downgraded its estimate of Q1 2025 GDP growth (or lack of it) from +2.3% to -1.5%…

After recent releases from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis and the US Census Bureau, the nowcast of the contribution of net exports to first-quarter real GDP growth fell from -0.41 percentage points to -3.70 percentage points while the nowcast of first-quarter real personal consumption expenditures growth fell from 2.3 percent to 1.3 percent.

Put a different way, spending less on transsexual Guinea pigs in Bora Bora means US GDP gets hit.

It does make us wonder how a ‘model’ of economic growth can swing 380bps into contraction from trend growth in a week… but hey, propagandists gonna propaganda.

Who could have seen this coming?

Well we did!

And here is Mizuho’s Dominic Konstam just yesterday confirming the narrative perfectly…

DoGE-led recession risk?

The market is focused on a negative economic fall out from Federal spending cuts. The level of potential Federal job losses are too small to derail growth but overall government spending has been egregiously high in recent years. There has also been excessive job growth in the “government+” sectors including federal, state and local government and in education and health. If DoGE sets a precedent on jobs and achieves spending cuts that ricochet through the quasi-public sector, it is likely that new economic headwinds will develop.

The Fed is not cutting rates anytime soon but that restrictive policy stance bodes well for inflation containment.  There are clearly still “seasonal” related bumps in inflation but we are a far cry from any trend rise in inflation. We remain confident that the disinflationary process is intact, more so with the Fed on hold.

The real focus is on what kind of “new” economic order is in store for the global economy. We lay out a framework for Trump 2.0 that rests on two key principles: rebalancing trade and lowering rates.  We see a tariff regime with different dollar outcomes as juxtaposed to a more cordial Bretton Woods 2 (BW2)/ Mar-a-Lago accord that overlays new (global) fiscal priorities and includes the debt-for-security swap. We show that market pricing is not too far off assigning a relatively large weight to a tariff outcome with stronger dollar. With growth headwinds the Fed will be able to get-off-pause, easing once disinflation resumes.

The curve has retained much of its steepness despite the belly more recently driving curve direction (bullish flattening/bear steepening 210s). We think the recent flattening “relief” reflects an appropriate repricing against the bear steepening fears initially triggered around Trump 2.0. Our yield curve analysis in the context of likely net supply outcomes and Fed reaction do allow for further curve re-steepening but only bullishly, on a sustained basis. Net supply alone doesn’t (bearishly) steepen the curve much. A proper bear steepening with the Fed priced not to cut much, requires a shift higher in Fed expectations. This in turn would likely need to reflect rising inflation expectations and a Fed unwilling to hike. At least for the Powell Fed this seems unlikely, in our view.

Our preferred view is that we will get more tariffs with a strong dollar. Despite the headline rhetoric, the effective tariff rate is still likely to be diluted (closer to 10 than 30 percent, that’s what reciprocity means!) – the one-off price impact is less than otherwise. With growth headwinds mounting, we think investors should accumulate duration on yield set back with the curve still being pressured flatter. Come q2 we expect this to segue into bullish steepening on resumed disinflation.

February was an absolute shitshow for macro data with inflation surprising to the upside and growth drastically surprising to the downside. Put together, they form the Fed’s nemesis – Stagflation!

All of which could be seen as good news for Trump: he can impose tariffs (inflation) AND the Fed will be forced to cut rates (growth).

END

STORM CLOUDS BUILDING UP

DOGE Cuts May Send DC CRE Market Into Spiraling Mess For Political Elites

by Tyler Durden

Friday, Feb 28, 2025 – 12:40 PM

The negative economic fallout from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is beginning to take hold and could unleash a severe financial crisis across the Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia area—home to the federal bureaucracy of Deep State elites. Jobless claims in DC are soaring, a surge in the number of homes and condominiums is hitting the market, and DOGE spending cuts will ricochet through the local economy.

Earlier this week, Dominic Konstam, head of macro strategy at Mizuho, asked: “DoGE-led recession risk?” 

