GOLD CLOSED DOWN $30.30 TO $3,384.50
SILVER CLOSED DOWN $0.54 TO $32.60
GOLD ACCESS CLOSED $3471.50
Silver ACCESS CLOSED: $32.41
Bitcoin morning price:$97,010 UP 2273 DOLLARS.
Bitcoin: afternoon price: $96,164 up 1427 DOLLARS
Platinum price closing DOWN $4.20 TO $984.50
Palladium price; UP $3.05 TO $979.45
END
*CANADIAN GOLD: $4,662.70 DOWN $19.33 CDN dollars per oz( * NEW ALL TIME HIGH $4735.70 CDN DOLLARS PER OZ//APRIL 21 2025)
*BRITISH GOLD: 2537.36 DOWN 9.36 Pounds per oz// *(NEW ALL TIME HIGH//CLOSING//2,566.50 BRITISH POUNDS/OZ) MAY 6/2025
*EURO GOLD: 2984.66 DOWN 14.31 Euros per oz //* (ALL TIME CLOSING HIGH: 3018.80 EUROS PER OZ/ APRIL 21 //2025)
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EXCHANGE: COMEX
EXCHANGE: COMEX
CONTRACT: MAY 2025 COMEX 100 GOLD FUTURES
SETTLEMENT: 3,411.400000000 USD
INTENT DATE: 05/06/2025 DELIVERY DATE: 05/08/2025
FIRM ORG FIRM NAME ISSUED STOPPED
190 H BMO CAPITAL MARKETS 17
323 C HSBC 123
363 H WELLS FARGO SECURITI 274
523 H INTERACTIVE BROKERS 1
555 C BNP PARIBAS SEC CORP 27
661 C JP MORGAN SECURITIES 5 1697
737 C ADVANTAGE FUTURES 1 7
880 H CITIGROUP 2088
905 C ADM 2
TOTAL: 2,121 2,121
MONTH TO DATE: 14,946
MONTH TO DATE: 12,825
JPMORGAN STOPPED 1697/2121
MAY
GOLD: NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR MAY/2024. CONTRACT: 2121 NOTICES FOR 212,100 OZ 6.597 TONNES
total notices so far: 14,946 contracts for 1,494,600 OR 46.488 tonnes)
FOR MAY
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
SILVER NOTICES: 146 NOTICE(S) FILED FOR 0.730 MILLION OZ/
total number of notices filed so far this month : 13,351 CONTRACTS (NOTICES) for 66.755 million oz
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END
GLD/
BOTH GLD AND SLV ARE FRAUDULENT VEHICLES//THEY ARE NOW RAIDING GLD AND SLV FOR PHYSICAL
THE CROOKS ARE STEALING GOLD AND SILVER FROM THE GLD/SLV AND REPLACING THE PHYSICAL WITH PAPER DOLLARS.
WITH GOLD DOWN $30.30 INVESTORS SWITCHING TO SPROTT PHYSICAL (PHYS) INSTEAD OF THE FRAUDULENT GLD:
NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD:
INVENTORY RESTS AT 937.96 TONNES
SLV/
WITH NO SILVER AROUND AND SILVER DOWN $0.54 AT THE SLV: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: //
CLOSING INVENTORY RESTS AT:
CLOSING INVENTORY: 448.783 MILLION OZ
Let us have a look at the data for today
SILVER//OUTLINE
SILVER COMEX OI ROSE BY A MEGA MEGA HUGE SIZED 2690 CONTRACTS TO 140,260 AND CONTINUING ON ITS MARCH TO THE RECORD HIGH OI OF 244,710, SET FEB 25/2020, AND THIS HUGE SIZED GAIN IN COMEX OI WAS ACCOMPLISHED WITH OUR GAIN OF $0.92 IN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX WITH RESPECT TO TUESDAY’S TRADING. WE HAD A HUMONGOUS SIZED GAIN OF 2743 TOTAL CONTRACTS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES AS THE CME NOTIFIED US OF A SMALL 50 CONTRACT EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE.. WE HAD A ZERO LIQUIDATION OF T.A.S. CONTRACTS COMEX TRADING MONDAY AS THEY DESPERATELY AGAIN TRIED TO CONTAIN SILVER’S PRICE RISE FOR THE PAST SEVERAL WEEKS (WHERE RAIDS ARE CALLED UPON AGAIN AND AGAIN TRYING TO STOP THE RISE IN SILVER’S PRICE TO ABOVE $34.40 AND TO QUELL ADDITIONAL DERIVATIVE LOSSES TO OUR BANKERS’ MASSIVE TOTALS). THEY FAILED ON MONDAY WITH SILVER’S HUGE GAIN IN PRICEBUT THE PRICE IS STILL WELL BELOW THE MAGIC NUMBER OF $34.40 SILVER SPOT PRICE. . BUT THIS WAS COUPLED WITH A STRONG T.A.S. ISSUANCE OF 571 CONTRACTS ISSUED BY THE CME AND THAT SIGNALS DEEP CODE RED THAT THE CROOKS ARE DESPERATE TO STOP SILVER BREAKING OVER THE 34.40 DOLLAR MARK. THUS OUR RAIDS ON OUR PRECIOUS SILVER METAL WILL CONTINUE UNTIL SILVER BREAKS $34.40. WE HAD A SMALL 50 CONTRACT EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE ACCOMPANIED BY OUR STRONG 571 CONTRACT T.A.S ISSUANCE WHICH WILL BE USED IN TUESDAY’S TRADING/ AS THEY PLAY AN INTEGRAL PART IN OUR COMEX TRADING TRYING TO CONTAIN ANY SILVER PRICE RISE. IN ESSENCE WE GAINED A MEGA MEGA HUGE SIZED 2743 CONTRACTS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES WITH OUR GAIN IN PRICE OF $0.92.
THE CME NOTIFIED US THAT FOR THE FIRST TWO DAYS OF THE MONTH OF MAY, WE HAD TWO CONSECUTIVE ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK CONTRACTS OF 12.93 MILLION OZ. THESE EXCHANGE FOR RISKS MUST NOW BE ADDED TO OUR NORMAL DELIVERY SCHEDULE. THE RECIPIENT OF THIS LARGESS IS WITHOUT A DOUBT THE CENTRAL BANK OF INDIA. LOGICALLY ONLY A CENTRAL BANK WOULD ACCEPT THIS CRAZY CONTRACT WHEREBY THE CENTRAL BANK OF INDIA TAKES THE RISK OF DELIVERY FROM A BULLION BANK WHO CANNOT GUARANTEE DELIVERY OF PHYSICAL SILVER TO THEM.
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 ESPECIALLY SILVER IS NOW USED TO TEMPER OUR SILVER PRICE RISE OR INITIATE A RAID AS WHAT HAPPENED SEVERAL TIMES LAST MONTH AND AGAIN WITH THIS WEEK’S TRADING ON SILVER AND NOW TODAY TRYING TO KEEP THE SILVER PRICE BELOW $34.40 . THE KEY PRICE TO WATCH IS $34.40. IF IT BREAKS THAT PRICE, THEN WE HEAD FOR $50.00 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 TUESDAY NIGHT/WEDNESDAY MORNING: A STRONG 571 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 ROSE BY $0.92) AND WERE SUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING OFF SOME NET SILVER LONGS FROM THEIR PERCH
WE HAD A SMALL 50 CONTRACT ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS) iiii) AN INITIAL SILVER STANDING FOR COMEX SILVER MEASURING AT 67.830 MILLION OZ TO WHICH WE ADD OUR 103 CONTRACT QUEUE JUMP OF 0.550 MILLION OZ AND THEN WE MUST ADD THOSE CRAZY CONTRACT EXCHANGE FOR RISK FOR 12.93 MILLION OZ
INITIAL STANDING FOR MAY: 70.595 MILLION OZ WHICH INCLUDES TODAY’S 0.550 MILLION QUEUE JUMP + 12.93 MILLION OZ (EX FOR RISK) EQUALS 83.525 MILLION OZ./
WE HAD:
/ HUGE COMEX OI GAIN+// A SMALL SIZED EFP ISSUANCE (50 CONTRACTS)/ VI) STRONG SIZED NUMBER OF T.A.S. CONTRACT ISSUANCE 571 CONTRACTS)
I AM NOW RECORDING THE DIFFERENTIAL IN OI FROM PRELIMINARY TO FINAL: REMOVED 199 CONTRACTS.
HISTORICAL ACCUMULATION OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS APRIL. ACCUMULATION FOR EFP’S SILVER/JPMORGAN’S HOUSE OF BRIBES/STARTING FROM FIRST DAY/MONTH OF MAY
TOTAL CONTRACTS for 5 DAYS, total 1694 contracts: OR 8.447 MILLION OZ (389 CONTRACTS PER DAY)
TOTAL EFP’S FOR THE MONTH SO FAR: 8.447 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: 67.020 MILLION OZ///QUITE SMALL AND BECOMING SMALLER EACH AND EVERY MONTH.
APRIL: 100.895 MILLION OZ///AVERAGE SIZE ISSUANCE
MAY: 8.447 MILLION OZ (ISSUANCE WILL BE QUITE SMALL THIS MONTH)
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
RESULT: WE HAD A HUGE SIZED INCREASE IN COMEX OI SILVER COMEX CONTRACTS OF 2690 CONTRACTS WITH OUR HUGE GAIN IN PRICE OF $0.92 IN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX// TUESDAY.,. . THE CME NOTIFIED US THAT WE HAD A SMALL 50 CONTRACT EFP ISSUANCE CONTRACTS: 50 ISSUED FOR JULY AND 0 CONTRACTS ISSUED FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS) WHICH EXITED OUT OF THE SILVER COMEX TO LONDON AS FORWARDS. WE FINISHED APRIL WITH A STRONG SILVER OZ STANDING OF 15.965 MILLION OZ NORMAL DELIVERY , PLUS OUR 4.00 MILLION EX FOR RISK
FINAL STANDING APRIL: 19.965 MILLION OZ
AND NOW MAY:
NEW STANDING FOR MAY: 70.595 MILLION OZ. (INCLUDES 0.550 MILLION OZ QUEUE JUMP + 12.93 MILLION OZ EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUANCE.//NEW TOTAL STANDING 83.525 MILLION OZ
THE NEW TAS ISSUANCE MONDAY NIGHT (571 ) WILL BE PUT INTO “THE BANK” TO BE COLLUSIVELY USED AT A LATER DATE AND FOR SURE WEDNESDAY TRADING OR LATER.
WE HAD 146 NOTICE(S) FILED TODAY FOR 0.730 million OZ
THE SILVER COMEX IS NOW BEING ATTACKED FOR METAL BY LONDONERS ET AL. IT IS NOW TIME FOR THE FBI TO ENTER THE COMEX AND ARREST THESE CROOKS EVEN THOUGH THE MAJORITY OF THE TRADING IS GOVERNMENT. THE BANKERS ARE COMPLICIT
GOLD//OUTLINE
IN GOLD, THE COMEX OPEN INTEREST ROSE BY A VERY STRONG SIZED 10,277 OI CONTRACTS TO 452,414 AND CLOSER TO 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.) THUS WE HAVE A PRETTY LOW OI IN COMEX WITH AN EXTREMELY HIGH PRICE OF GOLD. THE SHORT RATS ARE ABANDONING THE SHIP.
THE DIFFERENTIAL FROM PRELIMINARY OI TO FINAL OI IN GOLD TODAY: REMOVED A HUGE 2690 CONTRACTS //.
WE HAD A VERY STRONG SIZED INCREASE IN COMEX OI (10,277 CONTRACTS) . THIS OCCURRED DESPITE OUR STRONG GAIN OF $101.55 IN PRICE TUESDAY. ON WEDNESDAY/APRIL 17 WE HAD THE HIGHEST EVER SINGLE NOMINAL GAIN IN COMEX GOLD PRICING HISTORY AT $106.35 GAIN.. THE FRBNY SUPPLIED THE NECESSARY SHORT PAPER..
WE ALSO HAD A HUMONGOUS INITIAL STANDING IN GOLD TONNAGE FOR APRIL AT 164.7185 TONNES/) TO WHICH WE ADDED + 8.3571 TONNES EX FOR RISK = 209.953 TONNES
FINAL STANDING FOR APRIL; 201.443 TONNES + 8.3571 TONNES EX FOR RISK = 209.800 TONNES
INITIAL STANDING FOR MAY: 46.687 TONNES OF GOLD!
/ ALL OF THIS HAPPENED WITH OUR $101.55 GAIN IN PRICE WITH RESPECT TO TUESDAY’S COMEX ///. WE HAD A VERY STRONG SIZED GAIN OF 11,495 OI CONTRACTS (42.697 PAPER 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 MARCH CONTRACT MONTH AS WELL AS THE SAME FOR APRIL AND NOW MAY….. A MONSTROUS 46.687 TONNES DESPITE IT BEING AN OFF 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 FAIR SIZED 1218 CONTRACT:
The NEW COMEX OI FOR THE GOLD COMPLEX RESTS AT 452,414/NOW AT THE LOW END OF THE SCALE DESPITE THE HIGH PRICE OF GOLD!!
SILVER ALSO HAS A LOW COMEX OI OF 140,260 CONTRACTS!!
IN ESSENCE WE HAVE A VERY STRONG SIZED INCREASE IN TOTAL CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 11,495 CONTRACTS WITH 10,277 CONTRACTS INCREASED AT THE COMEX// AND A FAIR SIZED 1218 EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL OI CONTRACT ISSUANCE WHICH NAVIGATED OVER TO LONDON. THUS TOTAL OI GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 11,495 CONTRACTS.. WE HAD THE FOLLOWING TAS CONTRACTS INITIATED (ISSUED): A HUGE SIZED AND CRIMINAL 6660 CONTRACTS ISSUED. WE HAD ZERO T.A.S. LIQUIDATION DURING THE COMEX SESSION TUESDAY
CALCULATIONS ON GAIN/LOSS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES
WE HAD A FAIR SIZED ISSUANCE IN EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS (1218 CONTRACT) ACCOMPANYING THE VERY STRONG SIZED INCREASE IN COMEX OI OF 10,277 CONTRACTS/TOTAL GAIN FOR OUR THE TWO EXCHANGES: 11,495 CONTRACTS..WE HAVE 1) NOW RETURNED TO OUR FORMER FORMAT OF BANKERS GOING LONG AND SPECULATORS GOING SHORT ,2.) STRONG STANDING FOR GOLD FOR MAY AT 46.687 TONNES ( WHICH WHICH INCLUDES OUR 6.4634 TONNES QUEUE JUMP)
NEW STANDING FOR GOLD, MAY CONTRACT ADVANCES TO: 46.687 TONNES OF GOLD.
.
/ 3) ZERO T.A.S. LIQUIDATION IN REMOVING ANY NET SPECULATOR LONGS, AS WE HAD 1)A $101.55 COMEX PRICE GAIN.. WE HAD 2) ZERO NET LONG SPECS BEING CLIPPED WITH OUR VERY STRONG GAIN OF 13,728 CONTRACTS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES// /./ ALSO, 3)STICKY GOLD’S LONGS WERE REWARDED TUESDAY EVENING AS THEY EXERCISED EFP’S FROM LONDON TO TAKE DELIVERY OF BADLY NEEDED PHYSICAL AND THUS OUR HUGE TONNAGE STANDING FOR GOLD FOR MAY.
4) VERY STRONG SIZED COMEX OI GAIN// 5) FAIR SIZED ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL PAPER (1218 CONTRACTS)///HUGE T.A.S. ISSUANCE: 6660 T.A.S.CONTRACTS//
HISTORICAL ACCUMULATION OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS IN 2023-2025 INCLUDING TODAY
MAY INITIAL
ACCUMULATION OF EFP’S GOLD AT J.P. MORGAN’S HOUSE OF BRIBES: (EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL) FOR THE MONTH OF MAY :
TOTAL EFP CONTRACTS ISSUED: 4023 CONTRACTS OR 402300 OZ OR 12.513 TONNES IN 5 TRADING DAY(S) AND THUS AVERAGING: 805 EFP CONTRACTS PER TRADING DAY
TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA AS TO THE SIZE OF THESE EFP TRANSFERS : THIS MONTH IN 5 TRADING DAY(S) IN TONNES 12.513 TONNES
TOTAL ANNUAL GOLD PRODUCTION, 2024, THROUGHOUT THE WORLD EX CHINA EX RUSSIA: 3555 TONNES
THUS EFP TRANSFERS REPRESENTS 12.513 TONNES DIVIDED BY 3550 x 100% TONNES = 0.352% 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
2024 AND 2025:
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 130.84 TONNES//QUITE SMALL THIS MONTH.
APRIL; 208.57 TONNES. STILL A SMALL TO FAIR ISSUANCE FOR THE MONTH.
MAY: 12.513 TONNES OF GOLD EFP ISSUANCE
SPREADING OPERATIONS
(/NOW SWITCHING TO GOLD) FOR NEWCOMERS, HERE ARE THE DETAILS
SPREADING LIQUIDATION HAS NOW COMMENCED AS WE HEAD TOWARDS THE NEW ACTIVE FRONT MONTH OF APRIL. 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 ROSE BY A HUGE SIZED 2690 CONTRACTS OI TO 140,260 AND CLOSER TO THE COMEX HIGH RECORD //244,710( SET FEB 25/2020). THE LAST RECORDS WERE SET IN AUG.2018 AT 244,196 WITH A SILVER PRICE OF $14.78/(AUGUST 22/2018)..THE PREVIOUS RECORD TO THAT WAS SET ON APRIL 9/2018 AT 243,411 OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS WITH THE SILVER PRICE AT THAT DAY: $16.53). AND PREVIOUS TO THAT, THE RECORD WAS ESTABLISHED AT: 234,787 CONTRACTS, SET ON APRIL 21.2017 OVER 7 YEARS AGO. HOWEVER WE HAVE NOW SET A NEW RECORD LOW OF 114,102 CONTRACTS JULY 3.2023
EFP ISSUANCE 50 CONTRACTS
OUR CUSTOMARY MIGRATION OF COMEX LONGS CONTINUE TO MORPH INTO LONDON FORWARDS AS OUR BANKERS USED THEIR EMERGENCY PROCEDURE TO ISSUE:
JULY 50 and 0 ALL OTHER MONTHS: ZERO. TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 720 CONTRACTS. EFP’S GIVE OUR COMEX LONGS A FIAT BONUS PLUS A DELIVERABLE PRODUCT OVER IN LONDON. IF WE TAKE THE COMEX OI GAIN OF 2690 CONTRACTS AND ADD TO THE 50 E.FP. ISSUED
WE OBTAIN A HUGE SIZED GAIN OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES OF 2743 CONTRACTS WITH THE HUGE GAIN IN PRICE OF $0.92 THE RATS ARE FLEEING THE ARENA.
THUS IN OUNCES, THE GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES TOTALS 13.715 MILLION PAPER OZ
OCCURRED WITH OUR STRONG $0.92 GAIN 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 UP 26.55 PTS OR 0.80%
//Hang Seng CLOSED UP 29,17 PTS OR .13%
// Nikkei CLOSED DOWN 51.03 PTS OR .14% //Australia’s all ordinaries CLOSED UP .36%
//Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) CLOSED DOWN AT 7.2269 OFFSHORE CLOSED DOWN AT 7.2216 / Oil UP TO 59.50 dollars per barrel for WTI and BRENT UP TO 62,49 Stocks in Europe OPENED ALL RED
ONSHORE USA/ YUAN TRADING BELOW LEVEL OF OFFSHORE YUAN TRADING :/ONSHORE YUAN DOWN TRADING AT 7.2269 AND WEAKER//OFF SHORE YUAN TRADING DOWN 7.2216 AGAINST US DOLLAR/ AND THUS WEAKER
END
ASIA TRADING WEDNESDAY MORNING/TUESDAY 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
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1. COMEX DATA//AMOUNTS STANDING//VOLUME OF TRADING/INVENTORY MOVEMENTS
GOLD
LET US BEGIN:
THE TOTAL COMEX GOLD OPEN INTEREST ROSE BY A VERY STRONG SIZED 10,277 CONTRACTS TO 454,647 WITH OUR HUMONGOUS GAIN IN PRICE OF $101.55 WITH RESPECT TO TUESDAY’S // TRADING. WE LOST ZERO NUMBER OF NET LONGS WITH THAT PRICE GAIN FOR GOLD. AND AS YOU WILL SEE BELOW, OUR GAIN IN PRICE ALSO HAD A FAIR NUMBER OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUED (1218 ).
THE CME ANNOUNCED TUESDAY NIGHT, A 0 EXCHANGE FOR RISK CONTRACT ISSUANCE FOR 0 OZ OR 0.0 TONNES. TOTAL ISSUANCE FOR MAY IS ZERO. IN THE MONTH OF APRIL WE HAD RECORDED A NEW RECORD 7 ISSUANCES OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK AS THE BANK OF ENGLAND IS GETTING VERY ANTSY ABOUT GETTING ITS GOLD BACK. THUS OUR TOTAL EXCHANGE FOR RISK FOR THE MONTH OF APRIL STOOD AT 8.3571 TONNES OF GOLD WHICH WERE ADDED TO OUR NORMAL APRIL GOLD DELVERIES.
HISTORY: LAST THREE PRIOR MONTH’S EXCHANGE FOR RISK
IN MARCH:
THE TOTAL NO. OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUANCE FOR THE MONTH OF MARCH (3 NOTICES) EQUALED: 7.6179 TONNES OF GOLD WHICH WAS ADDED TO OUR MARCH DELIVERY TOTALS.
IN FEBRUARY:
WE HAD A HUGE FIVE EXCHANGE FOR RISKS ISSUANCES FOR GOLD, TOTALLING 18.4527 TONNES!.
THE RECIPIENT OF ALL 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:
- THE BANK OF ENGLAND
- THE FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF NEW YORK (NEED TO RETRIEVE THEIR LEASED GOLD FROM THE BIS)
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. THIS IS THE 5TH CONSECUTIVE MONTH FOR ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK !!.(DEC THROUGH APRIL)
IN APRIL:
AND NOW WE CONCLUDED APRIL WITH 7 ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK FOR A TOTAL TONNAGE OF 8.3571 TONNES.
MAY: 0 ISSUED SO FAR…
DETAILS ON MAY COMEX MONTH//INITIAL
IN TOTAL WE HAD A VERY STRONG SIZED GAIN ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES OF 11,495 CONTRACTS WITH OUR POWERFUL GAIN IN PRICE. HOWEVER, OUR FRIENDLY PHYSICAL LONDON BOYS HAD ANOTHER FIELD DAY AGAIN ON TUESDAY NIGHT AS THEY WERE READY FOR THE FRBNY.S CONTINUED ORCHESTRATED ATTEMPTED AND FAILED RAID VERY EARLY IN THE COMEX SESSION 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 REVERTED BACK TO 1% BUT GOLD IN LONDON IS STILL 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 LAST MONTH OF APRIL AND ONTO MAY, CONTINUED TO DISTORT OPEN INTEREST NUMBERS GREATLY ALTHOUGH THE T.A.S. ISSUANCES IN GOLD HAVE BEEN ON THE LOW SIDE COMPARED TO SILVER WHICH HAVE BEEN HUGE. TODAY’S NUMBER IS A MUCH LARGER THAN FROM OUR PREVIOUS FEW DAYS AT 6660 CONTRACTS
THE T.A.S. LIQUIDATION OF THESE T.AS. CONTRACTS IS WHY WE ARE HAVING DISTORTED COMEX OPEN INTEREST GAINS AND LOSSES IN OI BUT THIS IS COUPLED WITH MEGA HUGE AMOUNTS OF GOLD STANDING FOR DELIVERY TO CONFUSE THE ISSUE!!!!! AND THIS WAS SURELY ON DISPLAY WITH FIRST DAY NOTICE TOTALS WITH GOLD TONNES STANDING FOR APRIL AT 209 + TONNES INCLUDING MANY MASSIVE QUEUE JUMPS AND THIS CONTINUED INTO MAY AS YOU WILL SEE BELOW ANOTHER MASSIVE QUEUE JUMP OCCURRED ON MAY’S DELIVERY CYCLE WITH ANOTHER HUGE QUEUE JUMP RECORDED TUESDAY NIGHT AT 6.4634 TONNES, THE HIGHEST EVER QUEUE JUMP RECORDED IN COMEX GOLD HISTORY.
THE TONNAGE STANDING FOR GOLD FOR MAY IS NOW 46.687 TONNES (WHICH INCLUDES TODAY’S MASSIVE QUEUE JUMP)
THE FED IS THE OTHER MAJOR SHORT OF AROUND 22+ 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 NOW THAT THEY MUST BECOME COMPLIANT TO BASEL III RULES JULY 1/2023 AS OUTLINED IN ANDREW MAGUIRE’S LATEST LIVE FROM THE VAULT 221 EPISODE. 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 THREE 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. 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.
EUROPE IS NOW BASEL III COMPLIANT. THE WEST (FED AND COMEX) MUST BE COMPLIANT BY JULY 1//2025.
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 SEVERAL 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, AND THE MASSIVE AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING EACH AND EVERY MONTH INCLUDING FIRST DAY NOTICE OF GOLD TONNAGE STANDING.
EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE
THE CME REPORTS THAT THE BANKERS ISSUED A FAIR SIZED TRANSFER THROUGH THE EFP ROUTE AS THESE LONGS RECEIVED A DELIVERABLE LONDON FORWARD TOGETHER WITH A FIAT BONUS.,
THAT IS A FAIR SIZED 1218 EFP CONTRACT WAS ISSUED: : /JUNE 1218 & ZERO FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS:
TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 1218 CONTRACT. 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 GAINED THE FOLLOWING TODAY ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES: A GOOD SIZED TOTAL OF 11,495 CONTRACTS IN THAT 1218 CONTRACT LONG WAS TRANSFERRED AS EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS TO LONDON AND WE HAD A VERY STRONG SIZED GAIN OF 10,277 COMEX CONTRACTS..AND THIS VERY STRONG GAIN ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES HAPPENED WITH OUR HUMONGOUS GAIN IN PRICE OF $101.55 /// TUESDAY/ COMEX. THE EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS WILL BE USED BY CENTRAL BANKS, TO EXERCISE FOR PHYSICAL GOLD AT THE COMEX AS MENTIONED ABOVE. LOOKS LIKE THE SHORT RATS ARE FLEEING THE ARENA AS EVIDENCED BY THE LOWER OPEN INTEREST AT THE COMEX!
WE HAD NO:
- LIQUIDATION OF OUR T.A.S. SPREADERS
- ZERO SPEC LIQUIDATION
T.A.S.SPREADER 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 TUESDAY NIGHT/WEDNESDAY MORNING WAS A HUGE SIZED 6660 CONTRACTS,
THE RAIDS ON OPTIONS EXPIRY APRIL MONTH AND THE FORTHCOMING MAY OPTIONS EXPIRY IN 3 WEEKS ACCOMPLISHES TWO IMPORTANT ASPECTS FOR OUR CROOKS:
- STALLS THE ADVANCE IN PRICE
- LOWERS THEIR ADVANCING DERIVATIVE LOSSES.
MECHANICS OF T.A.S CONTRACTS/DECEMBER THROUGH MARCH, APRIL AND MAY
THROUGHOUT THE FEW YEARS, 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
FINAL STANDING FOR GOLD APRIL
// WE HAD A HUGE AMOUNT OF GOLD TONNAGE STANDING: APRIL (209.573 TONNES//.CME CORRECTED//) WHICH IS HUGE FOR OUR ACTIVE APRIL DELIVERY MONTH. FEB HAD THE HIGHEST STANDING FOR GOLD EVER RECORDED FOR ANY MONTH AT 256.607 TONNES
AND NOW LAST 5 MONTHS OF 2025: STANDING FOR GOLD
YEAR 2025:
JAN 2025:
113.30 TONNES (WHICH INCLUDES 43.408 TONNES EX FOR RISK)
FEB: 2025:
256.607 TONNES (WHICH INCLUDES 18.4567 TONNES OF EX FOR RISK)
MARCH:
STANDING FOR GOLD : 60.33 TONNES + 7.6179 TONNES EX FOR RISK = 67.9479 TONNES WHICH IS EXTREMELY HIGH FOR A NON DELIVERY MONTH.
APRIL:
FINAL STANDING FOR GOLD: 201.573 TONNES + 8.3571 TONNES EX FOR RISK = 209.953 TONNES
MAY:
INITIAL STANDING AT 28.945 INITAL GOLD TONNES STANDING FIRST DAY NOTICE PLUS 6.4634 TONNES QUEUE JUMP MAY 7 = 46.687 TONNES
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HERE ARE THE AMOUNTS THAT STOOD FOR DELIVERY IN THE PRECEDING 52 MONTHS OF 2021-2025:
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: STANDING FOR GOLD/COMEX
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:STANDING FOR GOLD/COMEX
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/STANDING FOR GOLD/COMEX
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 STANDING FOR GOLD/COMEX
January 2025: 70.102 TONNES + 43.208 EXCHANGE FOR RISK= 113.310 TONNES
FEBRUARY:/NEW STANDING ADVANCES TO 238.153TONNES +18.4527 EX FOR RISK
= 256.607 TONNES. THIS IS THE HIGHEST EVER MONTH FOR GOLD STANDING IN COMEX HISTORY
MARCH: 67.9479 TONNES (INCLUDES 7.6179 TONNES EX FOR RISK)
APRIL: 209.953 TONNES (INCLUDES 8.3571 TONNES EX FOR RISK/AND ALL MONTHLY QUEUE JUMPING)
MAY: STANDING NOW 46.687 TONNES (INCLUDES ALL QUEUE JUMPING)
COMEX GOLD TRADING/MAY CONTRACT MONTH
THE SPECS/HFT WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN LOWERING GOLD’S PRICE( IT ROSE BY A HUMONGOUS $101.55/ /)AND THEY WERE A UNSUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING OFF ANY APPRECIABLE NET SPECULATOR LONGS AS WE DID HAVE A VERY STRONG SIZED GAIN IN OI FROM TWO EXCHANGES. AND AS EXPLAINED ABOVE WE HAD ZERO T.A.S. SPREADER LIQUIDATION TUESDAY BUT THEY ARE STILL TRYING TO QUELL GOLD’S ATTEMPT AT FURTHER INCREASES ABOVE $3,400 AND STOP HUGE COMEX/OTC DERIVATIVE LOSSES FROM EXPLODING AS IT LOOKS LIKE THEY ARE NOW FAILING AS GOLD ATTEMPTS TO BREACH THAT 3400 DOLLAR BARRIER AS IT IS NOW TRADING EARLY MORNING CLOSE TO THAT LEVEL AT $3,383.00 DOWN $15 DOLLARS ON THE DAY. RARELY DO WE WITNESS 3 HUGE GOLD PRICE GAINS IN A ROW AND THUS OUR SMALL WHACKING.
TUESDAY NIGHT/WEDNESDAY MORNING
THE CROOKS HOWEVER COULD NOT STOP CENTRAL BANK LONGS, SEIZING THE MOMENT, THEY EXERCISED AGAIN FOR PHYSICAL IN A BIG WAY TENDERING FOR PHYSICAL TUESDAY EVENING/WEDNESDAY MORNING AND THUS OUR HUGE 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
EXCHANGE FOR RISK EXPLANATION/FEB THROUGH /MAY TRADING
EXCHANGE FOR RISK CONTRACTS/MONTH FOR FEBRUARY://FINISHES AT 4 ISSUANCES
THE CME ANNOUNCED TO THE WORLD THAT ON FEB 4 THEY ISSUED 100 CONTRACTS OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK TO THE BANK OF ENGLAND.THEN ,FEB 4 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 WAS 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 WAS ADDED TO OUR REGULAR DELIVERIES THROUGH THE MONTH.
EXCHANGE FOR RISK CONTRACTS/MONTH FOR MARCH
EARLY IN THE DELIVERY CYCLE THE CME NOTIFIED US THAT WE HAD OUR FIRST EXCHANGE FOR RISK CONTRACT ISSUANCE IN MARCH FOR 150 CONTRACTS REPRESENTING 15,000 OZ OF GOLD OR .46656 TONNES. THE BANK OF ENGLAND WAS STILL NOT SATISFIED AS THEY NEED TO RETRIEVE ALL OF ITS LOST GOLD THROUGH LEASING! THE 15,000 OZ WAS ADDED TO OUR NORMAL DELIVERY TOTAL.
MARCH ISSUES IT’S THIRD EXCHANGE FOR RISK: TOTAL FOR THE MONTH FINISHED AT 3
TOTAL ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK MARCH 28 TOTALS 2200 CONTRACTS FOR 6.8429 TONNES OF GOLD. PRIOR ISSUANCE: .7775 TONNES. THUS TOTAL EXCHANGE FOR RISK FOR MARCH : 7.6179 TONNES OF GOLD. MARCH BECOMES THE 4TH CONSECUTIVE MONTH FOR EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUANCE.
APRIL, ISSUED ITS 7TH EXCHANGE FOR RISK: 187 CONTRACTS OR 18,700 OZ OR 0.5816 TONNES
SUMMARY EXCHANGE FOR RISK FOR THE MONTH OFAPRIL//TOTAL ISSUANCES 7 FOR 8.3571 TONNES OF GOLD!:
ISSUANCE FOR EXCHANGE FOR RISK ON FIRST DAY NOTICE//APRILL MONTH// WAS 700 CONTRACTS FOR 70,000 OZ OR 2.177 TONNES OF GOLD TO WHICH WE ADD (APRIL 4) : 250 CONTRACTS FOR 25,000 OZ OR .777 TONNES, APRIL 7 ISSUANCE OF 280 CONTRACTS FOR 28,000 OZ OR .8709 TONNES THEN APRIL 9 484 CONTRACTS FOR 48400 OZ OR 1.5054 TONNES AND FINALLY MONDAY MORNING APRIL 14 AT 200 CONTRACTS FOR 20,000 OZ OR .5816 TONNES AND NOW APRIL 24: 600 CONTRACTS FOR 60,000 OZ OR 1.866 TONNES AND NOW APRIL 25 187 CONTRACTS FOR 18700 OZ OR .5816 TONNES//NEW FINAL TOTAL ISSUANCE FOR APRIL: 8.3571 TONNES!!. APRIL ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK MEANS WE NOW HAVE 5 CONSECUTIVE MONTHS FOR EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUANCE. THESE DELIVERIES WERE ADDED TO OUR NORMAL DELIVERY CYCLE.
MAY ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK = ZERO SO FAR!
HERE IS WHAT HAPPENED LAST MONTH; FINAL GOLD STANDING FOR APRIL:
APRIL: 201.573 TONNES +(8.3571 EX FOR RISK// FOR APRIL DELIVERY MONTH =209.953 TONNES OF THE GOLD. THIS IS THE 2ND HIGHEST AMOUNT OF DELIVERY GOLD WHICH FOLLOWS THE HIGHEST EVER ON AN ACTIVE MONTH GOLD DELIVERY BEING FEB 2025 AT 256.607 TONNES..
ANALYSIS MAY DELIVERY MONTH GOING FROM FIRST DAY NOTICE// MAY COMEX CONTRACT
WE HAVE GAINED A FAIR SIZED TOTAL OF 35.75 PAPER TONNES FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES, ACCOMPANYING OUR INITIAL GOLD TONNAGE STANDING FOR MAY FIRST RECORDED AT 28.945 TONNES ON FIRST DAY NOTICE. WE HAD A MASSIVE 2078 CONTRACT QUEUE JUMP FOR 207,800 OZ OR 6.4634 TONNES. THIS QUEUE JUMP IS CENTRAL BANKS JUMPING AHEAD OF US MORTALS DEMANDING GOLD FOR THEIR RESERVES. THUS NEW STANDING ADVANCES TO 46.687 TONNES OF GOLD.
THUS MAY STANDING FOR GOLD SO FAR: 46.687 TONNES
ALL OF THIS HUGE STANDING WAS ACCOMPLISHED DESPITE OUR MEGA HUMONGOUS GAIN IN PRICE TO THE TUNE OF $101.55
WE HAD A HUGE 2233 CONTRACTS REMOVED FROM THE COMEX TRADES TO OPEN INTEREST (CROOKS)//PRELIMINARY TO FINAL. AND THIS IS TOTALLY INSANE AS WELL.
NET GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES 11,495 CONTRACTS OR 1,149,500 0Z (35.75 TONNES)
confirmed volume TUESDAY 308,227.. contracts: GOOD volume////
//speculators have left the gold arena
END
MAY
// THE MAY 2025 GOLD CONTRACT
MAY 7
INITIAL
| Gold | Ounces |
| Withdrawals from Dealers Inventory in oz | nil |
| Withdrawals from Customer Inventory in oz | . withdrawals: 5 entries a)) out of ASAHI 32,016.960 oz b) Out of Brinks: 341,925.880 oz (10,635 kilobars) c) Out of HSVC enhanced: 95,796.750 oz (239 London good delivery bars) d) Out of JPMorgan: 482.265 oz (15 kilobars) e) Out of JPMorgan enhanced: 133,827.320 oz (334 London good delivery bars) total weight/withdrawal: 604,049.155 oz (18.788 tonnes of gold) absolutely huge |
| Deposit to the Dealer Inventory in oz | 0 ENTRIES |
| Deposits to the Customer Inventory, in oz | we have 0 customer entries xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxI |
| No of oz served (contracts) today | 2121 notice(s) 212,100 OZ 6.597 TONNES |
| No of oz to be served (notices) | 64 contracts 6400 OZ 0.1990 TONNES |
| Total monthly oz gold served (contracts) so far this month | 14,946 notices 1,494,600 oz 46.488 TONNES |
| Total accumulative withdrawals of gold from the Dealers inventory this month | NIL oz |
| Total accumulative withdrawal of gold from the Customer inventory this month |
dealer deposits: 0 entry
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
we have 0 customer entries
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
withdrawals:
withdrawals:
5 entries
a)) out of ASAHI 32,016.960 oz
b) Out of Brinks: 341,925.880 oz
(10,635 kilobars)
c) Out of HSVC enhanced: 95,796.750 oz
(239 London good delivery bars)
d) Out of JPMorgan: 482.265 oz (15 kilobars)
e) Out of JPMorgan enhanced: 133,827.320 oz
(334 London good delivery bars)
total weight/withdrawal: 604,049.155 oz
(18.788 tonnes of gold)
absolutely huge
adjustments: 4//
removals:
from Brinks dealer acct: 96,453.000 oz (3,000 kilobars)
from Brinks customer acct: 225,037.000 oz (7000 kilobars)
total removal: 10,000 kilobars or 10 tonnes of gold
other adjustments
customer to dealer Delaware 1798.764 oz
and then:
dealer to customer jpmorgan: 15,017.077 oz
AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING FOR MAY
THE FRONT MONTH OF MAY STANDS AT 2185 CONTRACTS FOR A GAIN OF 1882 CONTRACTS. WE HAD 196 CONTRACTS SERVED ON TUESDAY SO WE GAINED A HUGE 2078 CONTRACTS AND THUS WE WITNESS A MASSIVE 207,800 OZ QUEUE JUMP FOR 6.4634 TONNES. THIS NOW BECOMES THE HIGHEST EVER RECORDED QUEUE JUMP IN COMEX HISTORY SURPASSING LAST MONTH’S 6.10 TONNES OF ISSUANCE.
JUNE LOST 2384 CONTRACTS TO 305,803. JUNE BECOMES OUR NEW FRONT MONTH AND THIS MONTH WILL BE A WHOPPER OF A DELIVERY MONTH. THE FRBNY IS QUITE NERVOUS LOOKING AT JUNE OI.
JULY GAINED 55 CONTRACTS TO STAND AT 603
We had 196 contracts filed for today representing 19,600 oz
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 5 notices issued from their client or customer account. The total of all issuance by all participants equate to 2121 contract(s) of which 0 notices were stopped (received) by j.P. Morgan dealer and 1697 notice(s) was (were) stopped (received) by J.P.Morgan//customer account
To calculate the INITIAL total number of gold ounces standing for MAY /2025. contract month, we take the total number of notices filed so far for the month (14,946 X 100 oz ) to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of MAY (2185 CONTRACTS) minus the number of notices served upon today (2121 x 100 oz per contract) equals 1,501,000 OZ OR 46.687 TONNES
thus the INITIAL standings for gold for the MAY contract month: No of notices filed so far (14,946 x 100 oz +we add the difference for front month of MAY (2185 OI} minus the number of notices served upon today (2121 x 100 oz) which equals 1,501,000 OZ OR 46.687 TONNES
TOTAL COMEX GOLD STANDING FOR MAY.: 46.687 TONNES WHICH IS HUGE FOR THIS NON ACTIVE ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH IN THE CALENDAR. FEBRUARY HAD THE HIGHEST DELIVERY FOR ANY MONTH AND APRIL WAS SECOND..
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: 2,018,332.30 oz 62.78 tonnes
TOTAL OF ALL GOLD ELIGIBLE AND REGISTERED GOLD 39,681.947.657 oz
TOTAL REGISTERED GOLD 21,690,214.789: or 674.65 tonnes
TOTAL OF ALL ELIGIBLE GOLD: 17,991.732.88 OZ
REGISTERED GOLD THAT CAN BE SERVED UPON: 19,671,882oz (REG GOLD- PLEDGED GOLD)= 611.81tonnes //
END
SILVER/COMEX
// THE APRIL 2025 SILVER CONTRACT//INITIAL
MAY 7
INITIAL
| Silver | Ounces |
| Withdrawals from Dealers Inventory | NIL oz |
| Withdrawals from Customer Inventory | 2 withdrawal entries i) out of Brinks: 599,042.990 oz ii) Out of Loomis 1198,190.510 oz total withdrawal: 1797,233.500 oz |
| Deposits to the Dealer Inventory | 0/ entry |
| Deposits to the Customer Inventory | 3 deposit entries i) Into CNT 2977.330 oz ii) Into JPMorgan: 1,302,615.000 oz iii) Into Loomis: 643,443.850 oz total deposit weight: 1,549,036.370 oz |
| No of oz served today (contracts) | 146 CONTRACT(S) (0.7300 MILLION OZ |
| No of oz to be served (notices) | 768 contract (3.84 MILLION oz) |
| Total monthly oz silver served (contracts) | 13,351 Contracts (66.755million oz) |
| Total accumulative withdrawal of silver from the Dealers inventory this month | NIL oz |
| Total accumulative withdrawal of silver from the Customer inventory this month |
0 entries/dealer
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
deposits customer side
3 deposit entries//customer side
i) Into CNT 2977.330 oz
ii) Into JPMorgan: 1,302,615.000 oz
iii) Into Loomis: 643,443.850 oz
total deposit weight: 1,549,036.370 oz
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx)
2 withdrawal entries
i) out of Brinks: 599,042.990 oz
ii) Out of Loomis 1198,190.510 oz
total withdrawal: 1797,233.500 oz
ADJUSTMENTs zero
JPMorgan has a total silver weight: 212.079million oz/501.468 oz million or 41.67%
TOTAL REGISTERED SILVER: 166.981 MILLION OZ//.TOTAL REG + ELIGIBLE. 501.468Million oz
CALCULATIONS FOR THE NEW STANDING FOR SILVER FOR MAY
silver open interest data:
FRONT MONTH OF MAY /2025 OI: 914 OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS FOR A LOSS OF 4 CONTRACTS. WE HAD 107 NOTICES FILED ON TUESDAY SO WE GAINED 103 CONTRACTS WHICH UNDERWENT A STRONG QUEUE JUMP OF 0.550 MILLION OZ WHERE THESE BOYS HAVE DECIDED TO TAKE DELIVERY OVER HERE. I MUST REPORT WE HAD 0 EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUANCE. THUS THE NEW TOTAL REMAINS AT TWO ISSUANCES OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK IS 12.93 MILLION OZ.
JUNE SAW A LOSS OF 86 CONTRACTS UP TO 3237 CONTRACTS.
JULY GAINED 1674 CONTRACTS UP TO 111,364
TOTAL NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR TODAY: 146 or 0.730 MILLION oz
CONFIRMED volume; ON TUESDAY 140,261 monstrous//
AND NOW MAY DELIVERIES:
To calculate the number of silver ounces that will stand for delivery in MAY. we take the total number of notices filed for the month so far at 13,351 X5,000 oz = 66.755 MILLION oz
to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of MAY (914) AND the number of notices served upon today (146 )x (5000 oz)
Thus the standings for silver for the MAY 2025 contract month: (13,351) Notices served so far) x 5000 oz + OI for the front month of MAY(914) minus number of notices served upon today (146)x 5000 oz equals silver standing for the MAY contract month equating to 70.595 MILLION OZ . THEN WE MUST ADD OUR NEW 12.93 TONNES OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK. NEW TOTAL STANDING FOR SILVER: 83.525 MILLION OZ
New total standing: 83.525 million oz which is huge for this active delivery month of MAY.
We must also keep in mind that there is considerable silver standing in London coming from our longs in New York that underwent EFP transfers.
There are 166.981million 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
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
MAY 7 WITH GOLD DOWN $30.30 TODAY// NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 937.96 TONNES
MAY 6 WITH GOLD UP $101.55 TODAY// HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 6.32 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 937.96 TONNES
MAY 5 WITH GOLD UP $77.95 TODAY// HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.13 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 944.28 TONNES
MAY 2 WITH GOLD UP $ 18.40 TODAY// HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 1.15 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 945.41 TONNES
MAY 1 WITH GOLD DOWN $ 92,45 TODAY// HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.87 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 944.26 TONNES
APRIL30 WITH GOLD DOWN $14.05 TODAY// NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 0.86 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 947.13 TONNES
APRIL29 WITH GOLD DOWN $13.45 TODAY// NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.27 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 946.27 TONNES
APRIL28 WITH GOLD UP $50.20 TODAY// HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.27 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 946.27 TONNES
APRIL25 WITH GOLD DOWN $49.95 TODAY// HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A MASSIVEV WITHDRAWAL OF 3.911 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 948.56 TONNES
APRIL24 WITH GOLD UP $54.90 TODAY// HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A MASSIVE DEPOSIT OF 1.44 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 952.471 TONNES
APRIL23 WITH GOLD DOWN $124.55 TODAY// HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF 9.47 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 949.70 TONNES
APRIL22 WITH GOLD DOWN $7,75 TODAY// HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A MASSIVE DEPOSIT OF 6.89 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 957.17 TONNES
APRIL21 WITH GOLD UP $98.70 TODAY// HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 4.88 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 952.28 TONNES
APRIL17 WITH GOLD DOWN $14.85 TODAY// HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 4.02 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 957.17 TONNES
APRIL16 WITH GOLD UP $12.90 TODAY// NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 953.15 TONNES
APRIL15 WITH GOLD UP $106.35 TODAY// NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 953.15 TONNES
APRIL14 WITH GOLD DOWN $16.90 TODAY// HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 3.44 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD. ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 953.15 TONNES
APRIL11 WITH GOLD UP $67.70 TODAY// HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 13.48 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD. ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 949.71 TONNES
/APRIL10 WITH GOLD UP $100.00 TODAY// HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 0.86 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD. ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 937.09 TONNES
APRIL9 WITH GOLD UP $83.50 TODAY// MEGA HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A MASSIVE DEPOSIT OF 11.171 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD. ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 936.23 TONNES
APRIL8 WITH GOLD UP $17.50 TODAY// HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 6.02 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD. ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 926.78 TONNES
APRIL3 WITH GOLD DOWN $27.85 TODAY// SMALL CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 0.57 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD. ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 931.94 TONNES
APRIL2 WITH GOLD UP $10.00 TODAY// HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.01 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD. ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 931.37 TONNES
APRIL1 WITH GOLD DOWN $3.55 TODAY// HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 1.44 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD. ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 933.38 TONNES
MARCH 31 WITH GOLD UP $31.60 TODAY// HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 2.29 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD. ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 931.94 TONNES
MARCH 28 WITH GOLD UP $31.60 TODAY// SMALL CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF .29 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD. ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 929.65 TONNES
MARCH 27 WITH GOLD UP $31.60 TODAY// SMALL CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF .29 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD. ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 929.65 TONNES
MARCH 26 WITH GOLD UP $31.60 TODAY// NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 929.36 TONNES
MARCH 25 WITH GOLD UP $13.90 TODAY// HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.44 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD/ ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 929.07 TONNES
MARCH 24 WITH GOLD DOWN $6.10 TODAY// HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 20.08 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD///INVENTORY RESTS AT 930.51 TONNES
GLD INVENTORY: 937.96 TONNES, TONIGHTS TOTAL
SILVER
MAY 7 WITH SILVER DOWN $0.54/NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: ////: //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 448.783 MILLION OZ
MAY 6 WITH SILVER UP $0.92 /SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:A HUG WITHDRAWAL OF 2.818 MILLION OZ OUT OF THE SLV ////: //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 448.783 MILLION OZ
MAY 5 WITH SILVER UP $0.08 /SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:A SMALL DEPOSIT OF 0.117 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV ////: //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 450.602 MILLION OZ
MAY 2 WITH SILVER DOWN $0.19 /MASSIVE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:A HUGE WITHDRAWAL OF 4.545 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV ////: //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 450.424 MILLION OZ
MAY 1 WITH SILVER DOWN $0.43 /SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:A DEPOSIT OF 0.683 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV ////: //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 454.972 MILLION OZ
APRIL30 WITH SILVER DOWN $0.65 /HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:A DEPOSIT OF 2.364 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV ////: //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 454.289 MILLION OZ
APRIL29 WITH SILVER UP $0.30 /HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:A DEPOSIT OF 3.229 MILLION OZ OUT OF THE SLV ////: //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 451.925 MILLION OZ
APRIL28 WITH SILVER DOWN $0.03 /SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:A WITHDRAWAL OF 0.136 MILLION OZ OUT OF THE SLV ////: //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 448.696 MILLION OZ
APRIL25 WITH SILVER DOWN $0.44 /HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:A MASSSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF 3.639 MILLION OZ OUT OF THE SLV ////: //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 448.832 MILLION OZ
APRIL24 WITH SILVER DOWN $0.01 /HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:A MASSSIVE DEPOSIT OF 4.771 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV ////: //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 452.471 MILLION OZ
APRIL23 WITH SILVER UP $0.65 /HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:A MASSSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF 6.27 MILLIO9N OZ FROM THE SLV ////: //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 447.70 MILLION OZ
APRIL22 WITH SILVER UP $0.15 /NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: ////: //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 453.426 MILLION
APRIL22 WITH SILVER UP $0.30 /SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 0.545 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV////: //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 453.426 MILLION
APRIL21 WITH SILVER UP $0.15 /SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 0.545 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV////: //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 453.426 MILLION
APRIL17 WITH SILVER DOWN $0.56 /HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 1.183 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV////: //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 453.426 MILLION
APRIL16 WITH SILVER UP $0.70 /HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A MASSIVE DEPOSIT OF 3.002 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV////: //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 452.243 MILLION
APRIL15 WITH SILVER UP $0.07 /NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//: //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 449.241 MILLION
APRIL14 WITH SILVER UP $0/23 /SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A WITHDRAWAL OF 0.273 MILLION OZ OUT OF THE SLV//: //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 449.241 MILLION
APRIL11 WITH SILVER UP $1.18 /BIG CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A DEPOSIT OF 1.911 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV//: //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 449.71 MILLION
APRIL10 WITH SILVER UP $0.18 /SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A WITHDDRAWAL OF 0.501 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV//: //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 447.603 MILLION
APRIL9 WITH SILVER UP $0.96 /SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A DEPOSIT OF 0.683 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV//: //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 448.104 MILLION
APRIL8 WITH SILVER UP $0.35 /HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A DEPOSIT OF 1.137 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV//: //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 447,421 MILLION
APRIL3 WITH SILVER DOWN $1.84 /HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.138 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV//: //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 446.830 MILLION
APRIL2 WITH SILVER UP 0.15 /SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV A WITHDRAWAL OF .364 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV//: //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 447.968 MILLION
APRIL1 WITH SILVER DOWN $0.36 /NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 448.332 MILLION
MARCH 31 WITH SILVER DOWN $0.28 /HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A STRONG DEPOSIT OF 0.91000 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV//// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 448.332 MILLION
MARCH 28 WITH SILVER DOWN $0.21 /HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV” A STRONG WITHDRAWAL OF 1.092 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV//// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 447.422 MILLION
MARCH 27 WITH SILVER UP $.60 /HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV” A MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF 6.369 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV//// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 448.514 MILLION
MARCH 26 WITH SILVER DOWN $0.21 /HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV” A MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF 6.369 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV//// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 448.514 MILLION
MARCH 25 WITH SILVER UP $0.63 /HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A MASSIVE DEPOSIT OF 13.649 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 454.883 MILLION
MARCH 24 WITH SILVER UP $0.04 /HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.728 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV// //INVENTORY AT SLV RESTS AT 441.234 MILLION
CLOSING INVENTORY 448.783 MILLION OZ//
PHYSICAL GOLD/SILVER COMMENTARIES
1/ PETER SCHIFF/SCHIFF GOLD/MIKE MAHARRY
PETER SCHIFF
MISH SHEDLOCK
Gold Soars To Another New High, What’s The Message?
Wednesday, May 07, 2025 – 09:25 AM
Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,
There are three messages. Do you see them?

Three Messages
- Gold does not believe the Fed is under control
- Gold does not believe Congress is under control
- Gold does not believe Trump is under control
And neither do I.
Think!
- If you think either Congress will do anything about soaring deficits, then think again.
- If you think DOGE will do anything about soaring deficits, then think again.
- If you think Trump will do anything about soaring deficits, then think again.
- If you think tariffs will offset spending that Trump demands and Congress will deliver, then think again.
- If you think the Fed will stop monetizing the debt, then think again.
Buying Votes for a “Big Beautiful Bill”
Trump will buy as many votes as it takes to get support for his “big beautiful bill”.
Number one on the table is restoration of State and Local Tax (SALT) deductions. This benefits Democrats and Republicans in Big Blue states, especially New York.
The Committee for a Responsible Budget estimates full restoration of SALT would cost $920 billion over 10 years.
The TCJA tax extension will cost $3.9 trillion.
Why stop there?
Trump wants to but more votes with no tax on tips, no tax on Social Security benefits, and new deductions for interest on auto loans.
No DOGE to the Rescue
To pay for all of this DOGE has come up with $150 billion in alleged savings of which only about $12 billion is real.
For discussion, please see How Much Money Has DOGE Really Saved, and Where Will it Go?
Let’s do some fact checks on DOGE claims and reality.
Trump Promises $1 trillion in Defense Spending for Next Year
Also note Trump Promises $1 trillion in Defense Spending for Next Year
Even bigger budget deficits are now in store due to the first $1 trillion defense budget.
Meanwhile, the lies that it will pay for itself continue along with praise from the cult.
For discussion of the truly absurd, please see Lutnick Says Tariffs Can Eliminate the IRS and Balance the Budget
Lutnick: “We’re going to make the External Revenue Service replace the Internal Revenue Service.”
And finally Republicans Have One Chance to Reform Medicaid, They Will Blow It
Republicans, including Trump, won’t fix anything if it costs votes.
There is no political will by Congress or Trump to do anything about deficits out of control.
If you think we are headed for a currency crisis, then you are thinking correctly.
Don’t ask me when, because no one knows. But the message is unmistakable.
END
2, EGON VON GREYERZ
ALASDAIR MACLEOD
Anatomy of a debt crisis
It’s amazing how complacent politicians and investors are about national debt problems. The main reason is they misunderstand the relationship between debt, risk, and interest rates.
| Alasdair MacleodMay 7∙Paid |
It is an open secret that the global economy is tipping towards recession. On the basis that interest rates and bond yields are controlled by central banks, this allows investors to assume that if the recession does materialise, the authorities will simply cut interest rates to guarantee a soft landing. The can will be kicked down the road, as it always has been, preventing past recessions from being anything other than shallow.
The exception was the so-called great financial crisis of 2008/09, when there was a momentary deep recession. But just to prove the efficacy of central bank policy, the Fed did what it always does — cut the Fed Funds Rate aggressively from 5% to ¼%. But the other thing it did was write open cheques to the banks, underwriting and guaranteeing the entire US banking system.
While the cut in rates undoubtedly helped, it was the open cheque policy which mattered more. Bankers had stared into the abyss and heaved a sigh of relief, not calling in their loans. They had, in fact, been remarkably reckless — caught up in a collective groupthink over residential property loan syndications. They had stopped pricing risk as they should have done. And having been caught out put the relationship between risk and its proper pricing on the back burner.
The situation today is very different.
US banks have generally survived the increase in interest rates from the zero bound to current levels. True, there have been a few casualties in regional banks stupid enough to think that interest rates and bond yields would never rise again. That was over two years ago. Since then, banks have become significantly wiser about risk, pre-emptively redirecting credit towards US T-bills and away from risky private enterprises. This is why bank credit growth has slowed, with Loans & Leases growing at only 2.5% annually over the last two years, some of this growth fuelling speculative margin accounts in financial markets. For Main Street, in real terms bank lending has contracted.
Unwinding credit to private sector borrowers is a clog yet to drop. But as evidence of recession mounts, banks will become increasingly concerned over their borrowers’ prospects. And the damage inflicted by the US administration’s tariff policies is an additional factor of which banks are already aware.
The point is that this time, it’s not like previous downturns, nor is it like the Great Financial Crisis. Banks are much more aware of lending risk, which means that by increasing their overall lending exposure to the Federal Government’s T-bills they are derisking their balance sheets. And to the extent that they are on the hook for zombies and overleveraged customers which would go under if loan facilities were withdrawn, they are minimising their exposure and charging higher lending rates.
We are observing a phenomenon common to the cycle of bank credit. It propels the cycle downwards, just as lending exuberance earlier in the cycle propelled it upwards. But I recall Gordon Pepper, who was the leading gilt-edged expert in the 1970s observed at that time that by switching assets into bank’s short-dated gilts often turned to be badly timed because they were buying instruments whose values declined.
We shall see if that holds today.
Foreign funding considerations
Domestic banks are only one source of credit open to governments. The other is foreign governments and investors evaluating as to whether they should offer finance by buying bonds. Obviously, they will look at lending risk very differently from a domestic, regulated bank which a government might coerce into buying its debt.
For a start, a foreigner takes a currency risk which a domestic bank does not. And a foreign investor tends to look at an investment opportunity in a far wider context, comparing the opportunity in one currency with others. In other words, a government like the US has to compete for funds to the extent that it relies on foreign investors to finance its debts.
Since the Bretton Woods Agreement in 1944, by ensuring that all currencies were fixed against the dollar, it gained a monopolistic demand for international liquidity. Initially, that led to the failure of the Bretton Woods system, as the expansion of dollar credit led to a glut in foreign hands. The replacement of gold by the dollar in 1971 as the cornerstone of international currency value led to the further expansion of dollar debt to another saturation point, which is the position today.
Put simply, we are arriving at a second “Bretton Woods moment” when foreign faith in US debt is failing again. And no wonder. Apart from distrust of President Trump’s tariff and foreign policies, there is the mathematics of a debt trap. Put simply, if debt is growing faster than the revenue to pay for it, then new debt will find no buyers. If there are no buyers, then attempts to entice them with higher interest rates and bond yields merely serve to confirm the arithmetic.
With the US economy doubtless tipping into a self-inflicted recession, this is the position that the US Treasury finds itself in. Bond yields and interest rates will not fall, as President Trump and the entire domestic investment industry believes, but they can only rise.
This is why on Trump’s “liberation day” when he announced punitive and seemingly random tariffs against the rest of the world, the dollar’s trade-weighted index collapsed, and bond yields rose. This is illustrated in the following chart.