The market is focused on a negative economic fallout from Federal spending cuts. The level of potential Federal job losses is too small to derail growth, but overall government spending has been egregiously high in recent years. There has also been excessive job growth in the “government” sectors, including federal, state, and local government, as well as in education and health. If DoGE sets a precedent on jobs and achieves spending cuts that ricochet through the quasi-public sector, it is likely that new economic headwinds will develop. ​​

To answer Konstam’s question above, absolutely! 

On Thursday morning, Torsten Slok, chief economist at Apollo, joined Bloomberg TV, warning, “The consensus expects total DOGE-related job cuts to be 300,000 … However, studies show that for every federal employee, there are two contractors.” He added: “As a result, layoffs could potentially be closer to 1 million.” 

Now apocalyptic government data reveals a dramatic collapse in US government transfer payments “to the rest of the world” (say goodbye to USAID). Reduced transfers mean higher savings and a fiscal shift ahead—a strong step toward taming inflation and reining in out-of-control Washington spending (or money laundering). However, this shift comes at a steep cost: DC recession for political elites. 

https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1895473454406885517&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fmarkets%2Fdoge-unfolding-dc-cre-crisis-compared-2008&sessionId=63adee119ec5a7a7354e8a34abe0dcb05a73ae76&siteScreenName=zerohedge&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px

DOGE cuts will likely add pressure to the Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia commercial real estate in office. 

CRE data company Trepp shows the federal gov’t accounts for about 10% of all CRE buildings across the DC metro area. 

“The DC office market is wiped out,” Ben Miller, CEO of Fundrise, a Washington-based property investment platform, told Bloomberg. “Almost no office has equity value.“

Miller said the DOGE-related downturn in the area will only make things worse for the CRE DC office market. He compared the situation unfolding to what happened in the 2008 financial crisis in New York City. 

“The biggest employer in DC is shutting down the government,” he said, adding, “So where other cities have only one problem — work from home — DC has two.”

Nationwide, the US General Services Administration, which oversees the leasing and management of government buildings, spends about $5 billion annually on rent for roughly 144 million square feet of office space—one-third the size of Manhattan’s entire office market.

According to Bloomberg’s analysis of GSA data, DOGE-related office cuts totaled about $100 million, and a billion dollars of active office leases have either expiration or termination dates before 2025. GSA data shows another $385 million of US office leases could be on the cutting block later this year.

Thanks. 

This is what draining the swamp looks like—a mandate the American people gave to President Trump. All signs point to economic storm clouds rapidly gathering over DC for the political class.

Bidenflation & His Media Whores

Thursday, Feb 27, 2025 – 09:45 PM

Submitted by Jim Bovard

High inflation spurred Donald Trump’s defeat of Kamala Harris last November. The economy was the top issue for most voters, and inflation was the top economic issue. As Biden’s partner in economic crime, Harris could not escape the blame for the torpedoing of the dollar’s value in recent years.

Inflation occurs when the government prints excessive currency, resulting in more money chasing the same amount of goods and services. Nobel Laureate economist Friedrich Hayek wrote, “Inflation is never an unavoidable natural disaster; it is always the result of the weakness or ignorance of those in charge of monetary policy.” As economist Per Bylund observed, “Inflation is money losing its purchasing power.” Government is the premier profiteer of inflation, providing politicians with “free” money to spend while systematically defaulting on any debts government promised to pay.

Biden inflation lies begin

In July 2021, Biden declared, “There’s nobody suggesting there’s unchecked inflation on the way — no serious economist.” Actually,  there were plenty of dire warnings. In December 2021, Biden scoffed at inflation as a “bump in the road.” But that “bump” became a hole in the gas tank for tens of millions of Americans who drive to work as fuel prices set one record after another. Biden claimed inflation is a problem everywhere, but National Public Radio reported that “between 2019 and 2021, the United States saw one of the biggest inflation rate increases in the world, behind only Brazil and Turkey.” Rep. Lance Gooden (R–Texas) noted, “Joe Biden promised $2,000 stimulus checks but gave Americans $5,000 per year inflation instead.”