After the initial shock, there has been a pause, responding to Trump backing down and announcing a 90-day delay in tariffs being imposed. Reasoned analysis should inform us that the damage in confidence has been done irreversibly, and shortly the dollar’s TWI will continue to collapse and bond yields continue to rise. For the US Treasury and the Fed, this is the worst possible outcome.
It is no accident that this analysis is being dramatically confirmed by the price of gold, which so far as the authorities are concerned has spiralled out of control. More accurately, it is foreign central banks taking fright at the prospects for the dollar and the implications for the entire fiat currency system. Asian central banks have seen this coming for some time, illustrated next.

The latest development is for Asian nations to seek protection from a coming dollar crisis. China has announced that the Shanghai Gold Exchange will open vaults abroad and both Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia with be the first sites. Gold can be traded with yuan instruments. In other words, gold is being linked to the offshore yuan at a floating rate initially, which can be fixed at a later date.
Clearly, the yuan is being lined up as an international gold substitute, displacing the fiat dollar. The agreement with Saudi Arabia is the clearest evidence of the way things are growing. And we should welcome any stability it brings to international affairs in a post-dollar world.
3. C Powell and Gata dispatches
Shanghai Gold Exchange to expand warehouse network to Hong Kong …
Submitted by admin on Tue, 2025-05-06 14:35 Section: Daily Dispatches
… to give China more control over commodity pricing.
* * *
From Bloomberg News
Tuesday, May 6, 2025
The Shanghai Gold Exchange plans to expand its warehouse network to Hong Kong, helping to raise the profile of its yuan-denominated products, including for the precious metal, beyond mainland China.
The new vault will be operated by a subsidiary of Bank of China Ltd., according to people familiar with the matter, who requested not to be identified as the information is private.
The timeline for the move is not yet clear, they added. At present there are two such warehouses in Shanghai, plus a third in Shenzhen, just across the border from Hong Kong.
The People’s Bank of China said last month it supported such a move, without providing a location. The central bank indicated that the initiative would promote yuan-denominated benchmarks for the Shanghai Gold Exchange’s products, reflecting Beijing’s push to exercise more influence over commodity pricing. …
… For the remainder of the report:
end
Share of gold in India’s forex reserves doubles in four years
Submitted by admin on Mon, 2025-05-05 21:53 Section: Daily Dispatches
From Reuters
via The Times of India, Mumbai
Monday, May 5, 2025
The share of gold held by India’s central bank in its foreign exchange reserves has doubled in the last four years as on March-end, a report by the Reserve Bank of India showed today.
In dollar value terms, the share of gold in the total foreign exchange reserves increased to about 11.70% by end-March, from 9.32% as at end-September 2024 and 5.87% as on end-March 2021, the central bank’s half year forex reserves report said.
As of end-March, the RBI held 879.59 metric tonnes of gold, compared to 854.73 metric tonnes at the end of September. …
… For the remainder of the report:
end
13 workers kidnapped from Peruvian gold mine are found dead
Submitted by admin on Sun, 2025-05-04 20:47 Section: Daily Dispatches
From the Associated Press
Sunday, May 4, 2025
LIMA, Peru — The bodies of 13 security guards kidnapped from a major Peruvian gold mine just over a week ago were found today, Peru’s Interior Ministry said, their deaths coming as violence escalates in the Andean nation’s crucial mining industry
The gold mine, La Poderosa, said that a search-and-rescue team recovered the staff members’ remains in the mine today. The company blamed their abduction on informal miners allegedly linked to criminal gangs that ambushed the gold mine on April 26.
Peru’s Interior Ministry said it had deployed special police forces to “locate and capture those responsible for these heinous crimes.” …
…For the remainder of the report:
end
Soaring gold price tempts customers to cash in coins and old jewelry
Submitted by admin on Fri, 2025-05-02 13:17 Section: Daily Dispatches
By Claer Barrett
Financial Times, London
Friday, May 2, 2025
The surging gold price has brightened the financial prospects for those considering selling scrap gold or collectable coins, as UK high street pawnbrokers report a new wave of customers.
Gold hit a record $3,500 per troy ounce at the end of April as investors piled into safe haven assets amid the market volatility unleashed by President Trump’s trade war. While the price has now retreated from recent highs, pawnbrokers say it has prompted more people to inquire about the value of gold items that could be sold or pawned.
Sutton & Robertsons, which has four stores in central London and operates an online service, says it has seen a 30% increase in first-time pawnbroking customers year-on-year. About 90% of its loans are secured against gold, luxury watches, and jewelry and up to 75% of the gold’s spot price can be advanced. …
… For the remainder of the report:
4. ANDREW MAGUIRE PODCAST 221
LIVE FROM THE VAULT NO 221 WITH ANDREW MAGUIRE
5B GLOBAL COMMODITY ISSUES/FOOD IN GENERAL//FREIGHT/COMMODITIES:COMMODITY//RARE EARTHS
6 CRYPTOCURRENCY NEWS
ASIA TRADING WEDNESDAY MORNING TUESDAY NIGHT
SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 26.55 PTS OR 0.80%
//Hang Seng CLOSED UP 29,17 PTS OR .13%
// Nikkei CLOSED DOWN 51.03 PTS OR .14% //Australia’s all ordinaries CLOSED UP .36%
//Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) CLOSED DOWN AT 7.2269 OFFSHORE CLOSED DOWN AT 7.2216 / Oil UP TO 59.50 dollars per barrel for WTI and BRENT UP TO 62,49 Stocks in Europe OPENED ALL RED
ONSHORE USA/ YUAN TRADING BELOW LEVEL OF OFFSHORE YUAN TRADING :/ONSHORE YUAN DOWN TRADING AT 7.2269 AND WEAKER//OFF SHORE YUAN TRADING DOWN 7.2216 AGAINST US DOLLAR/ AND THUS WEAKER
END
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1.YOUR EARLY CURRENCY VALUES/GOLD AND SILVER PRICING/ASIAN AND EUROPEAN BOURSE MOVEMENTS/AND INTEREST RATE SETTINGS /WEDNESDAY MORNING.7:30 AM
ONSHORE YUAN: CLOSED DOWN TO 7.2209 (CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY MANIPULATED)
OFFSHORE YUAN: DOWN TO 7.2216 (CCP MANIPULATED)
SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 26.55 PTS OR 0.80%
HANG SENG CLOSED UP 29.17 PTS OR .13%
2. Nikkei closed
3. Europe stocks SO FAR: ALL RED
USA dollar INDEX UP TO 99.32// EURO RISES TO 1.1358 UP 18 BASIS PTS
3b Japan 10 YR bond yield: RISES TO. +1.310//Japan buying 100% of bond issuance)/Japanese YEN vs USA cross now at 143.29…… 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 DOWN FOR UP this morning
3h European bond buying continues to push yields lower on all fronts in the EMU. German 10yr bund YIELD DOWN TO +2.5190/Italian 10 Yr bond yield DOWN to 3.593 SPAIN 10 YR BOND YIELD DOWN TO 3.169%
3i Greek 10 year bond yield UP TO 3.345
3j Gold at $3375.65 Silver at: 32.79 1 am est) SILVER NEXT RESISTANCE LEVEL AT $50.00//AFTER 28.40
3k USA vs Russian rouble;// Russian rouble UP 0 AND 72 /100 roubles/dollar; ROUBLE AT 80.78
3m oil into the 59 dollar handle for WTI and 62 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 143.29// 10 YEAR YIELD AFTER FIRST BREAKING .54% LAST YEAR NOW EXCEEDS THAT LEVEL TO 1.310% 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 0.8246 as the Swiss Franc is still rising against most currencies. Euro vs SF: 0.9365 well above the floor set by the Swiss Finance Minister. Thomas Jordan, chief of the Swiss National Bank continues to purchase euros trying to lower value of the Swiss Franc.
USA 10 YR BOND YIELD: 4.320 UP 0 BASIS PTS…
USA 30 YR BOND YIELD: 4.800 DOWN 1 BASIS PTS/
USA 2 YR BOND YIELD: 3.812 UP 2 BASIS PTS
USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 38.65
10 YR UK BOND YIELD: 4.5400 DOWN 3 PTS
10 YR CANADA BOND YIELD: 3.146 DOWN 4 BASIS PTS
5 YR CANADA BOND YIELD: 2.743 DOWN 4 PTS
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2a New York OPENING REPORT
Futures Rise Ahead Of FOMC, Boosted By Trade War De-escalation, China Stimmies
Wednesday, May 07, 2025 – 08:32 AM
US equity futures are higher while global market are mixed ahead of the FOMC decision later today, following news tariff talks between the US and China will begin, and after a surprise stimulus by China. As of 8:00am, S&P and Nasdaq futures are 0.6% higher (though off the highs) on reports Bessent will meet Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Switzerland this weekend in the first confirmed talks between the two superpowers. Bessent later said on Fox News that the meeting will be more about de-escalation than any sort of big trade deal. In premarket trading Mag7 names and Semis are leading the markets higher while RTY appears to be squeezing into outperformance. Cyclicals are poised for a strong session, too. Overnight China’s PBOC cut its reverse repo rates and lowered lender reserve ratio to help stimulate growth. India conducted military strikes in Pakistan in which Pakistan said it shot down five Indian jets. Attention shifts to the Powell and the FOMC at 2pm which is expected to yield no surprises as the CB preaches patience. Focus during the 2:30pm press conference will be on any commentary on how long Powell intends to wait for further clarity re tariffs/impacts (reminder no SEP). Bond yields are higher alongside a stronger USD which snapped three days of declines as the Taiwan Dollar slid for a second day. Commodities are bid higher led by Ags and Energy; gold/silver are modestly lower after another powerful breakout earlier this week.