Biden spawned the highest rate of food inflation since the Nixon administration, but he scoffed when a CNN interviewer recently asked him about the 30 percent rise in grocery prices. Biden ridiculously declared of consumers, “They have the money to spend!” Exiled whistleblower Edward Snowden quipped that the White House was trying to defuse anger by “telling people no, no, a shopping cart full of groceries has always cost $36,000.”

Biden’s pro-inflation policies divided Americans between those who work for a living and those who vote for a living. In  2021, Biden boasted, “Even after accounting for inflation … our families have more money in their pockets than they did before the pandemic.” Putting more unearned dollars in people’s pockets was a windfall for politicians, but it worsened economic disruptions. Besides, it was scant consolation to have more dollars that purchase less and less each month.

Experts kindly offered plenty of financial remedies to hard-pressed Americans. For Thanksgiving 2021, the Federal Reserve recommended that people rely on soybean-based dinners instead of turkey — saving 76 cents a serving. Georgia Democratic Party leader Stacey Abrams touted abortion as a cure for inflation: “Having children is why you’re worried about your price for gas, it’s why you’re concerned about how much food costs. For women, this is not a reductive issue.” Professor Teresa Ghilarducci, in a Washington Post op-ed, recommended that families with an income less than $289,000 per year “adjust” to inflation by eating lentils instead of meat, ditching their car and taking public transit, and maybe letting their pets die. In October 2022, Biden implied that soaring food prices wouldn’t be a real problem if Americans bought no-name, store-brand Raisin Bran instead of Kellogg’s.

Biden’s media whores

Pro-Biden media outlets painted inflation as practically a divine blessing that Biden is bestowing on Americans. MSNBC tweeted, “Why the inflation we’re seeing now is a good thing,” while The Intercept went whole-hog on soaring milk prices: “Inflation is Good for You.”  The Washington Post editorial board rushed to absolve Biden: “The main reason inflation is at its highest level since 1982” is because “people continue to spend a lot of time at home” and demand more goods. MSNBC anchor Joy Reid claimed in November 2022 that inflation was a word that Republicans “taught people…. Most people would have never used that word ever in their lives are using it now because they’ve been taught it.” The same month, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen blamed inflation on citizens frustrated by lockdowns who “suddenly started splurging on goods.” Most pundits dismissed or disdained people who complained about how the 20+ percent inflation of the Biden era harmed their families. Author Tom Woods noted that leftists “are now mocking people who are concerned about price inflation by using the expression ‘burger too expensive.’”

NPR ran a tear-jerking piece headlined: “The Movement To Stick Inflation Blame On Biden.” After disparaging the “I did that!” stickers of Biden’s face being attached to gas pumps and other places, NPR lamented, “It’s not just vandals, pranksters, and TikTokers trying to stick inflation blame on Biden.” After admitting that real wages for workers fell 2.4 percent last year, NPR consoles, “It’s A Crummy Time To Be A World Leader.”

But inflation was much worse than Biden or the media admitted. Beginning in the 1980s, the formula for calculating inflation was revised dozens of times, almost always with a downward bias. The Consumer Price Index is skewed because it does not attempt to compare the price of the same basket of goods over time. Instead, federal officials concocted a gauge they claim measures a “constant level of satisfaction.” But who in hell made bureaucrats the supreme judges of happiness?

In addition to that bureaucratic fairy dust, the inflation formula was changed to severely underweight rises in housing prices, instead relying on “the new concept of homeowners’ equivalent rent, where the government would estimate how much it would cost to own your own house,” John Williams, the founder of Shadow Stats, observed. The average monthly mortgage payment on a median-priced home has doubled since Biden took office.

Larry Summers, Bill Clinton’s treasury secretary, observed that if the feds used the same inflation gauges during Biden’s administration that were used in the 1970s, Biden’s peak inflation would have been 18 percent, twice as high as the reported number and the highest inflation rate in U.S. history. Understating inflation permitted the Biden administration to deny much of the financial damage it inflicted.

Biden portrayed himself as inflation’s biggest victim. “Inflation is the bane of our existence,” Biden lamented to a talk show host in June 2022. Unfortunately, he was referring to inflation’s effect on his approval ratings, not the plight of average Americans struggling to pay for gas and groceries. When Peter Doocy of Fox News asked about the impact of inflation in January, Biden called him “a stupid son of a bitch.” The Biden administration presumed that giving more handouts to government dependents would ease the pain of self-reliant middle class families — perhaps by osmosis.

Economic hocus pocus

Biden’s policies were based the “Magic Bean School of Political Economy.” His policymakers favor Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) — the notion that government spending almost never has an adverse effect on the economy. MMT advocates believe there is practically no problem that cannot supposedly be solved by bigger gushers of free government money. A Washington Post headline captured the administration’s presumptions: “Biden’s big bet: That he can remake economy with no bad side effects” such as “less incentive to work.” But as USA Today reported, “Many people have permanently stopped working, depressing labor force participation” by millions of people. Labor force participation has fallen sharply since 2019.

MMT champions are adamant that the flood of new money is irrelevant to rising price levels. In a March 2022 speech to Democratic members of Congress, Biden raged at being blamed for inflation: “I’m sick of this stuff!… We have to talk about it because the American people think the reason for inflation is the government spending more money. Simply. Not. True.”

Biden sought to deflate the political peril by demagoguing against corporations for raising prices. After Russia invaded Ukraine, Biden found a new culprit: “Make no mistake, inflation is largely the fault of Putin.” But inflation was already at 7 percent before the invasion of Ukraine. Biden began denouncing the “Putin Price Hikes,” but polls showed that few Americans  swallowed that assertion. In June 2022, the Washington Post reported that Biden was blaming his White House aides for his problem with inflation: he “complained to aides that they were not doing a good job explaining the causes of inflation and what the administration is doing about it.”

In the final weeks of the 2022 midterm congressional campaign, Biden boasted of the impact of inflation — at least on voters pocketing federal checks. He told senior citizens in Florida, “On my watch, for the first time in 10 years, seniors are getting an increase in their Social Security checks.” In reality, Social Security benefits have increased every year since 2016. The White House tweeted: “Seniors are getting the biggest increase in their Social Security checks in 10 years through President Biden’s leadership.” Even CNN derided that comment, since Social Security benefits are linked to inflation by law. Actually, the benefit boost was the largest in 40 years.

According to Biden, “shrinkflation” — adjusting for inflation by selling smaller products for the same price — is a worse crime than anything his administration inflicted on the American people. Biden condemned corporations for “charging folks more and more for less and less.” In his 2024 Super Bowl ad denouncing shrinkflation, Biden declared, “The American public is tired of being played for suckers.” Politico reported, “The White House has been aggressively testing out the [shrinkflation] messaging on the airwaves and in internal polling ahead” of Biden’s State of the Union speech. But unlike governments that force people to pay more taxes for worse services, corporations cannot conscript their victims. Biden’s attempt to persuade Americans they were being crucified on a cross made of shrinking candy bars failed.

Biden sought to “fix” inflation the same way he “solved” other debacles: with brazen lies that presumed his listeners are either idiots or NPR junkies. As voters focused more on the losses of their purchasing power, Biden repeatedly declared in early 2024 that the inflation rate was 9 percent at the time he took office  — almost six times the actual rate. Biden’s credibility deteriorated even faster than the value of the U.S. dollar.

Policymakers ignored the devastation they inflicted. When asked during a January 2022 news conference about how “inflation affects different groups of Americans,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell said he wasn’t “aware of … inflation literally falling more on different socioeconomic groups…. The point is some people are just really prone to suffer more.” Inflation sounded like a problem that therapists must solve. In reality, lower-income households spend a far higher percent of their income on food, gas, and heating their homes — three categories where prices have soared. A survey by Lending Club in early 2022 found that “61 percent of the U.S. population lived paycheck to paycheck, up seven percentage points since the first report in June 2021, including 77 percent of consumers earning less than $50,000.” In October 2022, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas reported that most American workers had suffered the harshest fall in wages in 25 years, including a “median decline in real wages” of more than 8.5 percent.