In premarket trading, Magnificent Seven stocks are all higher (Tesla +1.3%, Apple +1.2%, Amazon +1.2%, Meta +0.9%, Nvidia +0.6%, Alphabet +0.6%, Microsoft +0.5%). Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) rose 1.6% after Nvidia’s closest rival in AI processors gave a strong revenue forecast for the current period, boosted by demand for high-end computers capable of creating and running AI software. Sarepta Therapeutics plunged 19% after the maker of rare disease treatments cut its net product revenue forecast for the year. Here are some other notable premarket movers:
- Apellis Pharmaceuticals (APLS) falls 13% after posting disappointing 1Q revenue.
- Arista Networks (ANET) declines 5% as analysts note that the company’s forecast is being clouded by a tariff overhang and will prove to be conservative.
- Charles River Laboratories (CRL) rises 15% after the company entered a cooperation agreement with Elliott Investment Management. The company also launched a strategic review.
- Electronic Arts (EA) gains 4% after the video-game company issued annual net bookings guidance that came ahead of consensus expectations.
- Klaviyo (KVYO) climbs 4% after the marketing automation company boosted its full-year revenue forecast.
- Marvell (MRVL) falls 7% after the company narrowed its first quarter 2026 guidance range to be about $1.875 billion within a range of plus or minus 2%, versus the prior range of plus or minus 5%.
- ODP Corp. (ODP) rises 8% after the office products company reported sales for the first quarter that beat the average analyst estimate.
- Oscar Health (OSCR) rallies 21% after the health insurer reported total revenue and adjusted Ebitda for the first quarter that beat the average analyst estimate.
- Porch Group (PRCH) rises 21% after the home-services software company reported first-quarter revenue that beat expectations and raised its full-year revenue forecast.
- Teradata (TDC) falls 5% after the infrastructure software company gave a second-quarter outlook that is weaker than expected.
- Uber Technologies Inc. (UBER) drops 2% after posting weaker-than-expected quarterly gross bookings and slower gains in its rideshare business, raising the possibility of a consumer pullback amid souring sentiment about the economy.
- Vestis (VSTS) tumbles 25% after the uniform services firm issued a revenue forecast for the current quarter that trailed Wall Street expectations. The company also eliminated its dividend in an effort to strengthen its balance sheet.
- Walt Disney Co. (DIS) gains 6% after reporting fiscal second-quarter results that beat Wall Street estimates and raising its outlook for the full year, citing strong performances from theme parks and streaming TV.
- Zeekr’s US-listed shares (ZK) rallies 11% as Geely Auto said it wants to take the Chinese electric vehicle company private.
Today’s highlight is the FOMC decision, where the Fed is expected to do nothing (full preview here): Powell will repeat the message that tariffs pose risks to both sides of the Fed’s dual mandate and they intend to wait for further clarity. While the FOMC appears to be setting a higher bar for rate cuts than during the 2019 trade war, Goldman does not think that high inflation would deter it from cutting if the unemployment rate begins to trend higher as the tariff shock hits the economy (full FOMC preview here).
“The Fed will bang on the same message again: they won’t cut rates, and they will try to push back the moment where they will need to as long as possible,” said François Rimeu, senior strategist at Credit Mutuel Asset Management. “In that sense, there is somehow a disconnect between the market expecting multiple cuts this year and inflation expectations which remain high for the second half of the year.”
Overnight sentiment was boosted after US and Chinese officials announced they will meet this week in Switzerland. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News the meeting will focus on de-escalation rather than reaching a deal, but said the current tariff rates aren’t sustainable. Sentiment was also lifted by a reduction in China’s policy rate, as Beijing unveiled several measures to support its economy.
“It’s clear that the US and China want to have some sort of de-escalation and the rhetoric has eased a little bit, so the move upwards can definitely continue,” said Justin Onuekwusi, chief investment officer at St James’s Place. The Chinese rate cut is an added positive, showing that “China recognizes the need to prevent a slowdown in growth,” he said.
In Europe, the Stoxx 600 falls 0.3%, led lower by health care and retail stocks while miners and auto stocks outperform. Pharmaceutical stocks followed their US peers lower after the US Food and Drug Administration named Vinay Prasad, a hematologist oncologist and critic of the Covid-19 vaccine for children, as the next director of the Center for Biologics and Research. Here are the most notable movers:
- Novo Nordisk shares rise as much as 6.5%, the biggest gainer in Europe’s benchmark Stoxx 600 gauge by index points, as some analysts say a guidance cut from the Danish drugmaker was already priced in.
- Ahold Delhaize shares gain as much as 5%, extending recent gains to hit a fresh 2002-high, after the Dutch retailer posted earnings ahead of expectations in the first quarter.
- Sampo shares jump as much as 3.7%, gaining for a sixth consecutive session and hitting a new all-time high, after the Finnish insurer delivered earnings that surpassed expectations in the first quarter.
- Pandora shares gain as much as 5.5% after the Danish jeweler reported a slight first-quarter earnings beat, with US like-for-like sales sequentially accelerating.
- Amplifon shares rise as much as 5.6%, adding to Tuesday’s 6.3% advance following the hearing-aid retailer’s 1Q results, reiterated guidance and expectations for strong French market growth from the second quarter onward.
- Auto1 shares rally as much as 11% to the highest since 2021, after the used car platform raised its full-year guidance for gross profit and adj. Ebitda.
- Pharmaceutical stocks follow US peers lower after Vinay Prasad, a hematologist oncologist and critic of the Covid-19 vaccine for children, was named as the FDA’s next director of the Center for Biologics and Research.
- Sea-freight stocks decline on the prospect of lower shipping rates after President Donald Trump said the US would stop its bombing campaign against Houthis in Yemen.
- Ambu shares slump as much as 13%, the most in six months, as performance by the Danish medical equipment company’s endoscopy businesses disappointed.
- Tomra shares drop as much as 13% following first-quarter results which came in significantly below expectations, with DNB Markets noting in particular “negative deviation” from the firm’s recycling segment.
- BioMerieux shares fall as much as 2.9% as RBC downgrades the French biotech company to sector perform from outperform, saying that risks to margin aren’t fully reflected in consensus estimates.
- Storebrand shares drop as much as 3.8% after the Norwegian insurer and asset manager reported profits below expectations in the first quarter, following a disappointing performance across its most important business lines.
- Fresenius SE shares slipped as much as 1.7% as an in line earnings update with unchanged guidance wasn’t enough to further fuel this year’s rally in the dialysis company.
Asian stocks fluctuated, as Chinese shares pared earlier gains driven by the central bank’s stimulus and a confirmation of trade talks with the US. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index erased a climb of as much as 0.7% to trade little changed, as concerns over trade uncertainties remained. TSMC, Hitachi and AIA Group were the biggest positive contributors, while Sony Group, Alibaba Group and Toyota Motor weighed most on the gauge. While Chinese stocks pared early gains sparked by a cut in interest rates and measures to support the economy, the onshore CSI 300 Index remained among the biggest gainers in the region. Sentiment also got a boost as senior officials agreed to hold trade talks with the US later this week. Prospects for a de-escalation in US-China trade tensions have also raised optimism over trade deals for other countries, helping to lift benchmarks in South Korea, Japan and Australia. Elsewhere, Pakistan stocks slumped as India conducted targeted military strikes against the nation. Shares in India were relatively steady after the strikes. Meanwhile, the Philippines’ key stock index gained as much as 1.8% after the country’s central bank chief said further reductions in interest rates were on the table for this year.
In FX, the Bloomberg’s dollar index rose 0.2% snapping a three-day losing streak; investors see a possibility that the talks will lead to a dialing back of tariffs between the two countries, which could support the dollar. Traders also awaited a Federal Reserve meeting later on Wednesday, where officials are expected to hold interest rates unchanged but could offer clues on this year’s monetary-easing path. The yen is the weakest of the G-10 currencies, falling 0.6% against the greenback as haven assets underperform.
In rates, treasuries fall ahead of the Federal Reserve decision, with losses led by the front-end, extending Tuesday’s late flattening move. US 2- to 7-year yields are 2bp-3bp higher on the day with long-end little changed, flattening 5s30s curve by about 2bp; the 10-year near 4.32% is about 2bp lower than Tuesday’s auction result. The Treasury auction cycle is on hiatus until Thursday due to Federal Reserve policy announcement at 2pm New York time and Chair Powell’s news conference 30 minutes later. Fed policy announcement is widely expected to produce no change in the fed funds target range; traders in recent days have been pushing rate-cut expectations into next year, collapsing SOFR Dec25/Dec26 spreads. Treasury auction cycle concludes Thursday with $25 billion 30-year new issue, following strong demand for the 10-year.
In commodities, oil prices advance, with WTI rising 0.8% and topping $60 a barrel at one stage for the first time in a week. Spot gold falls $57 to around $3,374/oz.
The US economic calendar includes March consumer credit at 3pm. We get earnings from Disney and Uber.
Market Snapshot
- S&P 500 mini +0.5%
- Nasdaq 100 mini +0.6%
- Russell 2000 mini +0.9%
- Stoxx Europe 600 -0.3%
- DAX -0.1%
- CAC 40 -0.6%
- 10-year Treasury yield +2 basis points at 4.32%
- VIX -0.4 points at 24.34
- Bloomberg Dollar Index +0.3% at 1220.28
- euro -0.1% at $1.1353
- WTI crude +0.7% at $59.5/barrel
Top Overnight News
- India conducted military strikes that hit nine targets in Pakistan, which said it shot down five jets in retaliation. New Delhi said it targeted known terror camps, but Islamabad said 26 civilians were killed and called the move an “act of war.” BBG
- US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will travel later this week to Switzerland for trade talks with China led by Vice Premier He Lifeng, seeking to de-escalate a tariff standoff that has threatened to hammer both economies. It will be the first confirmed trade talks between the countries since Trump’s early April tariff announcements. BBG
- Chinese authorities announced on Wednesday a raft of stimulus measures, including interest rate cuts and a major liquidity injection, as Beijing steps up efforts to soften the economic damage caused by the trade war with the United States. RTRS
- The yield gap between 10- and 30-year Japanese government bonds hit a record. BBG
- The UK and the US are close to agreeing a trade pact that would cushion the impact of Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs by granting lower-tariff quotas for British car and steel exports, according to officials in London and Washington. FT
- German factory orders rose 3.6% in March, beating forecasts and signaling strength in the run up to US tariff announcements. BBG
- Traders are betting on a slower pace of Fed rate cuts this year amid economic resilience. Money markets are pricing three quarter-point reductions in 2025, one fewer than at the start of April. BBG
- Watching Biotech: Group down ~8.5% yesterday (3 sigma) following the appointment of Vinay Prasad to be the director of CBER (this is the seat Peter Marks previously held). Biopharma was already heavy to start the week following the Trump pharma tariff commentary on Monday. A lot of focus centering around Prasad’s less industry-friendly views on accelerate drug approvals, negative views on vaccines among other criticisms of the FDA
- A more detailed look at global markets courtesy of Newsquawk
Tariffs/Trade
- China’s Ministry of Commerce confirmed US-China trade talks with Vice Premier He Lifeng to visit Switzerland from May 9th-12th and will visit France from May 12th-16th for economic and financial dialogue.
- Chinese Foreign Ministry (on Geneva talks) says meeting was requested by the US; US should stop threatening if it wants a deal. holding tariff talks with the US before curb’s removal, says, China’s position has not changed.
- US Treasury Secretary Bessent and Trade Representative Greer are to meet with China’s lead representatives on economic matters later this week in Switzerland, while Bessent confirmed he is meeting the Chinese team on Saturday in Switzerland and said they agreed to talk on Saturday and will agree on Sunday what they are going to talk about. Bessent said his sense is this will be about de-escalation and said they have got to de-escalate before they can move forward, as well as noted that the US doesn’t want to decouple from China over textiles and similar goods but does want to decouple over strategic industries. Furthermore, he said trade frictions can go down, Americans can get fairer deals, and everything is on the table.
- Mexico’s agricultural minister said he met with US counterpart Rollins and reached agreements that will be beneficial to both countries.
APAC stocks traded mostly higher as participants digested the PBoC’s announcement to loosen monetary policy and reports of upcoming US-China talks this week but with the gains capped amid geopolitical escalation between India and Pakistan. ASX 200 eked mild gains as outperformance in the commodity-related sectors was partially offset by losses in healthcare and tech, while the top-weighted financials industry was kept afloat post-NAB earnings. Nikkei 225 was underpinned at the open as Japanese markets reopened from the four-day weekend although momentum waned shortly after in the absence of any major pertinent catalysts for Japan. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were underpinned following reports that the US and China will meet for talks on Saturday involving US Treasury Secretary Bessent, USTR Greer and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, while there was also encouragement from the briefing by Chinese officials where PBoC Governor Pan announced to cut RRR by 50bps and the policy interest rate by 10bps.
Top Asian News
- PBoC Governor Pan announced to cut RRR by 50bps effective May 15th and to cut the policy interest rate by 10bps effective on May 8th with the 7-day reverse repo rate lowered to 1.40% (from 1.50%) and interest rates on Standing Lending Facility across all tenors lowered by 10bps. Pan stated that the policy rate cut will lead to a Loan Prime Rate cut of 10bps and the RRR cut will release about CNY 1tln in liquidity. Pan also noted that they will cut the personal housing provision fund rate by 25bps and will set up CNY 500bln in re-lending loans for elderly care and service consumption. Furthermore, the total quota of two monetary policy tools to support capital markets will be raised to CNY 800bln and they will lower interest rates on structural policy tools by 25bps with re-lending rates lowered by 25bps effective today, while Pan also stated that China will use multiple policy tools to make dynamic adjustments and will guide commercial banks to lower deposit rates.
- China’s financial regulator said they will expand the pilot scheme to allow insurance companies to invest in stock markets and will take further steps to stabilise the property market, while they will guide financial institutions to maintain steady financing support for the property market, guide banks to provide financing support for foreign trade companies affected by US tariffs and will approve CNY 60bln in long-term insurance funds into the stock market.
- China’s securities regulator said US tariff policy has brought great pressure to China’s capital markets but added that they will consolidate good momentum in capital markets and that China will roll out reform measures for tech boards. Furthermore, they will forcefully promote long-term capital into the stock market and said ample preparations have been made for dealing with external shocks.
- RBNZ Financial Stability Report stated that risks to the financial system have increased over the past six months and while the global economic environment has become more volatile, New Zealand’s financial institutions are in a strong position to support the economy. RBNZ also stated that banks have strong capital and liquidity buffers in place to maintain credit flows even if conditions deteriorate further.
- PBoC says FX reserves USD 3.282tln end-April (prev. USD 3.241tln), gold reserves USD 243.59bln end-April (prev. USD 229.59bln)
European bourses (STOXX 600 -0.3%) opened mostly lower and has traded sideways throughout the morning thus far. There have been a few updates to keep traders busy; 1) US and China are set to hold talks in Switzerland over trade, 2) China announced new easing measures amid global economic uncertainty; the PBoC is to cut its RRR by 50bps and reduce its 7-day reverse repo by 10bps (other measures were also announced), 3) India launched air strikes on Pakistan. European sectors are mixed and with the breadth of the market fairly narrow aside from the top/bottom performers. Autos takes the top spot, lifted by post-earning strength in BMW (+3.5%). Healthcare is pressured as traders react to the FDA appointing Vinay Prasad as its new vaccine chief. Elsewhere, Novo Nordisk (+5%) gains despite reporting a mixed set of Q1 results, cutting guidance and said it would not be conducting a buyback programme in 2025.
Top European News
- German Defence Minister Pistorius is reportedly seeking a drastic increase in German annual defence budget; aims for over EUR 60bln/year in defence spending from 2025, according to Reuters sources.
- Germany’s BaFin says financial institutions are generally currently in a strong position; uncertainty is extremely high and will remain so; possibility that problems in the non-banking sector have an impact on banks cannot be ruled out.
- Germany’s VDMA says March orders +4% Y/Y (domestic -3%, foreign +6%).
FX
- DXY is attempting to claw back some of Tuesday’s losses that were seen alongside a pullback in US yields. Recent optimism has been spurred by news that US and China trade talks are to take place in Switzerland from May 9th-12th. For today’s US agenda, US Treasury Secretary Bessent is due to testify before the House. Thereafter, all eyes will be on the FOMC whereby expectations are for the Bank to stand pat on rates with Fed Chair Powell continuing to note that the Fed is well-positioned to wait for greater clarity before considering altering its policy stance. DXY is currently tucked within yesterday’s 99.17-100.09 range.
- EUR is flat vs. the USD after a session of gains on Tuesday which saw the pair advance from an opening level of 1.1314 to a peak at 1.1381 alongside a softening in US yields. From a domestic perspective, CDU Leader Merz was elected Chancellor in the second-round parliamentary vote.
- JPY the laggard across the majors with USD/JPY back above the 143 mark. The domestic story for Japan is a quiet one as market participants returned from the four-day weekend. USD/JPY has ventured as high as 143.35 but is still some way off Tuesday’s best at 144.27.
- GBP is a touch softer vs. the USD and EUR, giving back some of yesterday’s gains which were triggered by a Reuters report that the EU and UK have agreed to hold annual summits to discuss their relationship. Shortly after, the UK reached a free trade agreement with India, with India set to cut tariffs on 90% of UK imports. Thereafter, reports suggested that the UK is closing in on US trade pact with lower tariff quotas for cars and steel. The totality of the potential deals underpinned Cable sending the pair to a 1.3402 peak before returning to a 1.33 handle; currently oscillating around the 1.3350 mark.
- Antipodeans are both softer vs. the USD and unable to benefit from the PBoC’s decision to cut the RRR by 50bps, the 7-day reverse repo rate by 10bps and other easing measures. From a domestic perspective, NZ published mixed Employment data and a softer-than-expected Labour Cost Index but had little follow-through into NZD.
Fixed Income
- USTs traded without direction overnight but as traders digest the latest US-China trade talk updates and China’s latest monetary policy package, US paper has been coming under some modest pressure. USTs are at the bottom end of a relatively narrow 111-04 to 111-11+ band. Focus for today will be on the FOMC (expected to keep rates steady).
- Bunds were initially firmer, but only modestly so and unable to make a foothold above the 131.00 handle. As such, Bunds are shy of Tuesday’s 131.08 best when Merz failed to become Chancellor in the first vote – but secured the role in a second vote. Similar to USTs, Bunds were pressured in the European morning and found themselves back towards their 130.79 base. Thereafter a strong outing from France saw Bunds bounce back towards a session high of 131.09.
- Gilts opened higher by a handful of ticks given the read across from peers at the time. However, the benchmark then waned in-line with peers but with magnitudes slightly less pronounced; nonetheless, Gilts briefly took out Tuesday’s 92.82 base to a 92.79 low. Before making its way back above 93.00 on a strong auction.
- France sells EUR 12bln vs. exp. EUR 10-12bln 3.20% 2035, 1.25% 2038, 4.50% 2041 OATs.
- UK sells GBP 4.5bln 4.375% 2030 Gilts: b/c 3.23x (prev. 2.95x), average yield 3.977% (prev. 4.142%) & tail 0.4bps (prev. 1.0bps).
Commodities
- Firm trade across the crude complex (albeit with futures recently waning off highs) despite a relatively quiet market, softer Dollar pre-FOMC, and amid modest gains across most equity bourses, with the gains largely facilitated by developments overnight in trade, geopolitics, and with China loosening its monetary policy. WTI resides in a USD 58.94-60.26/bbl range while Brent sits in a USD 62.41-63.25/bbl parameter.
- Spot gold reverted to beneath the USD 3,400/oz level with pressure seen shortly after futures trading resumed as markets were jolted by reports that US and Chinese officials are to conduct talks later this week in Switzerland. Spot gold trades in a USD 3,360.20-3,422.14/oz range at the time of writing vs Tuesday’s USD 3,322.76-3,4335.06/oz parameter.
- Copper futures swung between gains and losses overnight and ultimately declined and remained subdued heading into European hours despite the PBoC’s RRR and policy rate cut announcements, albeit following a short rally since the end of April. 3M LME currently resides in a USD 9,446.95-9,584.08/t range awaiting the FOMC in the absence of macro impulses.
- US Private inventory data (bbls): Crude -4.5mln (exp. -2.5mln), Distillate +2.2mln (exp. -2.7mln), Gasoline -2.0mln (exp. -1.5mln), Cushing -0.9mln.
- Venezuela restarted a key gasoline production unit at its second-largest refinery after being shut down for a year.
Geopolitics: Middle East
- US President Trump said Houthis decided that they don’t want to do this anymore and that he told the military to stop attacks against Houthis, while he added that he is not planning to stop in Israel during his Middle East trip and they are talking to Israeli PM Netanyahu about a lot of things right now. Trump said it is crunch time for Iran and he hopes Iran does what is right, as well as stated that Iran will not have nuclear weapons.
Geopolitics: Ukraine
- Explosions were heard in Kyiv after Ukraine’s air force warned of a missile attack, while Ukraine’s military reported apartments are on fire after a Russian drone attack.
Geopolitics: India vs Pakistan
- An Indian missile attack on Pakistani-controlled territory has killed at least 26 civilians and left 46 injured, Pakistan officials have said, via Sky News.
- India launched ‘Operation Sindoor’ in which it hit terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, while the Indian army announced that Pakistan violated the ceasefire agreement again in the Poonch-Rajouri area and it was responding appropriately in a calibrated manner. Furthermore, a Pakistan military spokesman noted there were exchanges of fire with Indian troops at multiple places along the ceasefire line in Kashmir and announced that five Indian aircraft were shot down.
- Pakistan’s Army Chief said they will respond to India at the time, place and in a way of Pakistan’s choice, via Sky News Arabia.
- Pakistan Government Security Committee says India has “ignited an inferno in the region”, the responsibility for ensuing consequences shall lie squarely with India. Authorised the military to undertake corresponding action.
Economic Data :
- 7:00 am: May 2 MBA Mortgage Applications, prior -4.2%
- 2:00 pm: May 7 FOMC Rate Decision (Upper Bound), est. 4.5%, prior 4.5%
- 2:00 pm: May 7 FOMC Rate Decision (Lower Bound), est. 4.25%, prior 4.25%
- 3:00 pm: Mar Consumer Credit, est. 9.39b, prior -0.81b
Central Banks
- 2:00 pm: FOMC Rate Decision (Upper Bound)
DB’s Jim Reid concludes the overnight wrap
Feel free to file this under first world problems but after renovating a wonderful but old house 7 years ago, things are slowly requiring maintenance. Roof leaks, paintwork peeling, windows mysteriously cracking, and lights going without obvious replacement bulbs have been the main ones. However over the weekend the tumble dryer “conked out” irrepairably. I grumbled at the cost of a new one, but accepted it, only to find that we built our kitchen area units around the specific size of this tumble dryer and that they now only make bigger ones or far too small ones. So if I want dry clothes from now on we have to redesign the kitchen units and get them remade. As such if you see me over the next few months (or years) don’t be surprised if I’ve refused and just walk around in wet clothes.
As we hit another FOMC day, market sentiment has seen another round trip (unlike my defunct tumble dryer) over the past 24 hours, with the S&P 500 (-0.77%) falling back for a second day as concerns about the economic outlook resurfaced but with futures erasing most of these losses overnight on news that US and China will this week begin talks to de-escalate the tariff standoff. The sides announced talks in Switzerland on Saturday and Sunday, led by Treasury Secretary Bessent and Trade Representative Greer on the US side and Vice Premier Lifeng on China’s. This would mark the first substantive talks between the world’s two largest economies since the prohibitive 125% tariffs were introduced a month ago. Bessent suggested last night that the talks would focus on de-escalation rather than a big trade deal “but we’ve got to de-escalate before we move forward”. China’s Commerce Ministry called on the US to “show sincerity” in the talks. Markets have advanced on the news, with futures on the S&P 500 and NASDAQ +0.60% and +0.66% higher respectively as I type.
Sticking with China, overnight the PBOC announced a package of support measures, including a 10bps policy rate cut, a 0.5pp reserve requirement ratio cut and a expansion of lending facilities for the services and consumer sectors. The moves signal a clear shift towards looser monetary policy in response to the trade shock and have similarities to the PBOC response last September, when China moved to announce a broad set of support measures to address its growth slowdown.
Chinese stocks are leading gains in Asia with the Hang Seng +0.50% after spiking over +2% at the open with the Shanghai (+0.64%) seeing similar moves. Elsewhere, the KOSPI (+0.35%) and the S&P/ASX 200 (+0.48%) are also gaining with the Nikkei (+0.09%) lagging a bit after a holiday. Indian equities have turned slightly positive after being lower earlier post military strikes on Pakistan “terror camps”. Pakistan claimed to have shot down Indian fighter planes in response. Obviously this is an incredibly tense situation with both countries being nuclear powers so one to watch closely. There is an Indian press conference at 10.30am local time where it’s expected they’ll call the action proportionate and will respond to claims Pakistan shot down fighters in response.
In terms of overnight data, the final au Jibun Bank Japan Services PMI for April returned to growth, climbing to 52.4 from March’s flat 50.0. This figure, which surpassed the preliminary 52.2, indicates stronger orders within the service sector, a marked difference from the persistent challenges faced by manufacturers.
Looking back to yesterday’s market losses now, those were in part a reaction to some weak corporate earnings, but investors were also wondering when we’d actually start to see the results of any trade deals, with the S&P 500 initially down over -1% in the first half hour of trading. That was then pared back after Treasury Secretary Bessent said some “very good” offers had been made in trade negotiations by other countries, while the FT reported that the US and UK were close to a deal that would cushion the impact of tariffs by granting lower-tariff quotas for British car and steel exports. There was a brief pop higher just after Europe went home that nearly took back flat for the day on Trump’s quotes over an announcement that will be “as big as it gets” between Thursday and Monday. It’s not clear whether this is the overnight China talks news or whether something else is in the wings. However intriguing this was, the pop soon faded. On top of that, there was more news on the retaliation front too, as Bloomberg reported that the EU were planning to hit around €100bn of US goods with tariffs if the trade talks failed.
This concern was evident across multiple asset classes. For instance, investors priced in more rate cuts from the Fed this year, with the amount expected by December up +5.1bps on the day to 81bps. In turn, that led front-end yields to fall back too, with the 2yr Treasury yield down -4.9bps to 3.78%. The 10yr yield (-4.8bps) was steady until a decent auction helped it rally and close at 4.30%. Lower yields added to a renewed decline in the US dollar, which lost ground against all G10 currencies, though this morning the dollar index (+0.30%) is on course to erase about half of yesterday’s -0.59% decline.
Even as investors were pricing in more rate cuts, inflation concerns again mounted, with the 1yr US inflation swap up +4.9bps on the day to 3.32%. That came as oil prices staged a recovery, with Brent crude up +3.19% on the day to $62.15/bbl, picking up from their 4-year low on Monday, after a major independent US oil producer predicted that US shale production will drop in the coming months. And gold prices (+2.93%) rose to a new record close of $3,432/oz, though they are -1.42% lower overnight following the news of the US-China talks.
Elsewhere, there was plenty happening yesterday in Germany as Friedrich Merz was confirmed as the new Chancellor by the Bundestag. However that doesn’t tell anything like the full story, as in a big surprise, he failed to obtain enough support on the first ballot, which is the first time that’s happened since WWII. In that initial vote, Merz only won 310 votes, short of the absolute majority of 316, despite the fact that the coalition parties hold 328 seats between them. As it was a secret ballot, it was unclear which lawmakers were responsible, and German equities slumped in the aftermath, with the DAX hitting an intraday low of -2.07%. That was even more aggressive for the MDAX of German mid-caps, which slumped to an intraday low of -3.13%. In essence, the fear was that if the coalition couldn’t even confirm their new leader then it would raise doubts over how it could push through the more difficult parts of its policy agenda and govern effectively. However, after initially being told that no second vote could happen before Friday, the situation evolved and Merz was then confirmed with 325 votes in a second ballot, and German equities pared back their losses, with the DAX only closing -0.41% lower. Our economists note that if the new government now swiftly implements its 100-day program with the urgently needed relief measures for the German economy, the fact that it took two attempts to elect a chancellor will quickly fade into the background. However a warning shot has possibly been fired.
Elsewhere in Europe, there was a bit more optimism after the final PMIs came in stronger than the flash readings. So that suggested the economic damage from the tariff uncertainty wasn’t as strong as feared . For instance, the Euro Area composite PMI came in at 50.4 (vs. flash 50.1), and the services PMI was revised up to 50.1 (vs. flash 49.7), putting it back in expansionary territory. So that helped European markets see more of a risk-on move yesterday, with the STOXX 600 only down -0.18%. Strikingly, the UK’s FTSE 100 (+0.01%) just about managed to maintain its longest-ever winning run, having now risen for 16 consecutive sessions. Meanwhile on the rates side, yields on 10yr bunds (+2.3bps), OATs (+2.2bps) and BTPs (+2.5bps) all moved higher.
Looking forward, the main highlight today will be the Fed’s latest policy decision. They’re widely expected to leave rates unchanged, but this is the first meeting since Liberation Day and the subsequent market turmoil, so it’ll be really important to gauge how the Fed are thinking about it and their reaction function. Our US economists think that the overall tone is likely to echo comments from Chair Powell and his colleagues in recent weeks. So he’s likely to emphasise the inflation side of the dual mandate, which could include repeating his comment that the Fed has an “obligation” to ensure tariff-driven inflation does not become more persistent. The signal will be that the labour market needs to weaken for the Fed to contemplate cuts.
In terms of the rest of the day ahead, data releases include Euro Area retail sales and German factory orders for March. And earnings releases include Walt Disney and Uber
2b European opening report
US-China to start trade talks this week & PBoC announced rate cuts; FOMC due – Newsquawk US Market Open

Wednesday, May 07, 2025 – 05:47 AM
- China’s Ministry of Commerce confirmed US-China trade talks with Vice Premier He Lifeng to visit Switzerland from May 9th-12th and will visit France from May 12th-16th for economic and financial dialogue.
- PBoC Governor Pan announced to cut RRR by 50bps effective May 15th and to cut the policy interest rate by 10bps effective on May 8th with the 7-day reverse repo rate lowered to 1.40% and interest rates on Standing Lending Facility across all tenors lowered by 10bps. Pan stated that the policy rate cut will lead to a Loan Prime Rate cut of 10bps and the RRR cut will release about CNY 1tln in liquidity.
- European stocks mixed whilst US-Sino trade talks have been confirmed and as traders await the FOMC.
- USD stronger vs. peers as US-China meeting spurs trade hopes, JPY underperforms.
- Two way action for EGBs & Gilts but benchmarks ultimately firmer, aided by auctions. USTs more contained pre-FOMC.
- Crude firmer on China’s monetary policy easing, US-China trade talks, and rising tensions between India and Pakistan.
- Looking ahead, Fed, NBP, CNB & BCB Policy Announcements, US Treasury Secretary Bessent, Fed Chair Powell’s Presser, Supply from the US, Earnings from AppLovin, Carvana, Arm, DoorDash, AMC, Uber, Disney, Barrick Gold.