Biden’s attempt to portray himself as an innocent bystander to the destruction of value of the U.S. dollar was a disastrous flop. The president suffered political “death by a thousand price hikes,” as consumers blamed Biden each time they hit the gas pump or grocery store.

When Kamala Harris signaled that she would likely continue Biden’s policies across the board, voters recognized that she had learned nothing from Biden’s debacles. The Harris campaign believed that perpetually championing the right to abortion would guarantee them more than enough votes from women. But it turned out that “women buy milk and eggs more often than they get abortions.”

A century ago, Americans clearly recognized the moral implications of inflation. Vice President Calvin Coolidge bluntly declared in 1922: “Inflation is repudiation.” But it remains to be seen whether the inflationary torrent of recent years will awaken Americans to the folly of trusting Washington to not sabotage their personal independence or the nation’s prosperity.

KING NEWS

The King Report February 26, 2025 Issue 7438

Independent View of the News

Bitcoin tumbled on Tuesday.  It was a delayed reaction to the report that North Korean hackers looted a crypto vault.  The cult of crypto tried to ignore the troubling development.  Their denial is becoming fear.   North Korea steals $1.5bn (of cryptocurrency) as it pulls off world’s biggest ever heist https://www.aol.com/north-korea-plunders-world-crypto-144944787.html?s=02   @visegrad24: The Taiwanese coast guard is boarding the Chinese-owned vessel “Hong Tai” after it was caught destroying an undersea telecommunications cable between Taiwan & its Kinmen island near China. The crew, which is all Chinese, is being detained and taken to Taiwan. https://x.com/visegrad24/status/1894322789009531102   Is China trying to craft an excuse to invade Taiwan?  How will Trump respond?   The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence for February tumbled to 98.3 from 105.3; 102.5 was expected.  This is the biggest decline since August 2021, and the 3rd straight decline (since DJT elected!).  “Average 12-month inflation expectations surged from 5.2% to 6% in February.”  Food costs are moving higher.  Short-term expectations for income, business and the job market cratered 9.3 points to 72.9.  Current conditions fell 3.4 points to 136.5. https://www.conference-board.org/topics/consumer-confidence/press/CCI-Feb-2025   Recent consumer confidence surveys show Americans’ inflation expectations are escalating.  Yet, the shameless liars at the Fed incessantly aver that ‘inflation expectations remain well anchored.’   The S&P CoreLogic 20-city home price index jumped 0.52% m/m and 4.48% y/y in December.  0.40% m/m & 4.41% y/y were expected.   US Treasury’s Bessent vows to re-privatize an economy that is ‘brittle underneath’ “The previous administration’s over-reliance on excessive government spending and overbearing regulation left us with an economy that may have exhibited some reasonable metrics but ultimately was brittle underneath,” he said.  Bessent said that 95% of all job growth in the past 12 months has been concentrated in public and government-adjacent sectors such as health care and education, jobs offering slower wage growth and less productivity than private-sector jobs…     “The private sector has been in recession,” Bessent said. “Our goal is to re-privatize the economy.” https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/us-economy-brittle-underneath-despite-154258690.html   Fangs, crypto currencies, and precious metal got hammered on Tuesday.  Near the 11:30 ET European close, the NY Fang+ Index was -3.05%. CrowdStrike sank as much as 5.6%; Meta and Amazon fell as much as 3%.  Tesla tumbled as much as 9% and is down 38.84% from its 12/18 all-time high.   Gold sank as much as 2%.  USHs rallied as much as 1 16/32.   Bonds are rallying on defensive asset allocation, which is occurring on US recession angst.  However, if inflation keeps percolating, the rally will falter.  And when bond managers realize that budget deficits can soar 50 percent to 100 percent in a recession, look out!   