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TARIFFS/TRADE
- China’s Ministry of Commerce confirmed US-China trade talks with Vice Premier He Lifeng to visit Switzerland from May 9th-12th and will visit France from May 12th-16th for economic and financial dialogue.
- Chinese Foreign Ministry (on Geneva talks) says meeting was requested by the US; US should stop threatening if it wants a deal. holding tariff talks with the US before curb’s removal, says, China’s position has not changed.
- US Treasury Secretary Bessent and Trade Representative Greer are to meet with China’s lead representatives on economic matters later this week in Switzerland, while Bessent confirmed he is meeting the Chinese team on Saturday in Switzerland and said they agreed to talk on Saturday and will agree on Sunday what they are going to talk about. Bessent said his sense is this will be about de-escalation and said they have got to de-escalate before they can move forward, as well as noted that the US doesn’t want to decouple from China over textiles and similar goods but does want to decouple over strategic industries. Furthermore, he said trade frictions can go down, Americans can get fairer deals, and everything is on the table.
- Mexico’s agricultural minister said he met with US counterpart Rollins and reached agreements that will be beneficial to both countries.
EUROPEAN TRADE
EQUITIES
- European bourses (STOXX 600 -0.3%) opened mostly lower and has traded sideways throughout the morning thus far.
- There have been a few updates to keep traders busy; 1) US and China are set to hold talks in Switzerland over trade, 2) China announced new easing measures amid global economic uncertainty; the PBoC is to cut its RRR by 50bps and reduce its 7-day reverse repo by 10bps (other measures were also announced), 3) India launched air strikes on Pakistan.
- European sectors are mixed and with the breadth of the market fairly narrow aside from the top/bottom performers. Autos takes the top spot, lifted by post-earning strength in BMW (+3.5%). Healthcare is pressured as traders react to the FDA appointing Vinay Prasad as its new vaccine chief. Elsewhere, Novo Nordisk (+5%) gains despite reporting a mixed set of Q1 results, cutting guidance and said it would not be conducting a buyback programme in 2025.
- US equity futures are broadly in the green (ES & NQ +0.5%, RTY +0.9%), with sentiment lifted as the region reacts to the latest US-China trade updates and after China’s latest monetary policy package. Focus for the day will ultimately be on the FOMC.
- China’s CPCA says Tesla (TSLA) sold 58,459 vehicles in April (March 78,828).
- Click for the sessions European pre-market equity newsflow
- Click for the additional news
- Click for a detailed summary
FX
- DXY is attempting to claw back some of Tuesday’s losses that were seen alongside a pullback in US yields. Recent optimism has been spurred by news that US and China trade talks are to take place in Switzerland from May 9th-12th. For today’s US agenda, US Treasury Secretary Bessent is due to testify before the House. Thereafter, all eyes will be on the FOMC whereby expectations are for the Bank to stand pat on rates with Fed Chair Powell continuing to note that the Fed is well-positioned to wait for greater clarity before considering altering its policy stance. DXY is currently tucked within yesterday’s 99.17-100.09 range.
- EUR is flat vs. the USD after a session of gains on Tuesday which saw the pair advance from an opening level of 1.1314 to a peak at 1.1381 alongside a softening in US yields. From a domestic perspective, CDU Leader Merz was elected Chancellor in the second-round parliamentary vote.
- JPY the laggard across the majors with USD/JPY back above the 143 mark. The domestic story for Japan is a quiet one as market participants returned from the four-day weekend. USD/JPY has ventured as high as 143.35 but is still some way off Tuesday’s best at 144.27.
- GBP is a touch softer vs. the USD and EUR, giving back some of yesterday’s gains which were triggered by a Reuters report that the EU and UK have agreed to hold annual summits to discuss their relationship. Shortly after, the UK reached a free trade agreement with India, with India set to cut tariffs on 90% of UK imports. Thereafter, reports suggested that the UK is closing in on US trade pact with lower tariff quotas for cars and steel. The totality of the potential deals underpinned Cable sending the pair to a 1.3402 peak before returning to a 1.33 handle; currently oscillating around the 1.3350 mark.
- Antipodeans are both softer vs. the USD and unable to benefit from the PBoC’s decision to cut the RRR by 50bps, the 7-day reverse repo rate by 10bps and other easing measures. From a domestic perspective, NZ published mixed Employment data and a softer-than-expected Labour Cost Index but had little follow-through into NZD.
- PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 7.2005 vs exp. 7.2114 (Prev. 7.2008).
- Click for a detailed summary
- Click for NY OpEx Details
FIXED INCOME
- USTs traded without direction overnight but as traders digest the latest US-China trade talk updates and China’s latest monetary policy package, US paper has been coming under some modest pressure. USTs are at the bottom end of a relatively narrow 111-04 to 111-11+ band. Focus for today will be on the FOMC (expected to keep rates steady).
- Bunds were initially firmer, but only modestly so and unable to make a foothold above the 131.00 handle. As such, Bunds are shy of Tuesday’s 131.08 best when Merz failed to become Chancellor in the first vote – but secured the role in a second vote. Similar to USTs, Bunds were pressured in the European morning and found themselves back towards their 130.79 base. Thereafter a strong outing from France saw Bunds bounce back towards a session high of 131.09.
- Gilts opened higher by a handful of ticks given the read across from peers at the time. However, the benchmark then waned in-line with peers but with magnitudes slightly less pronounced; nonetheless, Gilts briefly took out Tuesday’s 92.82 base to a 92.79 low. Before making its way back above 93.00 on a strong auction.
- France sells EUR 12bln vs. exp. EUR 10-12bln 3.20% 2035, 1.25% 2038, 4.50% 2041 OATs.
- UK sells GBP 4.5bln 4.375% 2030 Gilts: b/c 3.23x (prev. 2.95x), average yield 3.977% (prev. 4.142%) & tail 0.4bps (prev. 1.0bps).
- Click for a detailed summary
COMMODITIES
- Firm trade across the crude complex (albeit with futures recently waning off highs) despite a relatively quiet market, softer Dollar pre-FOMC, and amid modest gains across most equity bourses, with the gains largely facilitated by developments overnight in trade, geopolitics, and with China loosening its monetary policy. WTI resides in a USD 58.94-60.26/bbl range while Brent sits in a USD 62.41-63.25/bbl parameter.
- Spot gold reverted to beneath the USD 3,400/oz level with pressure seen shortly after futures trading resumed as markets were jolted by reports that US and Chinese officials are to conduct talks later this week in Switzerland. Spot gold trades in a USD 3,360.20-3,422.14/oz range at the time of writing vs Tuesday’s USD 3,322.76-3,4335.06/oz parameter.
- Copper futures swung between gains and losses overnight and ultimately declined and remained subdued heading into European hours despite the PBoC’s RRR and policy rate cut announcements, albeit following a short rally since the end of April. 3M LME currently resides in a USD 9,446.95-9,584.08/t range awaiting the FOMC in the absence of macro impulses.
- US Private inventory data (bbls): Crude -4.5mln (exp. -2.5mln), Distillate +2.2mln (exp. -2.7mln), Gasoline -2.0mln (exp. -1.5mln), Cushing -0.9mln.
- Venezuela restarted a key gasoline production unit at its second-largest refinery after being shut down for a year.
- Click for a detailed summary
NOTABLE DATA RECAP
- EU Retail Sales YY (Mar) 1.5% vs. Exp. 1.6% (Prev. 2.3%, Rev. 1.9%); Retail Sales MM (Mar) -0.1% vs Exp. 0.0% (Prev. 0.3%, Rev. 0.2%)
- EU HCOB Construction PMI (Apr) 46.0 (Prev. 44.8); German HCOB Construction PMI (Apr) 45.1 (Prev. 40.3); Italian HCOB Construction PMI (Apr) 50.1 (Prev. 52.4); French HCOB Construction PMI (Apr) 43.6 (Prev. 43.8)
- Swedish CPIF Ex Energy Flash YY (Apr) 3.1% vs. Exp. 3.3% (Prev. 3.0%); CPI YY Flash (Apr) 0.3% vs. Exp. 0.5% (Prev. 0.5%); CPI MM Flash (Apr) 0.1% vs. Exp. 0.3% (Prev. -0.7%); CPIF Flash YY (Apr) 2.3% vs. Exp. 2.5% (Prev. 2.3%); CPIF Ex Energy Flash MM (Apr) 0.5% vs. Exp. 0.7% (Prev. 0.0%); CPIF Flash MM (Apr) 0.2% vs. Exp. 0.4% (Prev. -0.5%)
- French Trade Balance, EUR, SA (Mar) -6.248B (Prev. -7.87B, Rev. -7.700B); Exports, EUR (Mar) 52.551B (Prev. 49.67B, Rev. 49.785B); Imports, EUR (Mar) 58.799B (Prev. 57.544B, Rev. 57.485B)
- Italian Retail Sales NSA YY (Mar) -2.8% (Prev. -1.5%); Retail Sales SA MM (Mar) -0.5% (Prev. 0.1%)
- UK S&P Global PMI Composite – Output (Apr) 48.4 (Prev. 51.0); S&P Global Construction PMI (Apr) 46.6 vs. Exp. 45.8 (Prev. 46.4)
NOTABLE EUROPEAN HEADLINES
- German Defence Minister Pistorius is reportedly seeking a drastic increase in German annual defence budget; aims for over EUR 60bln/year in defence spending from 2025, according to Reuters sources.
- Germany’s BaFin says financial institutions are generally currently in a strong position; uncertainty is extremely high and will remain so; possibility that problems in the non-banking sector have an impact on banks cannot be ruled out.
- Germany’s VDMA says March orders +4% Y/Y (domestic -3%, foreign +6%).
GEOPOLITICS
MIDDLE EAST
- US President Trump said Houthis decided that they don’t want to do this anymore and that he told the military to stop attacks against Houthis, while he added that he is not planning to stop in Israel during his Middle East trip and they are talking to Israeli PM Netanyahu about a lot of things right now. Trump said it is crunch time for Iran and he hopes Iran does what is right, as well as stated that Iran will not have nuclear weapons.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE
- Explosions were heard in Kyiv after Ukraine’s air force warned of a missile attack, while Ukraine’s military reported apartments are on fire after a Russian drone attack.
INDIA-PAKISTAN
- An Indian missile attack on Pakistani-controlled territory has killed at least 26 civilians and left 46 injured, Pakistan officials have said, via Sky News.
- India launched ‘Operation Sindoor’ in which it hit terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, while the Indian army announced that Pakistan violated the ceasefire agreement again in the Poonch-Rajouri area and it was responding appropriately in a calibrated manner. Furthermore, a Pakistan military spokesman noted there were exchanges of fire with Indian troops at multiple places along the ceasefire line in Kashmir and announced that five Indian aircraft were shot down.
- Pakistan’s Army Chief said they will respond to India at the time, place and in a way of Pakistan’s choice, via Sky News Arabia.
- Pakistan Government Security Committee says India has “ignited an inferno in the region”, the responsibility for ensuing consequences shall lie squarely with India. Authorised the military to undertake corresponding action.
OTHER
- US ordered its intelligence agencies to step up spying on Greenland, according to WSJ.
CRYPTO
- Bitcoin is on a stronger footing and sits just of the USD 97k mark; Ethereum also firmer.
APAC TRADE
- APAC stocks traded mostly higher as participants digested the PBoC’s announcement to loosen monetary policy and reports of upcoming US-China talks this week but with the gains capped amid geopolitical escalation between India and Pakistan.
- ASX 200 eked mild gains as outperformance in the commodity-related sectors was partially offset by losses in healthcare and tech, while the top-weighted financials industry was kept afloat post-NAB earnings.
- Nikkei 225 was underpinned at the open as Japanese markets reopened from the four-day weekend although momentum waned shortly after in the absence of any major pertinent catalysts for Japan.
- Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were underpinned following reports that the US and China will meet for talks on Saturday involving US Treasury Secretary Bessent, USTR Greer and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, while there was also encouragement from the briefing by Chinese officials where PBoC Governor Pan announced to cut RRR by 50bps and the policy interest rate by 10bps.
NOTABLE ASIA-PAC HEADLINES
- PBoC Governor Pan announced to cut RRR by 50bps effective May 15th and to cut the policy interest rate by 10bps effective on May 8th with the 7-day reverse repo rate lowered to 1.40% (from 1.50%) and interest rates on Standing Lending Facility across all tenors lowered by 10bps. Pan stated that the policy rate cut will lead to a Loan Prime Rate cut of 10bps and the RRR cut will release about CNY 1tln in liquidity. Pan also noted that they will cut the personal housing provision fund rate by 25bps and will set up CNY 500bln in re-lending loans for elderly care and service consumption. Furthermore, the total quota of two monetary policy tools to support capital markets will be raised to CNY 800bln and they will lower interest rates on structural policy tools by 25bps with re-lending rates lowered by 25bps effective today, while Pan also stated that China will use multiple policy tools to make dynamic adjustments and will guide commercial banks to lower deposit rates.
- China’s financial regulator said they will expand the pilot scheme to allow insurance companies to invest in stock markets and will take further steps to stabilise the property market, while they will guide financial institutions to maintain steady financing support for the property market, guide banks to provide financing support for foreign trade companies affected by US tariffs and will approve CNY 60bln in long-term insurance funds into the stock market.
- China’s securities regulator said US tariff policy has brought great pressure to China’s capital markets but added that they will consolidate good momentum in capital markets and that China will roll out reform measures for tech boards. Furthermore, they will forcefully promote long-term capital into the stock market and said ample preparations have been made for dealing with external shocks.
- RBNZ Financial Stability Report stated that risks to the financial system have increased over the past six months and while the global economic environment has become more volatile, New Zealand’s financial institutions are in a strong position to support the economy. RBNZ also stated that banks have strong capital and liquidity buffers in place to maintain credit flows even if conditions deteriorate further.
- PBoC says FX reserves USD 3.282tln end-April (prev. USD 3.241tln), gold reserves USD 243.59bln end-April (prev. USD 229.59bln)
DATA RECAP
- New Zealand HLFS Job Growth QQ (Q1) 0.1% vs. Exp. 0.1% (Prev. -0.1%)
- New Zealand HLFS Unemployment Rate (Q1) 5.1% vs. Exp. 5.3% (Prev. 5.1%)
- New Zealand Labour Cost Index QQ (Q1) 0.4% vs. Exp. 0.5% (Prev. 0.6%)
- New Zealand Labour Cost Index YY (Q1) 2.5% vs. Exp. 2.7% (Prev. 2.9%)
2c Asian opening report
PBoC announced rate cuts aiding APAC sentiment; India-Pakistan tensions escalate – Newsquawk Europe Market Open

Wednesday, May 07, 2025 – 01:44 AM
- China’s Ministry of Commerce confirmed US-China trade talks with Vice Premier He Lifeng to visit Switzerland from May 9th-12th and will visit France from May 12th-16th for economic and financial dialogue.
- PBoC Governor Pan announced to cut RRR by 50bps effective May 15th and to cut the policy interest rate by 10bps effective on May 8th with the 7-day reverse repo rate lowered to 1.40% and interest rates on Standing Lending Facility across all tenors lowered by 10bps. Pan stated that the policy rate cut will lead to a Loan Prime Rate cut of 10bps and the RRR cut will release about CNY 1tln in liquidity.
- An Indian missile attack on Pakistan-controlled territory has killed at least 26 civilians and left 46 injured; a Pakistan military spokesman noted there were exchanges of fire with Indian troops at multiple places along the ceasefire line in Kashmir and announced that five Indian aircraft were shot down.
- US President Trump said they will have a very big announcement before the Middle East trip which will be a really positive announcement on Thursday, Friday or Monday before they leave.
- APAC stocks traded mostly higher as participants digested the PBoC’s announcement to loosen monetary policy and reports of upcoming US-China talks this week but with the gains capped amid geopolitical escalation between India and Pakistan.
- European equity futures indicate a slightly positive cash market open with Euro Stoxx 50 futures up 0.1% after the cash market finished with losses of 0.4% on Tuesday.
- Looking ahead, highlights include German Industrial Orders, French Trade Balance, EZ Retail Sales, Fed, NBP, CNB & BCB Policy Announcements, Fed Chair Powell’s Presser, Supply from France, UK & US, Earnings from AppLovin, Carvana, Arm, DoorDash, AMC, Uber, Disney, Barrick Gold, Bunge, BMW, Fresenius, Siemens Healthineers, Novo Nordisk, Pandora & Nexi.
- Click for the Newsquawk Week Ahead.

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US TRADE
EQUITIES
- US stocks declined amid cautiousness related to the ongoing trade uncertainty and heading into the FOMC on Wednesday with most sectors pressured aside from Utilities and Energy which were the only ones in the green as the former was buoyed by Constellation Energy (CEG) earnings and the latter by firmer oil prices. Furthermore, the upside in the energy complex was partially aided by the geopolitical developments amid Israel expanding its operations in Gaza and conflicting reports regarding the Houthis as a spokesman for the group denied that it will stop attacking Red Sea ships and stated that President Trump’s statement that Houthis don’t want to fight and the US will stop bombing is false, while it was also later reported that India fired missiles targeting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and that Pakistan was responding to India’s attacks.
- SPX -0.77% at 5,607, NDX -0.88% at 19,791, DJI -0.95% at 40,829, RUT -1.05% at 1,983.
- Click here for a detailed summary.
TARIFFS/TRADE
- China’s Ministry of Commerce confirmed US-China trade talks with Vice Premier He Lifeng to visit Switzerland from May 9th-12th and will visit France from May 12th-16th for economic and financial dialogue.
- US President Trump said China wants to negotiate and will meet at the right time, while he added they’re losing nothing by not trading with China. Furthermore, he said China’s doing no business right now and its economy is suffering from a lack of US trade.
- US President Trump said they will possibly start to renegotiate the USMCA and will be friends with Canada, as well as commenting that the US-Canada border is an artificial line. Furthermore, Trump said the US won’t do much business with Canada and responded “No, it is what it is” when asked if Canadian PM Carney could say anything to get the removal of tariffs. Trump later commented that Canada and Mexico just need to pay a little more money and noted that they are looking at a lot of countries for trade deals.
- Canadian PM Carney said discussions with US President Trump were very constructive and they agreed to have discussions in the coming weeks and a meeting at the G7, while Carney said they had a wide-ranging discussion and it was clear with Trump that Canada will never be for sale. Carney thinks they established a good basis and they discussed all major issues including autos but there were no decisions on tariffs. Furthermore, Carney stated they made progress and had very comprehensive, tangible exchanges but commented that progress would not necessarily be evident during negotiations although he feels better about relations in many respects.
- Senior Canadian government official said Canadian PM Carney’s lunch with US President Trump was constructive and that Trump can’t have a Canada deal without tariffs being lifted, while the official stated they discussed the border and fentanyl. Furthermore, the official said Carney told Trump why none of the tariffs made sense but did not make the point in a confrontational way.
- US Treasury Secretary Bessent and Trade Representative Greer are to meet with China’s lead representatives on economic matters later this week in Switzerland, while Bessent confirmed he is meeting the Chinese team on Saturday in Switzerland and said they agreed to talk on Saturday and will agree on Sunday what they are going to talk about. Bessent said his sense is this will be about de-escalation and said they have got to de-escalate before they can move forward, as well as noted that the US doesn’t want to decouple from China over textiles and similar goods but does want to decouple over strategic industries. Furthermore, he said trade frictions can go down, Americans can get fairer deals, and everything is on the table.
- UK is reportedly closing in on a US trade pact with lower tariff quotas for cars and steel, according to FT citing officials in London and Washington. The deal, which is set to be signed this week, is due to include quotas that spare some UK exports from the full brunt of the additional 25% tariffs that Trump levied on steel and car imports in February and March. Furthermore, it was noted that UK trade negotiators returned to Washington this week for the final stages of negotiations, which one senior UK official said were continuing “at speed” but cautioned that disagreements remained over pharmaceuticals.
- Mexico’s agricultural minister said he met with US counterpart Rollins and reached agreements that will be beneficial to both countries.
NOTABLE HEADLINES
- US President Trump said they will have a very big announcement before the Middle East trip which will be a really positive announcement on Thursday, Friday or Monday before they leave. Furthermore, Trump said the announcement will be ‘as big as it gets’ but later stated the announcement over the next few days is not necessarily on trade.
APAC TRADE
EQUITIES
- APAC stocks traded mostly higher as participants digested the PBoC’s announcement to loosen monetary policy and reports of upcoming US-China talks this week but with the gains capped amid geopolitical escalation between India and Pakistan.
- ASX 200 eked mild gains as outperformance in the commodity-related sectors was partially offset by losses in healthcare and tech, while the top-weighted financials industry was kept afloat post-NAB earnings.
- Nikkei 225 was underpinned at the open as Japanese markets reopened from the four-day weekend although momentum waned shortly after in the absence of any major pertinent catalysts for Japan.
- Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were underpinned following reports that the US and China will meet for talks on Saturday involving US Treasury Secretary Bessent, USTR Greer and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, while there was also encouragement from the briefing by Chinese officials where PBoC Governor Pan announced to cut RRR by 50bps and the policy interest rate by 10bps.
- US equity futures gained amid hopes for a de-escalation of US-China trade frictions although further upside was limited with the FOMC on the horizon.
- European equity futures indicate a slightly positive cash market open with Euro Stoxx 50 futures up 0.1% after the cash market finished with losses of 0.4% on Tuesday.
FX
- DXY was rangebound heading into today’s FOMC but got some slight reprieve from the recent selling pressure, while the greenback only marginally benefitted from reports that the US and China are to launch trade talks later this week.
- EUR/USD slightly pulled back amid optimism related to US-China trade talks although the single currency retained a comfortable footing at the 1.1300 handle with Germany a key focus after CDU Leader Merz was elected Chancellor in the second-round parliamentary vote.
- GBP/USD trickled further beneath resistance at the 1.3400 level but held on to most of the prior day’s gains amid reports that the UK is closing in on US trade pact with lower tariff quotas for cars and steel, while the UK reached a free trade agreement with India and agreed with the EU to hold annual summits.
- USD/JPY reclaimed the 143.00 handle to the upside with the pair boosted as the US and China are set to launch trade talks in Switzerland this weekend.
- Antipodeans were contained following the PBoC’s rate cut announcement and with little reaction seen to the somewhat mixed Employment data and softer-than-expected Labour Cost Index from New Zealand.
- PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 7.2005 vs exp. 7.2114 (Prev. 7.2008).
FIXED INCOME
- 10yr UST futures lacked direction as the upward momentum from a relatively strong 10yr auction stateside was nullified following news that the US and China are set to begin trade talks in the weekend, while participants now await the looming FOMC announcement.
- Bund futures were rangebound with prices capped by resistance around the 131.00 level following yesterday’s choppy performance amid the events in Germany where Merz was confirmed as Chancellor in a second vote after initially failing in the first attempt.
- 10yr JGB futures traded indecisively on return from a four-day weekend and in the absence of any tier-1 data releases from Japan.
COMMODITIES
- Crude futures remained underpinned following recent geopolitical developments including Israel’s plans for an expansion of its Gaza offensive and after India conducted a missile strike on ‘terrorist infrastructure’ in Pakistan, while the latest private sector inventory data showed a larger-than-expected draw in headline crude and gasoline stockpiles.
- US Private inventory data (bbls): Crude -4.5mln (exp. -2.5mln), Distillate +2.2mln (exp. -2.7mln), Gasoline -2.0mln (exp. -1.5mln), Cushing -0.9mln.
- EIA STEO sees world oil demand for 2025 at 103.7mln BPD (prev. 103.6mln BPD in the prior forecast) and for 2026 at 104.6mln BPD (prev. 104.7mln BPD).
- Venezuela restarted a key gasoline production unit at its second-largest refinery after being shut down for a year.
- Kremlin spokesman said Europe is shooting itself in the foot and is acting against its own interests in response to a report that the EU’s plans to stop imports of Russia’s energy by 2027.
- Spot gold reverted to beneath the USD 3,400/oz level with pressure seen shortly after futures trading resumed as markets were jolted by reports that US and Chinese officials are to conduct talks later this week in Switzerland.
- Copper futures swung between gains and losses and ultimately declined despite the PBoC’s RRR and policy rate cut announcements.
CRYPTO
- Bitcoin was ultimately little changed after trading on both sides of the USD 97,000 level.
- US Senate Democrats are unveiling a sweeping new proposal to ban presidents, lawmakers and their families from issuing, endorsing or sponsoring crypto assets, according to Axios.
NOTABLE ASIA-PAC HEADLINES
- PBoC Governor Pan announced to cut RRR by 50bps effective May 15th and to cut the policy interest rate by 10bps effective on May 8th with the 7-day reverse repo rate lowered to 1.40% (from 1.50%) and interest rates on Standing Lending Facility across all tenors lowered by 10bps. Pan stated that the policy rate cut will lead to a Loan Prime Rate cut of 10bps and the RRR cut will release about CNY 1tln in liquidity. Pan also noted that they will cut the personal housing provision fund rate by 25bps and will set up CNY 500bln in re-lending loans for elderly care and service consumption. Furthermore, the total quota of two monetary policy tools to support capital markets will be raised to CNY 800bln and they will lower interest rates on structural policy tools by 25bps with re-lending rates lowered by 25bps effective today, while Pan also stated that China will use multiple policy tools to make dynamic adjustments and will guide commercial banks to lower deposit rates.
- China’s financial regulator said they will expand the pilot scheme to allow insurance companies to invest in stock markets and will take further steps to stabilise the property market, while they will guide financial institutions to maintain steady financing support for the property market, guide banks to provide financing support for foreign trade companies affected by US tariffs and will approve CNY 60bln in long-term insurance funds into the stock market.
- China’s securities regulator said US tariff policy has brought great pressure to China’s capital markets but added that they will consolidate good momentum in capital markets and that China will roll out reform measures for tech boards. Furthermore, they will forcefully promote long-term capital into the stock market and said ample preparations have been made for dealing with external shocks.
- RBNZ Financial Stability Report stated that risks to the financial system have increased over the past six months and while the global economic environment has become more volatile, New Zealand’s financial institutions are in a strong position to support the economy. RBNZ also stated that banks have strong capital and liquidity buffers in place to maintain credit flows even if conditions deteriorate further.
DATA RECAP
- New Zealand HLFS Job Growth QQ (Q1) 0.1% vs. Exp. 0.1% (Prev. -0.1%)
- New Zealand HLFS Unemployment Rate (Q1) 5.1% vs. Exp. 5.3% (Prev. 5.1%)
- New Zealand Labour Cost Index QQ (Q1) 0.4% vs. Exp. 0.5% (Prev. 0.6%)
- New Zealand Labour Cost Index YY (Q1) 2.5% vs. Exp. 2.7% (Prev. 2.9%)
GEOPOLITICS
MIDDLE EAST
- US President Trump said Houthis decided that they don’t want to do this anymore and that he told the military to stop attacks against Houthis, while he added that he is not planning to stop in Israel during his Middle East trip and they are talking to Israeli PM Netanyahu about a lot of things right now. Trump said it is crunch time for Iran and he hopes Iran does what is right, as well as stated that Iran will not have nuclear weapons.
- A defence official confirmed to CNN that the US military had been instructed to stand down on the strikes against the Houthis, while the apparent ceasefire is the result of talks between the US and the Houthis mediated by Oman that began last week and which was led by Steve Witkoff.
- Houthi spokesman denied the group will stop attacking Red Sea ships and said US President Trump’s statement is false.
- Houthi official said the US’s halt of ‘aggression’ against Yemen will be evaluated first and that US President Trump’s announcement shows the separation of US support to Israel PM Netanyahu’s ‘failure’. However, it was also reported that a senior Houthi official said they will continue to support Gaza and attacks will continue, while he called on Israelis to ‘remain in shelters’ because their government will not be able to protect them, according to Al Masirah TV.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE
- Explosions were heard in Kyiv after Ukraine’s air force warned of a missile attack, while Ukraine’s military reported apartments are on fire after a Russian drone attack.
INDIA-PAKISTAN
- An Indian missile attack on Pakistani-controlled territory has killed at least 26 civilians and left 46 injured, Pakistan officials have said, via Sky News.
- India launched ‘Operation Sindoor’ in which it hit terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, while the Indian army announced that Pakistan violated the ceasefire agreement again in the Poonch-Rajouri area and it was responding appropriately in a calibrated manner. Furthermore, a Palestinian military spokesman noted there were exchanges of fire with Indian troops at multiple places along the ceasefire line in Kashmir and announced that five Indian aircraft were shot down.
- Pakistan’s Army Chief said they will respond to India at the time, place and in a way of Pakistan’s choice, via Sky News Arabia.
OTHER
- US ordered its intelligence agencies to step up spying on Greenland, according to WSJ.
- White House seeks to hasten nuclear deployment, according to Axios.
3 .ASIA
3A NORTH KOREA/SOUTH KOREA
3B JAPAN
3C CHINA
US, Chinese Delegations To Meet In Switzerland To Launch Trade Talks; S&P Futures Surge
Tuesday, May 06, 2025 – 06:52 PM
The US Treasury and the US Trade Rep office announced simultanousely, just after 6pm ET, that the US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will travel later this week to Switzerland to meet with a Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier He Lifeng, jump-starting negotiations between the two nations.
The travel was announced in statements Tuesday from the Chinese and US governments. It will be the first confirmed trade talks between the countries since President Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs, led by punishing levies on China.
“Economic security is national security, and President Donald J. Trump is leading the way both at home and abroad for a stronger, more prosperous America,” said Secretary Bessent.
“I look forward to productive talks as we work towards rebalancing the international economic system towards better serving the interests of the United States.”
US equity futures spiked as much as 1% on the news.

The planned talks could encourage investors eager to see a reduction in tariffs that risk crippling trade between the world’s two largest economies. Trump placed duties as high as 145% on many Chinese imports, and Beijing retaliated with import taxes of 125% on American goods, escalations which rattled markets and threaten to drive up prices for manufacturing equipment as well as affordable goods that many Americans rely on, including clothing and toys.
Trump has said in recent days that he is willing to lower tariffs on China at some point, but also said this week that the US is “losing nothing” by not trading with Beijing. He claimed Chinese ships are “turning around in the Pacific Ocean.” The president has also said American consumers would be willing to accept higher prices and less selection in order to rebalance the trade relationship with China.
Young girls don’t need “to have 30 dolls,” Trump said Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press. “I think they can have three dolls or four dolls, because what we were doing with China was just unbelievable.”
China said on Friday it was assessing the possibility of trade talks with the US, the first sign that negotiations could begin between the two sides.
Earlier Tuesday, Bessent said that while the US could announce trade deals with some partners as soon as this week, negotiations with China had not yet begun.
“China, we have not engaged in negotiations with as of yet,” he told lawmakers while testifying on Capitol Hill.
“You have Trump, who’s locked in on tariffs; you have the Fed, who’s locked in on not cutting rates,” said Jones, founder of macro hedge fund Tudor Investment Corp., speaking on CNBC. “That’s not good for the stock market.”
Bessent and Greer will also meet with Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter, the Treasury Department and USTR said in a pair of statements.
END
CHINA
China Cuts Rates To Stimulate Struggling Economy, Just Hours After Agreeing To Tariff Talks
Tuesday, May 06, 2025 – 10:24 PM
Just hours after China admitted that it had been secretly engaging in pre-trade talks with the US despite repeatedly claiming otherwise including most recently on Friday when China’s foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said that “China and the U.S. have not held consultations or negotiations on the issue of tariffs,” adding that “the United States should not confuse the public” – even though we now know that active consultations were being held to prepare the upcoming tariff negotiation in Switzerland, Beijing – no longer needing to save face – immediately proceeded to cut rates and ease financial conditions to prop up its struggling economy.
China’s central bank governor said on Wednesday the bank will cut the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves by 50 basis points, the first reduction in 2025 as policymakers seek to boost liquidity and help a struggling economy caught in a protracted second trade war with the United States.
The People’s Bank of China’s Governor Pan Gongsheng told a news briefing the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) will release about 1 trillion yuan ($138 billion) in liquidity.
The People’s Bank of China cut the seven-day reverse repurchase rate to 1.4% from 1.5%, according to Governor Pan Gongsheng. The central bank will also trim the reserve requirement ratio by half a percentage point, Pan said at a briefing on Wednesday, adding that the RRR cut will be effective May 15.
Pan also announced:
- The central bank will set up a 500 billion yuan relending tool for consumption, elderly care
- It will also increase its technology relending fund by 300 billion yuan
- Plans to increase its agriculture, small and medium enterprises relending fund
The decision demonstrates officials are acting with urgency to support the hobbled economy, now without its most affluent trade counterpart. Expectations that Beijing would unleash more stimulus have risen after US President Donald Trump imposed of up to 145% tariffs on Chinese imports, a level economists say would decimate bilateral trade.
However, in an effort to save face and not telegraph how urgent the economic slowdown truly was, Beijing waited until literally just three hours after news of the upcoming tariff meeting with the US delegation in Switzerland hit.
Responding to a question on structural tools, Pan says they serve as a complement to the aggregate tools. They now stand at 5.7 trillion yuan, or 13% of PBOC’s assets. These tools can guide financial institutions to voluntarily provide loans to the market. On the services consumption and eldercare relending tools, Pan says it’s because consumption upgrade is a priority.
The offshore yuan trimmed advance to trade little changed at 7.2 per dollar, while the 10-year government bond yield edged lower.

That said, expect much more. Sat Duhra, a portfolio manager at Janus Henderson Investors, said the RRR cut is a helpful move, but its impact is likely to be limited. “Taken together, these measures are a step in the right direction, he says. But as seen before, they’re measured and somewhat cautious — another sign that investors shouldn’t expect any big bang reforms from China in this environment.”
Sure enough, optimism in Chinese stocks looks still-fleeting — gains are petering out, as traders doubt the resolve of the policies. The CSI 300 Index has pared its 1.5% move higher at the open to just 0.5%. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index has nearly halved its 2.4% gain to 1.5%.
Also likely there could have been funds that bought the dip last month are now content with the gains — 6.7% from the trough for the CSI 300 Index, and over 20% for the Hang Seng Tech Index.
Meanwhile, according to National Australia Bank, China’s yuan and the Australian dollar are likely to suffer due to Beijing’s underwhelming stimulus. “China’s strategy continues to be one where policy makers are looking to ensure a severe downturn is prevented, but there remains no appetite to properly stimulate the economy and quickly solve the housing crisis,” said Rodrigo Catril, a currency strategist at NAB; he is right: as we explained yesterday, China simply does not have the fiscal space to “properly stimulate” the economy.
So far, top officials have had little to say about the upcoming trade talks – perhaps because they claimed since the start that there had been literally no contact whatsoever with the US – choosing instead to focus on the domestic economy and market stability. That messaging may signal that Beijing is bracing for a protracted trade war and continued fallout for a worst case scenario as it gears up for negotiations with the US later this week.
4..EUROPEAN AFFAIRS//UK /SCANDINAVIAN AFFAIRS
SPAIN
Crimes Of Rape Have Tripled In Six Years Across Spain
Wednesday, May 07, 2025 – 05:00 AM
Authored by Thomas Brooke via Remix News,
Spain has seen an alarming rise in sexual violence over recent years, culminating in a record-high number of rapes, which reached 5,206 incidents in 2024, according to new official statistics from the Ministry of the Interior.
With an average of 14 rapes per day across the country, the figure nearly triples the 1,878 cases reported in 2019 when five daily incidents were reported. The upward trend has remained consistent year-over-year since 2018, aside from a brief dip during 2020 due to Covid-19 restrictions.
Regional breakdowns show that communities like Catalonia, Madrid, and Andalusia report the highest numbers, although increases have been noted throughout all regions of Spain. Cases involving minors, nightlife-related assaults, and attacks perpetrated by groups of offenders are also on the rise. The grim reality presented by these numbers translates to a woman being raped every hour and 45 minutes in Spain.
Remix News reported in November last year on a La Rázon report that revealed 91 percent of those convicted of rape in Catalonia are foreigners, with immigrants comprising just 17 percent of the region’s total population.

When it comes to sexual assault and rape combined, 64.2 percent of inmates are foreign nationals.
As reported by El Español, the rapid increase in sexual violence has overwhelmed specialized police units such as the Family and Women’s Care Units (UFAM) of the National Police and the Women-Minor Teams (EMUME) of the Civil Guard, both reporting understaffing and resource constraints. Officers within these units indicate that they are working beyond capacity, often handling a significantly higher workload than a decade ago without adequate support, training, or compensation.
Government officials have partly attributed this increase to more women coming forward and make no reference to the dramatic rise in mass immigration into Spain over the past decade. However, the continuous surge raises difficult questions about the effectiveness of initiatives such as the “Only Yes Means Yes” law, designed specifically to curb sexual violence.
Elena Ramallo, a Spanish campaigner battling violence against women, took to social media to criticize the El Español report for failing to address an obvious factor.
“Not a single reference in the entire article to the identity of the aggressors,” she wrote.
Police unions, however, have cited multiple factors contributing to this trend, including what they describe as “influence from cultures that undervalue women,” deteriorating societal values, and growing youth gang violence. The unions called for preventive measures, such as education on consent and bolstering police resources to cope with the epidemic.
Amid mounting public and political pressure, calls are intensifying for the Spanish government to strengthen institutional responses, not just through symbolic campaigns but by significantly investing in personnel, specialized training, and improved victim support initiatives.
end
EU/TARIFFS
EU Set To Tariff $113 Billion In U.S. Goods If Trade Talks Break Down
by Tyler Durden
Wednesday, May 07, 2025 – 04:15 AM
The European Union is preparing to impose up to €100 billion ($113 billion) in tariffs on US goods if trade talks fail, according to a new report by Bloomberg this morning.
The draft list of retaliatory measures will be circulated to member states as early as Wednesday, with a one-month consultation period before finalization.
“These import taxes are unjustified and cause economic harm on both sides of the Atlantic,” said EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic. “This situation is not acceptable and we cannot afford to stay idle.”
The EU has already delayed €21 billion in planned tariffs after the US halved its reciprocal duties during ongoing negotiations. Talks, which began in earnest last month, have made little headway.

The Bloomberg article notes that the bloc has proposed eliminating tariffs on industrial goods and increasing purchases of US products like LNG and soybeans, but the US has rejected those offers, focusing instead on EU digital tax rules and tech regulations. A commission spokesperson declined to comment.
A new EU proposal paper is expected this week to revive talks.
The bloc is targeting high-impact areas without mimicking US tariffs directly, aiming to avoid damage to its own supply chains. Earlier retaliatory lists targeted politically sensitive goods like Louisiana soybeans.
Currently, the US imposes tariffs of 10–25% on €380 billion worth of EU exports—around 70% of the bloc’s total exports to the US. The EU’s 2024 goods trade surplus with the US was €198.2 billion, though the overall surplus narrows to €48 billion when services are included.
“This is the time to act, in unequivocal terms, for the EU’s interest,” Sefcovic told lawmakers.
END
5 RUSSIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS
ISRAEL/HOUTHIS
Israel blindsided by Trump’s Houthi announcement, Trump says only 21 hostages are alive
Senior Houthi leader warns Israelis to ‘stay in shelters’ due to planned retaliation • Almost half of Gazans willing to leave enclave • IDF strikes shut down Sanaa International airport
“They said please don’t bomb us anymore and we’re not going to attack your ships,” Trump said.
By AMICHAI STEINMAY 6, 2025 20:12Updated: MAY 6, 2025 20:1
Israel was not informed in advance about US President Donald Trump’s announcement regarding the Houthis, an informed source told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.
Trump said on Tuesday that the US will stop bombing the Houthis in Yemen after claiming that the Iran-aligned group agreed to stop interrupting important shipping lanes in the Middle East.
The comments came during an Oval Office meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, when Trump announced that the Houthis have said that they no longer want to fight, but did not elaborate on the message.
“They said please don’t bomb us anymore and we’re not going to attack your ships,” Trump said.
There was no immediate response from the Houthis.
IAF airstrikes across Sanaa on Tuesday
During Tuesday’s Israel Air Force airstrikes on Sanaa, the Trump administration provided a support system “so that if something goes wrong, they will assist.”
The IDF said on Tuesday afternoon that it had conducted a wide array of air strikes across Yemen on Sanaa International Airport, electric power stations, and a cement factory, to weaken the Houthis.
The Houthis released a statement on Tuesday following the IDF’s airstrikes across Sanaa, stating that “the Israeli and American aggression will not go unanswered and will not deter Yemen from continuing its support for Gaza.”
END
ISRAEL HOUTHIS:
Senior Houthi leader warns Israelis to ‘stay in shelters’ due to planned retaliation
This was in reaction to the IDF conducting a wide array of air strikes across Yemen on Sanaa International Airport, electric power stations, and a cement factory, to weaken the Houthis.
By AMICHAI STEIN, JAMES GENN, WALLA!MAY 6, 2025 15:22Updated: MAY 6, 2025 22:0
President of the Houthi’s Supreme Political Council, Mahdi al-Mashat, stated on Tuesday evening that “our response will be devastating and painful, and will not be able to be borne by the Israeli enemy.”
“To all Zionists, from now on, stay in your shelters, or leave your country immediately, because your failed government will no longer be able to protect you,” al-Mashat added.
“The aggressor will realize that the price he will pay is high, and no aggression will deter us from our decision to support Gaza until the aggression stops and the siege is lifted,” he concluded.
The Houthis also released a statement on Tuesday following the IDF’s airstrikes across Sanaa, stating that “the Israeli and American aggression will not go unanswered and will not deter Yemen from continuing its support for Gaza.”
“The Israeli enemy’s targeting of civilian infrastructure and facilities in Sanaa and other regions is additional evidence of the entity’s impotence and bankruptcy,” they stated.
“The Yemeni people will continue their efforts to pressure the entity until the aggression on Gaza ends and the blockade is lifted,” they added.
“Targeting civilian objects is targeting the Yemeni people and their capabilities and reflects the entity (Israel)’s failure to achieve its goals in Yemen.
The Zionist aggression will only increase the Yemenis’ steadfastness in their position supporting Gaza and the patient Palestinian people by all available means,” they claimed.
Houthi-owned Beirut-based Al Masirah TV claimed that at least three were killed and at least 35 wounded as part of the airstrikes.
Sanaa International Airport began evacuating its employees on Tuesday afternoon amid warnings from the IDF of an upcoming strike, according to local reports. Roads leading to the airport were closed, the Saudi-based outlet Al Hadath reported.
A flight from Jordan was reportedly canceled
A Yemenia Airlines plane was forced to abort taking off from Jordan‘s Queen Alia International Airport, given it was scheduled to fly to Sanaa, a prominent Yemeni journalist reported.
However, Sanaa International Airport’s departure board showed that flights scheduled to Amman and Djibouti were still due to depart.
The Houthi official news agency, Saba News, reported that local tribes in Yemen’s Sanaa, Dhamar, and Raymah Governorates gathered and called for “a general mobilization” to denounce “American and Israeli aggression.”
END
ISRAEL HOUTHIS
A second hit on Yemen’s airport causes the suspension of airport use:
Flights to and from Yemen’s Sanaa airport suspended following Israeli attack, director says
By REUTERSMAY 7, 2025 04:00
All flights to and from Yemen’s Sanaa International Airport have been suspended until further notice due to extensive damage following Israeli strike, the airport’s general director said on Wednesday in a post on X.
The Israeli military carried out an airstrike on Yemen’s main airport in Sanaa on Tuesday, its second attack in two days on Iran-aligned Houthi rebels after a surge in tensions between the group and Israel.
end
OMAN/USA HOUTHIS
Why Oman helped stop US-Houthi war – analysis
Oman is attempting to secure a win for the US and the Houthis to demonstrate its capability in brokering a deal.
By SETH J. FRANTZMANMAY 6, 2025 23:58Updated: MAY 7, 2025 00:14
Oman helped pave the way for a ceasefire between the US and the Iran-backed Houthis in order to demonstrate its capability in brokering a deal.
Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi wrote online that he was pleased that Oman’s mediation efforts had ended the conflict.
The conflict between the US and the Houthis increased on March 15 when the Trump administration decided to begin wide-ranging airstrikes on the group. The US had been carrying out strikes over the past year and a half as part of an operation called Prosperity Guardian in the Red Sea, aimed at protecting shipping. The Trump administration decided to go a step further.
Oman aimed to help resolve this conflict, as it is a key player in the Iran-US talks that have occurred over the past month. Oman hosted two rounds of these talks. However, there have been some hurdles recently.
The US is demanding that Iran dismantle its nuclear program. Iran is angered, and the foreign minister has criticized Israel, accusing it and pro-Israel voices of sabotaging the talks. Oman has sponsored the talks and wants to show they can succeed. Therefore, it appears that Oman was able to bring the Houthis to an agreement. Oman worked with US envoy Steve Witkoff, who is also key to the Iran talks, the Ukraine and Russia talks, as well as Gaza ceasefire talks and talks in Azerbaijan. Witkoff is the Trump administration’s key problem solver on many issues.
On May 1 Oman had said that the Iran-US talks scheduled for Saturday May 3 were postponed to a later date. On May 4 the Houthis launched a long range missile targeting Israel’s Ben-Gurion airport. Israel had refrained from strikes on Yemen since the US began its attacks on March 15.
Instead, Israel was concentrating on Gaza since renewing operations on March 18. Israel chose to respond to the May 4 attack with strikes on May 5 and then an attack on Sana’a international airport on May 6. Meanwhile, Oman was working to end the US-Houthi conflict.
A ceasefire agreement between the US and Houthis
The Omani foreign minister said, “Following recent discussions and contacts conducted by the Sultanate of Oman with the United States and the relevant authorities in Sana’a, in the Republic of Yemen, with the aim of de-escalation, efforts have resulted in a ceasefire agreement between the two sides. In the future, neither side will target the other, including American vessels, in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait, ensuring freedom of navigation and the smooth flow of international commercial shipping. The Sultanate of Oman expresses its gratitude to both parties for their constructive approach that led to this welcome outcome, and hopes that it will lead to further progress on many regional issues towards achieving justice, peace, and prosperity for all.”
He went on to note that he was “pleased to reiterate that today’s news about the situation in the Red Sea means that diplomatic efforts have led to the end of the conflict between the US and Ansar Allah [Houthis] in Yemen. They will no longer target each other, ensuring freedom of navigation for international commercial shipping in the Red Sea. The Sultanate of Oman is grateful to both parties for their constructive approach leading to this welcome outcome, and hopes that it will lead to further progress on many regional issues.”
Oman is attempting to secure a win for the US and the Houthis to demonstrate its capability to broker a deal. Subsequently, it will seek to use this success to build confidence and leverage in facilitating an agreement between Iran and the US. Trump appreciates Oman’s work on this issue. The bombing campaign against the Houthis was not going anywhere. The US had two aircraft carriers in the region; the USS Harry Truman and the USS Carl Vinson.
Trump made the surprise announcement that the US was ending strikes on the Houthis on May 6. This has left Israelis wondering whether the Houthis will stop attacks on Israel. The US has supplied Israel with support and air defenses since the Houthi attacks began.
The US THAAD system is in Israel, for instance. The US also backed the development of Arrow, the main Israeli system being used against the Houthi missile threat. The reason the US intervened in Yemen was because of threats to shipping. Since the early 20th century, the US has sought to guarantee freedom of navigation. Therefore, the US policy was not tethered to Israel, but to historical needs to defend shipping.
The work by Oman has been praised in the region. Qatar put out a statement lauding Oman. Trump is expected to visit the Middle East soon, and Qatar and other countries will be watching closely what he does next. They want a US-Iran deal to reduce tensions in the region.
Oman has an interest in peace in Yemen. It has hosted talks in the past. During the Biden administration’s era from 2020-2024 JUS Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking had travelled to the region, including to Oman, because Oman was backing talks with the Houthis.
Oman wants peace, it wants an end to attacks on shipping, and it hopes to link this to a potential Iran deal as a building block. Witkoff’s role also illustrates his success at getting a deal. He also played the key role in the hostage deal in January, days before the inauguration, that helped bring home 33 hostages to Israel between January 20 and March 1.
END
ISRAEL HAMAS
Trump reports death of three hostages, says that only 21 are alive
This comes after a member of Israel’s hostage deal negotiation team told The Jerusalem Post.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFMAY 7, 2025 00:24Updated: MAY 7, 2025 02:46
US President Donald Trump told reporters that there are only 21 living hostages remaining in Gaza, announcing that three had died in captivity.
“They said that only 24 are living, and I now correct… I say 21 because as of today, it’s 21. Three have died. So this, this is a terrible situation,” Trump told reporters at a press conference on Tuesday after he met with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
He did not follow up to say which hostages have supposedly died.
“We’re trying to get the hostages out. We’ve gotten a lot of them out. As the expression goes, ‘there’s 21 plus a lot of dead bodies.'”
In a statement on X/Twitter, Gal Hirsch, the coordinator for the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, disputed Trump’s assertion that there are now 21 living hostages.
“Currently, 59 hostages are being held by the terrorist organization Hamas. Twenty-four of them are on the list of living hostages. Thirty-five of them are on the list of deceased hostages, with their deaths officially determined. Fifty-four of the hostages are Israeli citizens. Five of the hostages are foreign nationals,” he wrote.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum maintains continuous contact with all the hostages’ families, and we are available to them for updates, clarifications, and hostages’ status reviews in various ways and at any time. All the families of the hostages are always updated with the information we have regarding their loved ones.”
Trump, Sara Netanyahu said fewer than 24 hostages alive
Trump previously said that he thought the number of remaining living hostages was fewer than 24, the number that a member of Israel’s hostage deal negotiation team provided The Jerusalem Post.
“Out of 59 hostages, 24 are alive – but my understanding now is that that number is even smaller,” Trump said.
“This is also the official number submitted by the coordinator for the hostages and missing to the mediators during the negotiations,” the anonymous source told the Post.
This comes after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israeli media last week that 24 hostages were alive in Gaza as his wife, Sara, appeared to correct him.
“There are up to 24 living hostages in Gaza,” Netanyahu said. Sara whispered beside him, “Fewer,” to which Netanyahu emphasized, “Up to 24 living hostages.”
END
ISRAEL HAMAS
Biden’s Gaza pier injured far more troops than previously known
Over 60 US troops were injured during Biden’s floating aid pier mission in Gaza, a new Pentagon report shows.
By REUTERSMAY 7, 2025 05:54
More than 60 service members were injured as a part of former president Joe Biden’s floating aid pier in Gaza, a Pentagon Inspector General report published on Tuesday said, a number significantly higher than had been previously disclosed.
The pier, announced by Biden during a televised address to Congress in March 2024, was a massive endeavor that took about 1,000 US forces to execute.
But bad weather and distribution challenges inside Gaza limited the effectiveness of what the US military says was its biggest aid delivery effort ever in the Middle East. The pier was only operational for about 20 days and cost about $230 million.
While there were no deaths or known direct attacks on the pier, the Pentagon had said three US troops suffered non-combat injuries in support of the pier in May, with one medically evacuated in critical condition.
Pentagon says some 62 US soldiers injured at Gaza aid pier
But the new report by the Pentagon Inspector General said that the number was actually 62.
“Based on the information provided, we were not able to determine which of these 62 injuries occurred during the performance of duties or resulted off duty or from pre-existing medical conditions,” the report said.
The pier became a sore point in Congress, where Republicans branded it a political stunt by Biden, who was under pressure from fellow Democrats to do more to aid Palestinians after months of staunchly supporting Israel’s war on Hamas.
While it brought in sorely needed aid to a marshaling area on Gaza’s shore, the 1,200-foot-long floating pier had to be removed multiple times because of bad weather.
The Inspector General said that the US military did not meet the standards for the equipment.
“Nor did they organize, train, and equip their forces to meet common joint standards,” the report said.
END
ISRAEL HAMAS/GAZA
Smotrich says Gaza to be ‘totally destroyed,’ population ‘concentrated’ in small area
Ultranationalist minister says population will be ‘totally despairing’ and want to leave the Strip, also predicts West Bank will be annexed before end of government’s term
By Jeremy Sharon Follow
and ToI Staff6 May 2025, 8:41 pm

Finance Minister and Religious Zionism head Bezalel Smotrich leads a faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, May 5, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich shared his vision for the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, predicting that within half a year, the population of the territory would be confined to just a narrow swath of land, with the remainder of the enclave “totally destroyed.”
In remarks at a “Settlements Conference” organized by the Makor Rishon newspaper in the West Bank settlement of Ofra, Smotrich also declared that Israel would “apply sovereignty” in the West Bank within the lifetime of the current government, which is due to expire in October 2026, unless elections are called earlier.
“Within a few months, we will be able to declare that we have won. Gaza will be totally destroyed,” Smotrich said. “In another six months, Hamas won’t exist as a functioning entity.”
He told the listening audience that the population of Gaza, some 2.3 million Palestinians, would be “concentrated” in a narrow strip of land between the Egyptian border and the so-called Morag Corridor, which runs the width of Gaza between Khan Younis and the border city of Rafah.
The area would be a “humanitarian” zone, the Religious Zionism leader said, “absent of Hamas and terrorism.”
The rest of the Strip, he added, “will be empty.”

Displaced Palestinians, fleeing the city of Rafah amid ongoing Israeli military operations, arrive in Khan Younis, Gaza, on March 23, 2025. (AP/Abdel Kareem Hana)
He did not elaborate how confining all of Gaza’s war-battered population into a narrow strip without the ability to leave would be a humanitarian act, but added: “They will be totally despairing, understanding that there is no hope and nothing to look for in Gaza, and will be looking for relocation to begin a new life in other places.”
Smotrich has been an ardent advocate of building new Jewish settlements in Gaza following the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led atrocities in southern Israel and the outbreak of the war, as well as “encouraging” the emigration of Gaza’s civilian population out of the territory.
Turning to the West Bank, the finance minister lauded a plan to construct roads that will redirect and separate Israeli and Palestinian traffic in the area.
The roads will link Jerusalem with Ma’ale Adumim while providing an alternative route for Palestinian traffic to bypass Israeli checkpoints, creating two separate lanes for vehicles from the Israeli and Palestinian security envelopes, which currently use a single lane.
While championed by Israel as a way to reduce congestion and tighten security, the plan will divert Palestinian drivers from the E1 area, where Israel is controversially moving forward with settlement construction in steps toward annexing Ma’ale Adumim.

Aerial view of Ma’ale Adumim, a West Bank settlement outside of Jerusalem, February 25, 2025. (Oren Cohen/Flash90)
The area is viewed by Palestinians as strategically significant for maintaining the territorial contiguity of a future Palestinian state.
Acknowledging this, Smotrich told the conference that the new construction in the E1 area “is how we kill the de facto Palestinian state.”
“It will happen this term,” he said of plans to annex the West Bank. “It is one of our most important challenges. We are at a historic opportunity.”
Smotrich has frequently faced backlash for his remarks about the Gaza Strip and the war against Hamas, with the families of the hostages abducted during the October 7 onslaught accusing him of prioritizing territorial gains over the lives of their loved ones.
Last month, he drew outrage from the families of the hostages after he said that bringing the remaining 59 hostages back from Gaza was “not the most important” goal of the war, and was instead secondary to the aim of destroying Hamas.
Then, on Monday, the ultranationalist minister insisted that Israel would not cede territory captured in the Gaza Strip, even if doing so could secure the release of hostages, and urged Israelis to embrace “occupation.”
“We are finally going to occupy the Gaza Strip. We will stop being afraid of the word ‘occupation,’” he had said, and added that after occupying the Strip, “we can talk about sovereignty.”
END
GAZA
Almost half of Gaza Palestinians willing to ask Israel to help them leave — poll
Ramallah think tank finds majorities in Gaza and West Bank oppose Hamas disarmament, unconvinced Israel will withdraw if demands met; 87% deny Hamas committed ‘the atrocities seen in videos’ from Oct. 7
By ToI StaffToday, 12:12 am

People transport their belongings along the Al-Rashid road linking northern and southern Gaza, April 2, 2025. (Bashar Taleb / AFP)
Almost half of Gazans may be willing to apply to Israel to help them leave to other countries, according to a survey released Tuesday that also showed that support for anti-Hamas protests is much higher in the Gaza Strip than in the West Bank.
The poll also showed that for the first time since the Gaza war was sparked by the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, more Gazans thought Israel rather than Hamas would emerge victorious, though a plurality thought the war would end in a stalemate. Gazans were also more likely to support concessions from Hamas, but a majority still thought these would not make Israel withdraw from the Strip.
The survey by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR), which is based in Ramallah and funded by Western donors, was based on polling of people across the Gaza Strip and West Bank on May 1-4, some six weeks after Israel resumed hostilities in Gaza.
The survey found that 49 percent of respondents would be willing to apply to Israel to help them emigrate via Israeli ports and airports, versus 50% who said they would not be willing to do so.
Israeli ministers have made little secret of their wish to see a large part of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents moved out of the enclave, in line with the plan announced by US President Donald Trump in February to take control of the Strip and rebuild it as a coastal resort. Asked about Trump’s plan, 56% of Gazans said they would be unwilling to emigrate after the war, and 43% said they would.
Much of Gaza has been reduced to rubble in the war sparked on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages. However, many Gazans believe leaving would mean surrendering their home, and Israel has made little headway persuading other countries to accept them.