Fox: Apple’s voice-to-text feature periodically shows ‘Trump’ when hearing ‘racist’ An Apple spokesperson said Tuesday that the company is addressing the issue… (This was programmed) https://www.foxnews.com/tech/apple-iphones-voice-to-text-feature-periodically-shows-trump-when-user-says-racist   ESHs traded sideways but mostly modestly positive from the Nikkei opening until they broke lower at 2:20 ET.  ESHs hit 5982.50 at 2:58 ET.  They then jumped higher for the 3 ET European opening.  After hitting 6004.75 at 3:13 ET, ESHs reversed and declined to 5977.75 at 5:57 ET.  The rally for the NYSE opening then commenced; ESHs ran to 6010.75 at 8:28 ET.  ESHs then rolled over.  They commenced a tumble at 9:45 ET that took ESHs to a daily low of 5924.00 at the 11:30 ET European close.   Once again, after an early tumble in the US on a negative fundamental or two, a robust Noon Balloon appeared.  ESHs soared to 5990.50 at 13:04 ET.  An A-B-C decline took ESHs to 5958.50 at 14:16 ET.  An afternoon rally pushed ESHs to 5995.50 at 15:24 ET.  For the 2nd consecutive session, there was late liquidation instead of a robust afternoon rally.  ESHs sank to 5964.50 at 15:54 ET; a late and illegal manipulation pushed ESHs to 5977.50 at 15:57 ET.  ESHs then eased a tad lower into the close.   Positive aspects of previous session Commodities declined sharply; bonds rallied, but on recession angst. Cryptos sank on security concerns.   Negative aspects of previous session Fangs got hammered. For the 2nd straight session there was a late decline.   Ambiguous aspects of previous session Will the fear over crypto theft increase and generate a horrible outcome?   First Hour/Last Hour Action [S&P 500 Index]: 1st Hour from NYSE Open: Down; Last Hour: Down   Pivot Point for S&P 500 Index [above/below indicates daily trend to traders]: 5952.13 Previous session S&P 500 Index High/Low: 5992.65; 5908.49   The White House announced it will select media members to enter the WH and fly on Air Force One, not the White House Correspondents’ Association.  This ends the legacy media’s control of WH access.   21 federal digital service (Obama created group) staffers resign, refuse to help DOGE DOGE adviser Katie Millier said in an X post that the employees who resigned were “full remote workers who hung Trans flags from their workplaces.”… The 21 staffers were originally onboarded into DOGE after working for the United States Digital Service, an office established under former President Barack Obama’s administration following the botched rollout of Healthcare.gov… https://www.foxnews.com/politics/21-federal-digital-service-staffers-resign-refuse-help-doge   WSJ: Trump Proposes Fines, Prison Time for Migrants Who Don’t Join Registry Administration establishes registration website for immigrants in U.S. illegally https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-immigration-migrant-registry-jail-time-95c405a7   House Republicans pass budget resolution (217-215) after reversing course on scrapping vote – The budget included $5 trillion in new spending including money for President Donald Trump’s border security initiatives, and it extended the president’s 2017 tax cuts… ($4.5 trillion in tax cuts) https://justthenews.com/government/congress/house-republicans-pull-budget-resolution-tuesday-lineup-after-failing-flip-gop   Today – Nvidia is scheduled to report results after the NYSE close; .84 is consensus.  Rumors or leaks regarding NVDA’s results could impact trading today.   Once again on Tuesday, equities sank early on negative news, rallied at midday, and were manipulated higher near the close.   Trading sessions increasingly depend on efficacy of the afternoon rally and the late manipulation.   The 100-day moving averages of the S&P 500 Index (5946) and DJIA (43,484) are supporting those indices.  For the past 3 sessions, DJIA declines have halted near the 100 DMA.  Since November 2023, the S&P 500 Index 100-DMA has been important support.  The index fell below its 100 DMA for three sessions in August (5-7) and then rebounded sharply.   