US President Donald Trump arrives on Marine One at the White House, April 27, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Asked if Hamas’s decision to launch the onslaught had been a correct one, 37% of Gazans said yes, 58% said no, and 5% said they didn’t know. In the West Bank, 59% of respondents said yes, 29% said no, and 13% said they didn’t know. In total, 50% of respondents said yes, 40% said no and 10% said they didn’t know. Palestinian support for the onslaught was at its lowest in both territories since the start of the war.
The overwhelming majority of respondents, 87%, denied that Hamas had committed “the atrocities seen in the videos shown by international media,” such as murdering women and children in their homes, PCPSR said, adding that just 9% believed Hamas had committed atrocities. The firm did not provide a breakdown between Gaza and the West Bank for the question.
A majority of Palestinians, 56%, said they expected that Israel and Hamas would reach a ceasefire-hostage release deal in the coming days, as opposed to 41% who did not expect an agreement soon. The majority that expects a deal soon included 65% of West Bank respondents and 42% of Gazan respondents, PCPSR said. The firm did not say if the latter constituted a plurality of respondents in Gaza.
Israel announced on Monday that it would expand operations in Gaza and begin seizing territory there until Hamas is defeated and the remaining 59 hostages are released.
However, 69% of Gazan respondents and 88% of West Bank respondents said they believe the Gaza war will not end if Hamas disarms. Sixty percent of Gazan and 82% of West Bank respondents also disagreed that the war would end if Hamas releases the hostages.

Displaced Palestinians walk through a makeshift tent camp in the Muwasi area of Khan Younis, in the Gaza Strip, on May 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
PCPSR speculated that those results were the reason “why the overwhelming majority is opposed to a Hamas disarmament or the departure of its military leadership from the Gaza Strip.” According to the polling firm, 85% of respondents in the West Bank, and 64% in Gaza, were opposed to the disarmament of Hamas; overall, just 18% of Palestinians supported it, including 33% of respondents in Gaza and 9% in the West Bank.
Seventy-four percent of West Bank respondents also said they were opposed to the expulsion of Hamas leaders as a condition to ending the Gaza war, while 20% said they supported the move. In Gaza, the results were close, with 51% saying they support expulsion as a condition for a ceasefire, and 47% saying they oppose it.
Just 23% of Gazans think Hamas will win the war with Israel — the lowest figure since the start of the war. It was also the first time the figure was lower than the number of Gazans who thought Israel would emerge victorious, which stood at 29%. Forty percent of Gazans thought neither Israel nor Hamas would win.
The PCPSR survey also found that 48% of Palestinians in Gaza supported the series of anti-Hamas demonstrations that began in various places around the enclave in March. The figure was just 14% in the West Bank, whose Palestinian Authority is dominated by Hamas’s secularist rival Fatah.
At the same time, 54% of Gazans also thought the protests, which Hamas said were set up by Israeli intelligence services, were steered by outside hands. Just 20% said they expressed the real opinion of the population.
The protests in Gaza were a rare public show of opposition to Hamas, which has ruled the Strip since 2007. The terror group has reportedly executed at least one man for taking part in the protests.
Israel has previously published what it said were documents seized in Gaza that showed Hamas had inflated its support rates in surveys undertaken by PCPSR. Prominent Palestinian pollster Khalil Shikaki, who runs PCPSR, told The Times of Israel at the time that it was “highly unlikely” that the terror group had duped the think tank.
The Strip has also grown increasingly short on food after Israel cut off the flow of aid to Gaza on March 2. The aid halt began hours after the Gaza ceasefire-hostage release deal’s first phase expired amid Israel’s refusal to negotiate the second, which would have required a full IDF withdrawal from the Strip. Israel accuses Hamas of hoarding the aid.
According to PCPSR, 53% of Gazans said they had enough food for a day or two, while 48% said they did not even have that much. Seven months ago, by contrast, 69% said they had enough food for a day or two, the polling firm said.
Israel, which renewed hostilities in Gaza on March 18, on Monday announced it would expand operations in Gaza and begin seizing areas of the Strip until Hamas is defeated and the remaining 59 captives are released. An Israeli official said the expansion would also see Israel renew the flow of aid to the Strip under a new mechanism.
Gaza’s Hamas-led health ministry says more than 52,000 Gazans have been killed since the terror group invaded Israel. The figure, which cannot be independently verified, does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel says it has killed some 20,000 fighters in Gaza as of January and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the Hamas onslaught.
According to PCPSR, 52% of Gazans said they had lost one or more family members during the current war.
The think tank said the survey’s sample was 1,270 with a margin of error of 3.5%.
HEZBOLLAH
IRAN
Iran says ‘disturbed’ by UK arrest of Iranians in terrorism probe
By REUTERSMAY 7, 2025 03:11Updated: MAY 7, 2025 03:12
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Tuesday he was “disturbed” to learn Iranian citizens have been arrested by British authorities, according to a post on X.
He said Iran was ready to assist in investigations if “credible allegations of misconduct are established.”
JPost Videos
His statements come days after British counter-terrorism police arrested eight men including seven Iranians in two separate operations in what the British interior minister called some of the biggest investigations of their kind in recent years.
END
IRAN/ISRAELI EMBASSY/GR BRITAIN
The dramatic raids in Britain: “Iranian terror cell planned attack on Israeli embassy in London”
Four days after the raids in which eight suspects, including seven Iranians, were arrested, the Telegraph reported that their target was the Israeli embassy in London. According to the report, they were captured hours before they carried out the attack.
Itamar Eichner |14:0020 תגובותTags
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Britain is reporting this evening (Wednesday) that the Iranian citizens arrested in the country last weekend were planning an attack on the Israeli embassy in London. According to the British Telegraph, the raid in which five of them were captured occurred just hours before they planned to carry out the planned attack.

The dramatic raids took place over the weekend and resulted in the arrest of eight terror suspects, seven of whom were Iranian citizens. Media outlets in the kingdom have reported in recent days on growing “speculation” surrounding the possibility that five of the suspects – who are accused of plotting a terror attack – had their sights set on the Jewish community, perhaps a synagogue.
The Daily Telegraph reported that the raid in which the suspects were caught on Saturday occurred just hours before they were due to carry out the planned attack. The Daily Mail also quoted sources as saying that a “major attack” was planned that could put human lives at risk in the immediate future. The sources told the tabloid that the planned attack had nothing to do with the celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany this coming Thursday – celebrations that began on Tuesday with a military parade attended by King Charles.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi responded to the arrests this evening. “We are troubled to hear that Iranian citizens have been detained by British security services. If credible allegations of misconduct are proven, Iran is ready to assist in the investigations,” he wrote on X.com. “We call on Britain to ensure that the rights of our citizens are respected and that they are afforded a fair trial.”


British authorities, it will be recalled, announced two separate raids on Saturday. In one of them, five suspects, four of them Iranians, were arrested, who were planning what was described as an attack against a “specific compound,” without giving further details. Hours earlier, in another raid, three more Iranians were reportedly arrested, but authorities stressed that they were not connected to the same terrorist plot and that a separate investigation was underway against them. The Daily Mail reported that this was another “Iranian cell,” whose members had carried out espionage operations, and they were arrested out of fear that the main raid on the suspects planning the attack would scare their members and cause them to flee.
The five suspects who allegedly planned the attack, aged 24 to 46, were each arrested in a different location: in Swindon, west London, Stockport, Rochdale and Manchester. Four of them are still in custody and one has been released on bail. Dramatic and unusual footage has emerged from Rochdale of around 30 armed security personnel, including reportedly commandos from the British Army’s SAS unit, breaking into a house in the city at around 7pm. Neighbours told local media that the forces wore masks and led a shirtless man in his 40s out, pointing their weapons at him and demanding that he lie on the ground. In Swindon, another suspect was arrested in the middle of a street in the heart of the city, also by masked security personnel.
British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the two raids in which the eight suspects were arrested were one of the largest counter-terrorism operations Britain has faced in recent years. When asked about possible links between the suspects and the ayatollah regime in Tehran, she avoided answering directly, but hinted that there were: “The significant operations that have been carried out and the ongoing investigation are of enormous importance, and of course the fact that Iranian citizens are involved in both investigations. We support the police and the security services in the investigations and security assessments that they are currently conducting.”

Iran, it should be noted, has been working for years to carry out terrorist attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets, as well as against exiled dissidents around the world. In recent years, warnings about its activities in Britain have increased, and last year the UK’s domestic security service, MI5, revealed that since the beginning of 2022, at least 20 different plots planned by Iran there had been uncovered.
In one of the attacks attributed to Iran, exiled Iranian journalist Pourya Zerati , a presenter on Iran International, a Persian-language television channel from London and associated with opponents of the Iranian regime, was stabbed in March last year outside his home in the British capital by two Romanian citizens who were arrested in their country in December and are now facing extradition to Britain.
Following the revelation of the new plot, calls in Britain to declare Iran’s Revolutionary Guards a terrorist organization have increased in recent days. This is a step that the ruling Labor Party declared when it was in opposition that it would work to implement, but so far has not fulfilled this promise. The Telegraph reported that there are those in the Foreign Office in London who fear that such a step would block a back channel of communication with Iran, a channel that is also used by the United States.
Nigel Farage, who leads the far-right Reform Party, said the designation of the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization should have been made years ago. “I have friends who live in the Middle East who are shocked we didn’t do it,” he said. Luke Eckhorst, a Labour lawmaker, also called for such a designation, saying the recent raids only underscored the “urgency” of the move.
END
RUSSIA VS UKRAINE
Russia Thwarts Largest Drone Attack In History, Sparking Airport Chaos, Hours Before Victory Day Ceasefire
Wednesday, May 07, 2025 – 01:00 PM
Hours before Putin’s unilaterally declared three-day Victory Day ceasefire is expected to go into effect (starting May 8), Ukraine has launched a huge cross-border drone attack on Russia which has reportedly unleashed air traffic and flight chaos in an around Moscow, as well as other regions.
Russian state media has said several Russian airlines were forced to cancel and reroute dozens of flights late Tuesday into Wednesday, amid off-and-on airport closures and flight stoppages. Russia’s anti-air defense systems have been engaged in non-stop intercepts of inbound UAVs from Ukraine.

This marks three consecutive days of drone attacks targeting the capital, at a sensitive moment the Kremlin is preparing to host dozens of world leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the end of WW2.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, are also expected. Venezuela’s Maduro is also in Moscow, where he’s already met with President Putin.
“Aviation authorities grounded flights at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, Vnukovo, and Zhukovsky airports, as well as in the cities of Nizhny Novgorod, Kirov, Yaroslavl, Kazan,” RT confirms.
The same outlet is now saying the last hours have seen the largest drone attack against Russian soil in history…
Apparently hundreds of drones were sent. Moscow has been directly targeted once again, with Mayor Sergey Sobyanin announcing the military intercepted nearly 20 inbound drones on the capital over the last half-day.
Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency has described of the flight chaos, “The restrictions were imposed to ensure the safety of civil aircraft flights.”
The Kremlin has said that Putin’s ceasefire offer remains in force, but that the Russian military will undertake the appropriate response if Ukraine doesn’t abide by it. Russian officials have condemned Zelensky for appearing to directly threaten Victory Day parades, such as the main televised events in the Red Square.
A fresh statement from Putin’s spokesman has described the following:
The Russian military is doing everything necessary to ensure that the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory is held in a calm and peaceful atmosphere, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“The Kiev regime continues to demonstrate its true nature, its propensity for terrorist actions. Special services and our military are taking all necessary measures to ensure that the celebration of the Great Victory takes place in a calm, stable, and peaceful atmosphere,” he said.
But it looks like major disruptions are already happening, including drones fired at hit military facilities and airbases, also resulting in forced school closures and internet outages in various provinces.
Key infrastructure inside has Russia has been struck…
Newsweek writes, “Drone attacks caused internet outages in Russia’s Tula, Yaroslavl and Tver regions, where people have complained of disruptions in phone coverage and ATMs, according to the Telegram channel Ostorozhno Novosti, although there are no reports of casualties.”
Russia has at the same time continued deadly strikes on Ukraine, but there are growing fears a larger attack could be unleashed on Kiev, in retaliation for these drone assaults ahead of Russia’s main national civic holiday.
*END
RUSSIA VS UKRAINE
Zelensky is nuts to do this!
Russia Thwarts Largest Drone Attack In History, Sparking Airport Chaos, Hours Before Victory Day Ceasef
Wednesday, May 07, 2025 – 01:00 PM
Hours before Putin’s unilaterally declared three-day Victory Day ceasefire is expected to go into effect (starting May 8), Ukraine has launched a huge cross-border drone attack on Russia which has reportedly unleashed air traffic and flight chaos in an around Moscow, as well as other regions.
Russian state media has said several Russian airlines were forced to cancel and reroute dozens of flights late Tuesday into Wednesday, amid off-and-on airport closures and flight stoppages. Russia’s anti-air defense systems have been engaged in non-stop intercepts of inbound UAVs from Ukraine.

This marks three consecutive days of drone attacks targeting the capital, at a sensitive moment the Kremlin is preparing to host dozens of world leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the end of WW2.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, are also expected. Venezuela’s Maduro is also in Moscow, where he’s already met with President Putin.
“Aviation authorities grounded flights at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, Vnukovo, and Zhukovsky airports, as well as in the cities of Nizhny Novgorod, Kirov, Yaroslavl, Kazan,” RT confirms.
The same outlet is now saying the last hours have seen the largest drone attack against Russian soil in history…
Apparently hundreds of drones were sent. Moscow has been directly targeted once again, with Mayor Sergey Sobyanin announcing the military intercepted nearly 20 inbound drones on the capital over the last half-day.
Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency has described of the flight chaos, “The restrictions were imposed to ensure the safety of civil aircraft flights.”
The Kremlin has said that Putin’s ceasefire offer remains in force, but that the Russian military will undertake the appropriate response if Ukraine doesn’t abide by it. Russian officials have condemned Zelensky for appearing to directly threaten Victory Day parades, such as the main televised events in the Red Square.
A fresh statement from Putin’s spokesman has described the following:
The Russian military is doing everything necessary to ensure that the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory is held in a calm and peaceful atmosphere, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“The Kiev regime continues to demonstrate its true nature, its propensity for terrorist actions. Special services and our military are taking all necessary measures to ensure that the celebration of the Great Victory takes place in a calm, stable, and peaceful atmosphere,” he said.
But it looks like major disruptions are already happening, including drones fired at hit military facilities and airbases, also resulting in forced school closures and internet outages in various provinces.
Key infrastructure inside has Russia has been struck…
Newsweek writes, “Drone attacks caused internet outages in Russia’s Tula, Yaroslavl and Tver regions, where people have complained of disruptions in phone coverage and ATMs, according to the Telegram channel Ostorozhno Novosti, although there are no reports of casualties.”
Russia has at the same time continued deadly strikes on Ukraine, but there are growing fears a larger attack could be unleashed on Kiev, in retaliation for these drone assaults ahead of Russia’s main national civic holiday.
* * *
6. GLOBAL ISSUES//COVID ISSUES/VACCINE ISSUES/HEALTH ISSUE
MARK CRISPIN MILLER
In memory of those who “died suddenly” in the United States and worldwide, April 28-May 5, 2025
memory of those who “died suddenly” in the United States and worldwide, April 28-May 5, 2025
TV star Kirk Medas (Floribama Shore, 33); film exec Andrew Karpen (59, C); cartoonists Jim Smith (Ren & Stimpy), Butch Guice (Marvel); blues “legend” Joe Louis Walker; R&B singer Scott Gertner; & more
| Mark Crispin MillerMay 7 |
A survey of the likely global toll of COVID “vaccination,” based on the reports collected by our worldwide team of researchers this past week.
To help support our work, consider subscribing or making a donation.
UNITED STATES (155)
‘Floribama Shore’ star Kirk Medas dead at 33 after ‘severe’ illness
May 2, 2025

“Floribama Shore” star Kirk Medas has passed away. He was 33. Aimee Hall, who starred alongside Medas on the popular MTV reality show, announced the tragic news on Facebook on Friday, May 2. Medas’ heartbreaking death comes after it was revealed that the reality TV star had been fighting for his life on a ventilator for over two weeks amid a “severe case” of necrotizing pancreatitis and sepsis. He was hospitalized in intensive care on April 18, according to an Instagram post shared by Hall and fellow “Floribama Shore” alum Nilsa Prowant on Thursday. He fell into a coma shortly after. “I’ll never forget the moment they placed him on the ventilator, before the coma took hold. I told him I loved him, and tears rolled from his eyes,” Hall wrote in her moving tribute on Friday. Following “Floribama Shore,” Medas made several special appearances on other reality shows like “Fear Factor” and “Wild ‘n Out.” He also spent his final months posting on Instagram about his fitness and spiritual journey.
Andrew Karpen, Bleecker Street Founder and Respected Independent Film Executive, Dies at 59
April 29, 2025

Andrew Karpen, a widely respected film executive and the founder of Bleecker Street Media, died on Monday in Connecticut. He was 59. Karpen, an easygoing fixture of the indie film scene, was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a form of brain cancer, in 2024. Before launching Bleecker Street in 2014, Karpen served as co-CEO of Focus Features for more than a decade.
‘Ren & Stimpy’ Artist and Spümcø Co-founder Jim Smith Has Died, Age 70
May 5, 2025

Storyboard and Layout artist, character designer and musician Jim Smith (born James Carl Jobb) died on Friday, May 2, of a heart attack at age 70. The animation veteran was perhaps best known for co-founding indie studio Spümcø with working partner John Kricfalusi, Bob Camp and Lynne Naylor and co-developing the influential Nickelodeon series The Ren & Stimpy Show in 1991. Smith was also an accomplished musician: He played the guitar on the Ren & Stimpy theme song, alongside Scott Huml and Chris Reccardi.
Jackson ‘Butch’ Guice, Acclaimed Longtime DC and Marvel Artist, Has Passed Away
May 1, 2025

Jackson “Butch” Guice, an acclaimed artist for Marvel and DC since the early 1980s (and the co-creator of the iconic X-Men villain, Apocalypse), has passed away at the age of 63, according to a social media message from Guice’s brother-in-law, James Hettel. Guice had recently been dealing with some health struggles.
No cause of death reported.
Blues legend Joe Louis Walker passes away
May 3, 2025

Joe Louis Walker passed away at the age of 75. The electric blues musician, passed away due to cardiac-related illness and died surrounded by family, that is, his wife of 16 years, Robin and two daughters, Leena and Bernice, as per Rolling Stone. His career spans for over six decades, where the guitarist and singer worked with artists like Bonnie Raitt and Mark Knopfler. Walker also opened for icons like Muddy Waters and Thelonious Monk, being considered a “musician’s musician” in the genre of blues with Aretha Franklin dubbing him as “The Bluesman.”
Scott Gertner, former owner of Sky Bar in Montrose, 3-time Grammy nominee, passes away
May 1, 2025

HOUSTON, TX – Several reliable sources tell the Isiah Factor Uncensored that legendary and three-time Grammy nominee Scott Gertner [61] has died. In a statement, family members said, “We are deeply saddened today to share the news of the unexpected passing of Houston entertainment icon Scott Gertner. Our family is heartbroken and still processing this sudden loss. We appreciate your expressions of love and kindly ask for privacy as we navigate this difficult time. Funeral details will be shared soon.”
No cause of death reported.
Former Kentucky MBB player Larry Johnson dies at 70
May 2, 2025

Larry Johnson, who made All-SEC Third Team in the 1976-77 season as a 6-foot-2 guard on the Kentucky men’s basketball program, has passed away at the age of 70. After his college career, Johnson, who would have turned 71 years old on November 28 of this year, went on to play one season in the NBA with the Buffalo Braves (now the Los Angeles Clippers). He was selected with the 24th overall pick in the 1977 NBA Draft, but spent most of his professional playing career overseas in Japan before going into a life in coaching.
Researcher’s Note – Johnson passed peacefully on April 29, 2025, in Mount Vernon, KY, surrounded by love. In lieu of flowers, expressions of sympathy and donations may be directed to Rockcastle Regional Hospital and Respiratory Care Center: Link
No cause of death reported.
Two surfers in Hawaii “died suddenly”:
R.I.P. Clyde Aikau. Legendary Big Wave Rider and younger brother of Eddie Aikau passed at 75 away Saturday night
May 5, 2025

Legendary Hawaiian waterman Clyde Aikau, the younger brother of world-renowned waterman Eddie Aikau, passed away peacefully at his Waimanalo home on Saturday evening. Clyde, 75, is survived by his wife Eleni Aikau, son Ha’a Aikau, sister Myra Aikau, nieces and nephews. In recent years, Clyde rallied with his family’s support through a series of heart issues and ultimately pancreatic cancer.
Pioneer of Women’s Surfing at Pipeline Passes Away
April 29, 2025

O’ahu, Hawai’i – The surf world is mourning, as an icon, a pioneer, an innovator in the realm of women’s charging heavy Hawaiian waves, has passed away. Lane Davey has died of cancer; she was 55 years old. In an Instagram post over the weekend, Lane’s husband – legendary surf photographer Sean Davey – announced the news, and shared a beautiful message honoring his late wife. “I lost my best friend early this morning. Lane and I were married for almost 30 beautiful years together. In 2023, Laneski was diagnosed with stage 4 metastasized cancer and given just 2 months to live. Straight away she got to work, fighting this horrible affliction with every fiber of her being. She threw everything at it including the proverbial kitchen sink, along the way enduring 5 serious operations that left her grossly disfigured. I’ve never seen anyone fight so hard to live. Two years down the line and she finally succumbed to the cancer, while still very much fighting the good fight. Lane fought this like a warrior. Many difficult moments today, but none more so than when they wheeled her away, knowing that I’d never see her again. I was inconsolable at that point. I’ve never felt more emotional pain than today. If I can offer anyone out there advice from this, please get yourself properly checked out once a year. For most folks, it’s just a simple blood draw. Lane was an excellent example that it can happen to anyone. Lane didn’t smoke or drink and she was an extremely healthy eater. The absolute last person that you would expect to be afflicted with any disease.”
Researcher’s Note – Davey was “vaccinated” Lane “LaneSki” Davey teaches literature, creative writing, first-year composition, and religion courses as a lecturer at the University of Hawai’i Mānoa: Link
The University of Hawaii today announced that a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination [sic] policy for employees will go into effect on Jan. 3. Under the new policy, all UH employees — including those that are teleworking — will be required to be fully vaccinated [sic] against the COVID-19 virus or receive an approved medical or religious exemption: Link
BMX Rider Davey Watson Has Unexpectedly Died
April 30, 2025

Though details remain scarce, it has come to light that Davey Watson [36] has passed away. While the exact date of his death has not been confirmed, it’s believed that Davey Watson died sometime in late April 2025. The BMX community was quick to respond to the tragic news, as several fans and amateur riders took to social media to offer their condolences, celebrate his legacy, and pay tribute to a rider who meant so much to so many.
No cause of death reported.
Former UW-Whitewater Star Ryan Ponick Dies, Leaving Parents Todd And Kim Ponick
April 29, 2025

Stanley, WI – Ryan Ponick, a former football star and team captain at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, passed away at the young age of 26, leaving his friends, family, and loved ones devastated. The Wisconsin native, Ryan Ponick, passed away on April 23, 2025; however, the information regarding the cause and manner of his untimely death his not yet available.
Former Yankees All-Star Dedicates Home Run to Late Agent After Sudden Death
April 29, 2025
As Detroit Tigers second baseman Gleyber Torres watched his ninth-inning home run sail into the left field sky Tuesday night, the two-time All-Star thought about the man who helped him reach the big leagues. Torres’ longtime agent, Scott Pucino, passed away on Sunday in Illinois. A quick glance at Torres’ social media Tuesday night made it clear just what he thought about Pucino. A cause of death has not been announced for the 71-year-old Pucino, who represented various MLB players.
No cause of death reported.
Eric Gardner, longtime meteorologist with KOTA Territory News, passes away
April 29, 2025