The DJIA has had the same experience as the S&P 500 Index with its 100 DMA, except it spent a few more sessions under the metric before rebounding sharply.   Nasdaq closed (19,026.36) under its 100 DMA (19,211.57) for the first time since September.  The Nasdaq low yesterday was only 40 points above its January low.  When January lows are breeched in Q1, bad things happen!   ESHs are +11.50; NQHs are +70.75 (NVDA related buying); and USHs are +1/32 at 20:45 ET.     Expected economic data: Jan New Home Sales 680k; Richmond Fed Pres Barkin 8:30 ET, Atlanta Fed Pres Bostic 12:00 ET   S&P Index 50-day MA: 6007; 100-day MA: 5946; 150-day MA: 5809; 200-day MA: 5709 DJIA 50-day MA: 43,683; 100-day MA: 43,484; 150-day MA: 42,589; 200-day MA: 41,772 (Green is positive slope; Red is negative slope)   S&P 500 Index (5955.25 close) – BBG trading model Trender and MACD for key time frames Monthly: Trender and MACD are positive – a close below 5382.09 triggers a sell signal Weekly: Trender is positive; MACD is negative – a close below 5807.26 triggers a sell signal Daily: Trender and MACD are negative – a close above 6115.84 triggers a buy signal Hourly: Trender and MACD are negative – a close above 6020.85 triggers a buy signal   @CollinRugg: The FBI has launched an investigation into former FBI Director James Comey for his “honeypot” operation targeting Trump in 2016, according to the Washington Times…  According to a whistleblower, two undercover female FBI employees infiltrated Trump’s 2016 campaign to act as “honeypots.”… The whistleblower claimed Comey ordered the investigation and “personally directed it” despite not having a specific crime.  The operation was likely a “fishing expedition” to “find” a crime against Trump.  During a recent interview before the election, Comey was visibly concerned about what Trump would do if reelected.   Ex-FBI agent (Tim Thibault) improperly shared gov info, nude photo of girlfriend from bureau email account — while allegedly shielding Hunter Biden https://trib.al/dxWaQEJ   @JudiciaryGOP: New disclosure reveals that the Biden IRS leaked taxpayer information of over 405,000 Americans — including President Trump’s.     The IRS’s admission confirms the Committee’s suspicion and recent reports that show the scope of the leak was much broader than what the Biden Administration’s IRS initially led the public to believe.  In May 2024, an IRS spokesman stated that “[m]ore than 70,000” taxpayers were affected… https://x.com/JudiciaryGOP/status/1894408544004243946   Yet Dems and their media stooges whine about Musk/DOGE accessing Americans’ personal data! @shellenberger: FBI whistleblower @GOBactual confirmed to me that a source inside FBI said FBI employees were destroying evidence on servers, and that he informed @Kash_Patel.  I hope he & @AGPamBondi @JohnRatcliffe @elonmusk @realannapaulina are preventing this.   GOP Rep @realannapaulina: There is a massive war happening in the intelligence agencies right now. The corruption being exposed right now is actual treason…   @elonmusk: This is our one & only chance to restore democracy from the dictatorship of the bureaucracy. It is now or never.  It must be now.   @EndWokeness: 3 judges today blocked Trump from freezing foreign aid, federal grants, limiting refugees.  All were appointed by Biden.   @elonmusk: What is the point of having democratic elections if unelected activist “judges” can override the clear will of the people?  Well, that’s no democracy at all!      The only way to restore rule of the people in America is to impeach judges. No one is above the law, including judges. That is what it took to fix El Salvador. Same applies to America.     Trump says US will sell $5M ‘gold cards’ to foreigners: ‘Green card privileges-plus’ https://trib.al/HynH5Tc   The Florida Voter Fraud Case That Could Overturn Democrat Cheat-By-Mail Florida is comparatively fraud-free, thanks to Ron DeSantis. But even here, what’s going on beneath the surface is breathtaking. This case might stop it.     They have found duplicate voters called “clones” in the voter rolls.  These fraudulent clones are digital people created based on the identities of real people, with minor variations in name spelling, birth dates, and addresses. Multiple clones can be made based on the identity of a single real person. As a result, fraudsters can manufacture unlimited numbers of these cloned voters in the cyber world.  They estimate approximately two million cloned voters just on the Florida voter rolls alone…     Across Florida, Ticktin has uncovered 592,335 VBM “No-No” ballots issued to requestors who did not provide the required identification but were mailed a ballot anyway. Of these illegally issued ballots, 475,340 were returned to their counties, where they were processed and counted as votes…     The investigation into the FL-14 race could show similar fraud occurring nationwide… https://www.rodmartin.org/p/the-florida-voter-fraud-case-that   Democrats charged with election fraud amid party’s efforts to obstruct election integrity measures Five Democratic Party members in Bridgeport, Conn., and Philadelphia have been criminally charged with numerous counts of voter fraud on both the state and federal levels regarding mail-in ballots… https://www.allsides.com/news/2025-02-25-0454/politics-democrats-charged-election-fraud-amid-partys-efforts-obstruct-election   @libsoftiktok: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) backed legislation that funneled millions to his wife’s environmental nonprofit, Ocean Conservancy. She’s been paid nearly $2.7M while the group raked in $14.2M+ in federal grants—funded by bills Whitehouse voted for! Now, an ethics watchdog is calling for an investigation into this blatant corruption.  (Whitehouse is one of the biggest whiners & screamers!) https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/1894401420473811068   @realchrisrufo: EXCLUSIVE: In a secret NSA chatroom, NSA, DNI, and SpaceCom officials claim that @TulsiGabbard is “fervently anti-queer,” a “Russian agent,” and a member of the MAGA “cult.” These employees, including at least one “they/them,” are attempting to undermine Gabbard from within. https://x.com/realchrisrufo/status/1894417072568111300      SCOOP: @TulsiGabbard is preparing a memo directing all intelligence agencies to identify the employees who participated in the NSA’s “obscene, pornographic, and sexually explicit” chatrooms and to terminate their employment and revoke their security clearances. Deadline: Friday.     DNI @TulsiGabbard Memo sent.  We know who they are.  Action is underway.   @realdogeusa: Nancy Pelosi’s Vineyard received $14M from USAID for “experimental farming.” This is an example of how a $174,000 salary turns into a $240,000,000 net worth.  Is it time for DOGE to audit Pelosi? https://x.com/realdogeusa/status/1894423864530100383   @JackPosobiec: Here is Joe Biden telling coal miners to ‘learn to program’ after his green policies would take away their jobs https://t.co/jtC9FOtYIS   Moribundly obese Illinois Governor @JBPritzker: RFK Jr’s views are dangerous, misguided, and deeply disturbing. Frankly, his policies will hurt people. I will push back on any attempts to disrupt the health and safety of Illinoisans.   @robbystarbuck: New Democrat health expert just dropped (JB Pritzker, pic at link) https://x.com/robbystarbuck/status/1894207880871444601   Pro-Farrakhan pastor leading Target DEI boycott calls Black Trump supporters ‘coons’ and ‘runaway slaves’ https://trib.al/jY2L0ma  (This helps blacks how?)   Shocking video shows near miss between Southwest Airlines flight, jet on runway at Midway Airport – Audio captured from live air traffic control communications, or LiveATC indicated Southwest Airlines Flight 2504 was cleared to land on Runway 31C by local controllers, with the jet, FlexJet 560 taxing for departure and communicating with ground control at a different frequency… https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/shocking-video-shows-near-miss-between-southwest-airlines-flight-jet-on-runway-at-midway-airport/3682589/   @NileGardiner: An absolute disgrace. Churchill and Wellington’s portraits REMOVED from Parliament as assault against greatest Britons continues.  https://t.co/xEjth79Q5O

—

SWAMP [ STORIES FOR YOU TONIGHT