RAPID CITY, S.D. – Eric Gardner, the morning and noon meteorologist with KOTA Territory News, passed away sometime Monday evening. Eric has been an integral part of the KOTA-TV family since December 2002. Eric Gardner was 60 years old.
Researcher’s Note – KOTA-TV (channel 3) is a television station in Rapid City, South Dakota, affiliated with ABC: ABC to Face Trial Over ‘General Hospital’ Firings Tied to COVID-19 Vaccine [sic] Mandates: Link
No cause of death reported.
DR PAUL ALEXANDER
SLAY NEWS
| The latest reports from Slay NewsCanada: Covid mRNA ‘Vaccines’ Caused Surge in Mass DeathsThe Canadian government has just made an explosive admission by revealing that Covid mRNA “vaccines” triggered a devastating surge in deaths among the general public.READ MOREGlobal Study of 19 Million: Official Covid ‘Vaccine’ Data Inflated to Promote ‘Safe & Effective’ NarrativeA major international study of almost 19 million individuals has found that official government data for Covid “vaccines” from several different countries was artificially inflated to make the injections appear “safe and effective” in the eyes of the public.READ MORETrump Launches Crackdown on ‘Dangerous Gain-of-Function Research’President Donald Trump has just signed an executive order to crack down on “dangerous gain-of-function research.”READ MORELawyer of Anti-Trump ‘Whistleblower’ Sues Administration After Security Clearance RevokedA lawyer who represented a “whistleblower” in the impeachment case against President Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit after his government security clearance was revoked.READ MORENew Analysis Debunks Claims That Biden’s Deportation Rate in 2024 Was Higher Than Trump’sA new analysis has debunked corporate media claims that President Donald Trump is lagging behind his predecessor when it comes to deportations.READ MOREFormer Los Angeles Sheriff Dumps Democrats, Joins Republican PartyIn a significant political shift, former Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva has announced that he has dumped the Democrats.READ MORETrump Dismisses 2028 Rumors, Names Possible SuccessorsPresident Donald Trump has dismissed the rumors that he’s planning to run for a third term.READ MORE‘Sopranos’ Actor Charley Scalies Dead at 84Beloved TV actor Charley Scalies, noted for his roles in HBO’s “The Sopranos” and “The Wire,” has died.READ MOREWarning Issued as Alaska Volcano Eruption May Be Imminent After 73 Earthquakes Strike AreaThe Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) has issued a warning over concerns that an eruption at Mount Spurr may be imminent.READ MORETrump: Mexican President ‘So Afraid of Cartels That She Can’t Even Think Straight’President Donald Trump has accused Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum of being too “afraid” to deal with drug cartels.READ MORENewt Gingrich Calls on Trump to ‘Eliminate’ Activist Judges to End ‘Dictatorship’Republican former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has called on President Donald Trump and GOP lawmakers to “eliminate a number of district courts” to end the “dictatorship by judge.”READ MOREDemocrat Rep Compares Illegal Alien Deportations to HolocaustHouse Judiciary Committee member Hank Johnson (D-GA) has provoked a backlash after the Democrat congressman compared the deportation of violent illegal alien gang members to the Holocaust.READ MORE |
NEWS ADDICTS
| LATEST NEWS |
| Jill Biden’s new job revealed after leaving White HouseIt is revealed the former First Lady Jill Biden’s new job following her departure from the White House, staying active in public life and policy. Last week, the Milken Institute announced that Biden will serve as chair of its newly launched Women’s Health Network, an initiative aimed at improving research, funding, and innovation in women’s health care. The Milken Institute, …READ MORE |
| Trump to offer undocumented immigrants $1,000 to self-deportPresident Donald Trump announced Monday a new plan aimed at encouraging illegal immigrants to self-deport, the program offers a $1000 stipend and travel assistance to those who voluntarily leave the United States using a new feature on the CBP Home mobile app. According to DHS, participants who confirm their return to their home country through the app will receive the …READ MORE |
| Trump orders 100% tariff on foreign-produced films, calls it ‘national security issue’President Donald Trump announced Sunday that his administration will impose a 100% tariff on all films produced outside the United States, citing the sharp decline of the domestic movie industry and its potential consequences for national security. “The movie industry in America is dying a very fast death,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “Other countries are offering …READ MORE |
| Trump orders reopening and expansion of Alcatraz to house the ‘most violent offenders’President Donald Trump announced Sunday that he has ordered the reopening and expansion of the federal prison facility on Alcatraz Island, aiming to house what he called “America’s most ruthless and violent offenders.” In a statement posted to Truth Social, Trump said he directed the Bureau of Prisons to coordinate with the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the Department … |
| LATEST REPORTS FOR NEWS JUNKIESFAA Releases Urgent Statement After United Grounds Flights Amid Alarming Newark Airport Radar OutageUnited Airlines pulled 35 round-trip flights a day following a radar outage at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey last week.Last Monday air traffic controllers lost communication with planes flying in and out of Newark for about 90 seconds.National Air Traffic Controllers Association told Bloomberg News that Newark “temporarily lost radar and communications with the aircraft under their control, …READ THE FULL REPORTWatch: Secret Service Pushes Suspicious Man Who Grabs Agent’s Arm, Gets Too Close to IvankaA Secret Service Agent violently pushed a man who appeared to get a little too close to Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner on Saturday night.The First Daughter and her husband were out in Miami on Saturday night attending and event at Carbone Beach.Bystanders surrounded the pair as they were leaving the event in South Beach.A suspicious man carrying …READ THE FULL REPORTDEA Vet Ends ‘Maryland Man’ Hoax, Confirms Abrego Garcia’s MS-13 TattoosPresident Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency laid down the law against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the accused MS-13 gang member deported to El Salvador, during his U.S. Senate confirmation hearing on Monday.Speaking with Sen. Lindsey Graham, Terrence Cole, who currently serves as Virginia’s public safety administrator, appeared relaxed as he returned answers about whether members of …READ THE FULL REPORTUs Has Built $21 Trillion Underground City for Only Wealthy to Hide out In ‘Near-Extinction Event’: OfficialA former housing official recently made a shocking allegation that, if true, will prove the most wasteful and arguably sinister government expenditure of all.Catherine Austin Fitts, who served as the assistant secretary of Housing and Urban Development for Housing between 1989 and 1990, appeared on former Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s podcast last Tuesday to claim that the United States …READ THE FULL REPORTJill Biden Finds a New Gig in the SwampFormer first lady Jill Biden has found a new gig in the swamp, working for the Milken Institute on women’s health issues, according to a press release.The Milken Institute, a center-left nonprofit organization, announced on Tuesday that it would be launching a new “Women’s Health Network.” Jill Biden will serve as the chair of the initiative.Under its new “Women’s Health …READ THE FULL REPORT |
EVOL NEWS
| LATEST NEWS |
| India says it attacked nine sites in Pakistan, Pakistani KashmirIndia announced on Wednesday that its military conducted targeted strikes on nine sites located in Pakistan and Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, claiming these areas were being used to plan attacks against Indian interests. Pakistan has confirmed casualties, reporting at least three people killed and 12 injured based on early assessments. The strikes come at a time of heightened hostilities between the two …READ MORE |
| Supreme Court rules Trump’s transgender military ban can go into effectThe U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) ruled Tuesday to allow the Trump administration’s ban on transgender individuals serving in the military to take effect while ongoing legal challenges play out in lower courts. The Supreme Court decision marks a significant development in a legal fight over a policy that presumptively ban transgender people from serving, reversing a previous Obama-era directive that …READ MORE |
| AG Pam Bondi announces results of ‘historic’ drug bust in New MexicoU.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi held a press conference to announce the results of what she described as a “historic” drug bust carried out in New Mexico as part of a large-scale federal operation led by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The multi-agency effort resulted in the seizure of millions of fentanyl pills, approximately $4 million in cash, 75 pounds …READ MORE |
| Pennsylvania man sentenced to life in prison for murdering Uber driver, mother of fourA Pennsylvania man has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for murdering Uber driver, Christina Spicuzza, a 38-year-old and mother of four. Calvin Crew, 25, was convicted of first-degree murder and received a mandatory life sentence on Monday at the Allegheny County Courthouse in Pittsburgh. In addition to the life term, he was sentenced to …READ MORE` |
MICHAEL EVERY/PHIL MAREY/OR OTHER EXECS //RABOBANK
Rabo: “At Least The PBOC Is Doing Something, While The Fed Will Do Nothing At All”
Wednesday, May 07, 2025 – 10:05 AM
By Michael Every of Rabobank
It’s the Fed today but the rest of the world is rudely busy elsewhere.
In geopolitics:
India’s military struck “terrorist infrastructure” in Pakistan. Islamabad called this “an act of war” and claimed to have shot down 2 Indian fighter jets, disputed by India. There is little danger of these nuclear powers escalating to that level, but we now have three major global military actions/wars underway, again disrupting supply chains and “because markets” thinking.
Conversely, the US will stop striking the Houthis, claiming they will stop attacking ships in the Red Sea: did President Trump take the Houthis out, or did the Houthis taqiyya Trump out? If true, this could see freight rates fall as Suez reopens to business.
However, this bilateral ceasefire doesn’t apply to Houthi attacks on Israel, who got no heads up of the Trump decision. On that note he added, “I’ll discuss that if something happens.” Like international airports being hit, as just happened to both sides (one much harder than the other)?
A Sudanese paramilitary is attacking the Red Sea’s Port Sudan and its airport. All aid comes in from there, which Houthi action had already disrupted. Without it, 25 million Sudanese face starvation risks… with minimal western media coverage or public outrage.
Trump stated, “It’s crunch time for Iran,” then teased, “A very BIG announcement… and it’s really positive… One of the most important announcements in many, many years,” ahead of his trip to the Middle East starting Monday. Who knows what that means.
Trump also said he didn’t need any Canadian products before meeting Canadian PM Carney; then flattered him; then told him perhaps the USMCA trade deal wasn’t needed anymore; then replied, “Never say never,” when told Canada was never going to be for sale. A Canadian take was: “Mr. Trump did not move on his trade war with Canada. Not an inch. In the Oval Office, Mr. Carney wasn‘t nearly as tough-talking as he had been when campaigning for office.”
The Wall Street Journal reports ‘US Orders Intelligence Agencies to Step Up Spying on Greenland’, where this “Effort underscores the seriousness of Trump’s intent to acquire the island from Denmark.” That’s at least consistent – and again, welcome to Monroe Doctrine realpolitik.
German Chancellor Merz humiliatingly failed to be elected by the Bundestag at his first attempt, only getting there second time round, and still with a few defectors from his coalition. Not the best of starts for what’s supposed to be a transformative period of leadership, as the AfD rises above his CDU to become the most popular party in the country.
In geoeconomics:
The UK agreed an FTA with India allowing citizens from both to avoid paying National Insurance (NI) if working in the other for three years, which hugely favours India. This is sold as a win by the Labour Party that cut winter fuel allowances to pensioners to look tough, raising little revenue but smashing its popularity. This deal adds £4.8bn to UK GDP by 2040, so under 10 pence a week per capita, and is opposed by the Conservative and Reform parties and even some Labour MPs privately, given the government just raised NI on workers. The Daily Mail puts it: “Fury at ‘two-tier Keir’s’ tax break for Indian workers that will make it cheaper to employ foreign staff.”
From the India side this is being acclaimed as a big win, and it is. Moreover, in their eyes the chances of the UK now flooding them with manufactured goods, as happened with their ASEAN FTA, is minimal given the UK doesn’t make much they need. Note their underlying assumption that FTAs are aimed at net exporting more while the UK seems to think they are a good thing, “because markets.”
US Treasury Secretary Bessent again said the US is close to trade deals with 17 countries, and again these could be announced soon. He added the US doesn’t wish to decouple from China, just regain production in key sectors.
He and the USTR are to travel to Switzerland later this week to meet Chinese economic officials, including Vice Premier He Lifeng, for talks. These are apparently aimed at de-escalation rather than a trade deal. However, China’s Commerce Ministry said these must be “equitable and mutually beneficial [and] China will safeguard its national interest and won’t compromise principles for an agreement.” Where that leaves room for compromise remains to be seen, but markets will love it regardless.
Politico says, ‘EU countries soften push to stop Chinese tech buyouts’ as “Capitals are set to weaken rules that would require them to scrutinize foreign investments in sensitive technologies such as semiconductors and AI, a draft document shows.” Really, what could go wrong there as the US makes clear it *will* decouple from China in these areas, and China’s Xi heads to Moscow to wave next to Russia’s Putin?
Notable for its zeitgeist, the FT’s Martin Wolf appears to have had a Damascene conversion in his latest op-ed. He now wants the US and China to lose the trade war because the latter is a mercantilist (who knew!) – but he still believes it must shift to domestic consumption ahead, “because markets.” Which is of course how all mercantilists think and act, right?
In markets:
The PBOC cut its 7-day reverse repo rate from 1.5% to 1.4% and trimmed banks’ Reserve Requirement Ratio another 50bps, alongside a 25bp cut for targeted lending to priority sectors like tech and green finance and to housing loans, as well as increasing facilities like the Securities, Fund, and Insurance Swap Facility and share buyback lending programs by CNY800bn. It also pledged to maintain “ample liquidity” through tools like the Medium-term Lending Facility (MLF) and open market operations. However, none of the above measures individually or collectively have managed to reverse the trend lower in underlying GDP growth rates and consumer sentiment so far, and they look even less able to lean against the tectonic plate-shifting going on in geopolitics and geoeconomics.
Then again, at least the PBOC are doing something, when the Fed today is likely to do nothing at all.
7.OIL AND NATURAL GAS ISSUES/GLOBAL/ENERGY/
8. EMERGING MARKETS//AUSTRALIA NEW ZEALAND ISSUE
INDIA/PAKISTAN
7 PM TUESDAY
India Confirms Strikes On Pakistan’s “Terrorist Camps”; Pakistan Claims 5 Jets Shot-Down
Tuesday, May 06, 2025 – 04:45 PM
Update (1945ET): India confirmed early Wednesday that it had conducted strikes on Pakistan, two weeks after more than two dozen civilians were killed in a terrorist attack in Indian-administered Kashmir.
India said it had struck Pakistan after gathering evidence “pointing towards the clear involvement of Pakistan-based terrorists” in last month’s attack on civilians in a tourist area in Kashmir.
It said that its military actions on Wednesday had been “measured, responsible and designed to be nonescalatory in nature.”
It added that it had targeted only “known terror camps.”
India’s defense ministry said in the statement that nine sites had been targeted in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
“Our actions have been focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature,” it said in a statement, calling it “Operation Sindoor.”
com/SpokespersonMoD/status/1919857186655944825?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5
US President Donald Trump, speaking in the Oval Office on Tuesday, called the situation “a shame.”
The US had tried to calm tensions, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio reaching out to both sides last week.
“They’ve been fighting for a long time,” Trump said.
“I just hope it ends very quickly.”
The Indian government said its forces had struck nine sites in Pakistan and on Pakistan’s side of the disputed Kashmir region.
Pakistani military officials said that five places had been hit, in Punjab Province and its part of Kashmir.
“The wildcard is the Pakistani response to this,” said Aroop Chatterjee, managing director for macro strategy and emerging markets at Wells Fargo in New York.
“If it’s similarly measured then we can potentially de-escalate.”
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called India’s actions a “cowardly attack” and said the nation would retaliate.
Pakistan said it shot down five Indian airplanes and took Indian soldiers prisoner in retaliation to Indian military strikes early Wednesday.
The downing of the jets are not “hostile acts” and Pakistan was defending its territory, the country’s Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said in an interview with Bloomberg TV on Wednesday.
* * *
Things just escalated in a huge and dangerous way between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan, with the Indian government confirming it has launched strikes on nine sites inside Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
“No Pakistani military facilities have been targeted,” the statement added according to Reuters, in a ‘counter-terror’ operation dubbed “Operation Sindoor”.

India identified that it hit the terrorist infrastructure of Islamist groups in retaliation for the April 22 terror attack on Indian tourists in Kashmir which killed 26 in the scenic Pahalgam area.
The victims had been singled out by the gunmen, which the Indian government has suggested were sponsored by Pakistan, for being Hindu in a sectarian mass killing.
“These steps come in the wake of the barbaric Pahalgam terrorist attack in which 25 Indians and one Nepali citizen were murdered. We are living up to the commitment that those responsible for this attack will be held accountable,” India’s statement read in the wake of the new military action.
The fact that India is taking pains to let the Pakistani side know that no official military sites were targeted strongly suggests New Delhi is trying to strike without it leading to escalation.
Tensions have been soaring since last month, with mirror build-ups of forces on both sides of the disputed Line of Control (LOC) which separates the two countries. There have been military drills, and even recent ballistic missile test launches by Pakistan.
Pakistani security officials have said a child was killed and two others were injured in the early Thursday (local) attack. India said that these were “sites where terrorist attacks against India have been planned.”
The statement continued, “Our actions have been focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature. It claimed, “India has demonstrated considerable restraint in selection of targets and method of execution.”
Dubious reports quickly emerged that jets have been shot down, but these claims appears to be completely unverified. Fake claims and counter-claims have been flying in the hours after these cross-border strikes.
Is this the big escalation many have feared, or will this episode of attacks on apparently unaffiliated terror groups within Pakistan’s zone of control lead to de-escalation and cooling? It depends largely on if Pakistan responds militarily. The two sides hate each other and have fought at least three historic wars.
END
9 PM
India Confirms Strikes On 9 Pakistan “Terrorist Camps”; Pakistan Claims 5 Jets Shot-Down
Tuesday, May 06, 2025 – 04:45 PM
Summary:
- India carried out airstrikes on 9 “terrorist camp” locations in Pakistan
- Pakistan shot down at least 1 (up to 5) Indian Air Force fighter jets
- Heavy Artillery fire along the Line of Control
- Pakistan’s army spox, Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, has said at least eight people were killed and 35 injured.
And more developments from Peter Tchir of Academy Securities overnight:
- General Waddell from our GIG believes this suggests that unless Pakistan escalates through military actions, this operation is likely going to be India’s full response to the recent terrorist attacks.
- India said it had launched the operation against Pakistan after gathering evidence “pointing towards the clear involvement of Pakistan-based terrorists” in last month’s attack on civilians in Kashmir.
- Pakistan said that the Indian actions “will not go unanswered” and that it would respond at “a time and place of its own choosing.”
- While unconfirmed, a senior Pakistani intelligence source said three Indian jets (and a drone) were shot down in locations “within Indian territory.”
- In 2016 and 2019, India conducted more limited strikes into Pakistani-controlled territory, but this time the concern is that by hitting a large number of sites in Pakistan and striking Punjab (deeper into Pakistan), there could be a greater risk of escalation.
From the Indian Army’s official account:
END
9 AM WEDNESDAY
Pakistan Closes Airspace For 48 Hours, Authorizes Response To Indian Attack Which “Ignited Inferno In Region”
Wednesday, May 07, 2025 – 09:05 AM
Though aerial fighting between nuclear-armed rivals does not appear to be sustained and ongoing at this point, Pakistan has closed its airspace for nearly all flights on Wednesday, in the aftermath of the Indian cross-border strikes which killed at least 26 people – including a 3-year-old girl – and wounding at least 46 other people, Pakistani authorities say based on the latest revised death toll. International carriers have also canceled flights to the region, and access to social media, including X, was temporarily blocked in Pakistan amid the assault. Heavy shelling is being reported along the Line of Control (LOC) separating the historic enemy nations.
The true casualty toll could be higher, as a Pakistani militant chief targeted in the attacks on ‘terror camps’ said 10 of his relatives, including five children, were killed. The Islamist group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) was one of the groups targeted, and its leader Masood Azhar said his older sister, brother-in-law, his nephew and niece are among the dead.
Pakistan says that civilians were harmed and targeted that mosques were targeted across six locations in its territory, and so has the right to respond to aggression. Indian has said it attacked nine terror sites, but has been careful to stipulate these were non-military locations.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has ordered his armed forces to prepare a plan for “self-defense” with “corresponding actions” in order “avenge the loss of innocent Pakistani lives”. The order was issued after an emergency National Security Commitee (NSC) meeting on Wednesday.
“Pakistan reserves the right to respond, in self-defense, at a time, place, and manner of its choosing to avenge the loss of innocent Pakistani lives and blatant violation of its sovereignty,” the NSC readout said. “The Armed Forces of Pakistan have duly been authorized to undertake corresponding actions in this regard.”
Pakistan’s Government Security Committee has charged that India has “ignited an inferno in the region”. These do indeed seem to be fighting words.
What India has dubbed ‘Operation Sindoor’ is intended to be limited, Indian leaders have said, but it’s highly questionable whether it was a ‘success’ – given that India lost at least one or possibly up to five fighter jets.
Social media images and footage, including issued by AFP, appear to confirm that aircrafts were downed but without further clear or verified details:
Pakistani military sources later said they shot down five Indian Air Force jets and one drone in “self-defense,” claiming three Rafale jets – sophisticated multi-role fighters made in France – were among those downed as well as a MiG-29 and an SU-30 fighter.
A local resident and government official told CNN that an unidentified fighter aircraft had crashed on a school building in Indian-administered Kashmir.

“Pakistani officials released a video showing smoke rising from apparent wreckage that officials claimed was one of the downed planes,” Washington Post also writes. “The claims could not be independently verified, and the Indian government had no immediate response.”
While India has hailed the operation an appropriate response to the terror attacks in Indian-administered Kashmir which left 25 Indians and one Nepali dead, New Delhi is assuring the world that it will “retaliate resolutely” if Pakistan strikes back.
But Pakistan could be readying to do just that, as it is now a no-fly zone for the next 48 hours.
According to a regional source, “During, and shortly after India’s strikes on Pakistani terror camps – between 1:05 am IST and 1:30 am IST – all flights to Islamabad and Lahore were diverted to Karachi Airport, where flight ops came under severe stress. Following this, the entire airspace was shut down, except few essential flights.”

Below are some notable quotes from Pakistan’s PM Sharif in his emergency address to the country’s parliament:
- “On April 22, Pahalgam … had a sad incident. Indian media and politicians went on to make false allegations against Pakistan. They tried to show the world that, God forbid, Pakistan is behind this incident.”
- “I said [at the time] Pakistan has no linkages with this incident, and I went on to say that if anyone has any issues, then they should go ahead with an international commission and Pakistan will cooperate so that things could come clear.”
- “Last night, they [India] had, all in all, 80 jets with which they attacked six places in Pakistan, including two in [Pakistani-administered Kashmir].”
- “The Pakistani side was completely ready. …Our jets did not [leave] our airspace.”
- “The moment the Indian side released payloads, we engaged their jets and shot five Indian jets … some of which fell in Indian-occupied Kashmir and one in Bathinda.”

Increasing the state of tensions further, India on Wednesday is holding mock air raid and other emergency drills across dozens of districts near the Pakistani border considered high risk, the Indian Express newspaper reports.
Strike locations via Al Jazeera map:

Below is a compilation of reactions from world leaders via CNN:
- United States: President Donald Trump called India’s military operation against Pakistan “a shame.” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke to the national security advisers from India and Pakistan and urged “both to keep lines of communication open and avoid escalation.”
- United Arab Emirates: The UAE has asked for India and Pakistan “to exercise restraint, de-escalate tensions, and avoid further escalation that could threaten regional and international peace.”
- United Nations: UN Secretary-General António Guterres has “expressed deep concern over Indian military operations across the Line of Control and the international border with Pakistan.”
- Japan: Yoshimasa Hayashi, Japanese chief cabinet secretary, said Tokyo was “deeply concerned this incident could incite retaliation and escalate to a full-scale military conflict” and urged both India and Pakistan “to exercise restraint and stabilize the situation through dialogue.”
- China: China has expressed regret over India’s military action against Pakistan and said it’s concerned about the current developments. “India and Pakistan are neighbors that cannot be moved, and both are also China’s neighbors,” a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Wednesday. China has been trying to improve relations with India as part of a broader diplomatic push to counter pressure from the Trump administration. Pakistan, meanwhile, is one of China’s closest partners and a key supporter of its Belt and Road Initiative.
- Russia: Russia’s foreign ministry said it was deeply concerned about the growing military confrontation between India and Pakistan and called for both countries to show restraint, Russian state media TASS reported. The Kremlin has close relations with both India and Pakistan, but has been historically close to New Delhi, dating back to the Soviet era. Russia is also one of India’s key arms suppliers.
- Turkey: The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was following the developments “with concern,” warning that India’s overnight attacks “raises the risk of an all-out war.” “We condemn such provocative steps as well as attacks targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure.” It added that it echoed Pakistan’s calls for an investigation into the April 22 terrorist attack.
Shelling is reportedly ongoing near the Line of Control (LOC), and social media users have captured daytime explosions in border villages and towns.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg observes of regional south Asian markets that “Pakistan stocks slumped as India conducted targeted military strikes against the nation. Shares in India were relatively steady after the strikes.” And the Philippines’ key stock index “gained as much as 1.8% after the country’s central bank chief said further reductions in interest rates were on the table for this year.”
END
CANADA
Fading Canada
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by Portfolio Armor
Tuesday, May 06, 2025 – 19:38
A Painful Visit For Canada’s New Prime Minister
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney couldn’t have been encouraged by President Trump’s comments ahead of their meeting on Tuesday. As ZeroHedge reported:
Update (1130ET): Ahead of his meeting with freshly elected Canadian PM Mark Carney, President Trump has made his feelings clear about the relationship with USA’s northern neighbor.
In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, President Trump
“I look forward to meeting the new Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney. I very much want to work with him, but cannot understand one simple TRUTH – Why is America subsidizing Canada by $200 Billion Dollars a year, in addition to giving them FREE Military Protection, and many other things?”
Trump then went further:
“We don’t need their Cars, we don’t need their Energy, we don’t need their Lumber, we don’t need ANYTHING they have, other than their friendship, which hopefully we will always maintain.
They, on the other hand, need EVERYTHING from us!
The Prime Minister will be arriving shortly and that will be, most likely, my only question of consequence.
Things didn’t get better for Carney once he got to the White House. A reporter asked Trump if there was anything Carney could so in their meeting that would prompt Trump to lift his tariffs. Trump said no. Asked why, he said, “That’s just the way it is.”
X.com/BehizyTweets/status/1919801084765200777?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%
So, once again, it looks like the Trump tariffs are set to continue.
The Trump Tariffs Continue
As we’ve mentioned before, the $64 trillion question is whether Trump’s tariffs are intended to balance trade (in which case, they’re sticking around) or a negotiating tactic (in which case, they’ll be rolled back).
On Sunday, we got two more indications that they’re meant to balance trade. The first was in a WSJ op/ed by Treasury Secretary Bessent, in which he wrote, “Tariffs are an effective tool for balancing international commerce.” (counterpoint: today Bessent suggested there could be trade deals as soon as this week). The second was a new tariff announced by President Trump, a 100% tariff on foreign movies.
Angle On: Canada
One country where a lot of movies shown in America are at least partially filmed is Canada. Coincidentally, Portfolio Armor Substack subscriber Zach asked over the weekend if we would be placing more bearish trades on Canadian names, as the prosect that the tariffs mostly won’t be rolled back doesn’t seem priced in yet. We noted that one of our trucking-related names last week was Canadian,
And said we’d do some more research on other possible Canadian stocks we could bet against. We looked for names that met these three criteria:
- Have shares traded in the U.S.
- Have options traded on those shares.
- Are likely to be materially negatively impacted by new U.S. tariffs.
And we came up with five:

On Wednesday, we placed bearish bets on all of them. You can read the details about that here.
And if you’d like to add some downside protection here, in light of legendary hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones’s warning about new lows, you can download our optimal hedging app by aiming your iPhone camera at the QR code below (or by tapping here, if you’re reading this on your phone). Our app can help you find the least expensive hedges given your risk tolerance and time frame.
YOUR EARLY CURRENCY/GOLD AND SILVER PRICING/ASIAN CLOSING MARKETS AND EUROPEAN BOURSE OPENING AND CLOSING/ INTEREST RATE SETTINGS WEDNESDAY MORNING 6;30AM//OPENING AND CLOSING
EURO/USA: 1.1358 UP 0.0018 PTS OR 18 BASIS POINTS
USA/ YEN 143.29 UP 0.202 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 1.3335 DOWN .0016 OR 16 BASIS PTS
USA/CAN DOLLAR: 1.3796 UP 0.0025 (CDN DOLLAR UP 25 BASIS PTS)
Last night Shanghai COMPOSITE UP 26.55 PTS OR 0.80%
Hang Seng CLOSED UP 29.17 PTS OR .13%
AUSTRALIA CLOSED UP .36%
// EUROPEAN BOURSE: ALL RED
Trading from Europe and ASIA
I) EUROPEAN BOURSES: ALL RED
2/ CHINESE BOURSES / :Hang SENG CLOSED UP 29.17 PTS OR .13%
/SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 26.55 PTS OR 0.80%
AUSTRALIA BOURSE CLOSED UP 0.36%
(Nikkei (Japan) CLOSED
INDIA’S SENSEX IN THE GREEN
Gold very early morning trading: 3375,75
silver:$32.76
USA dollar index early WEDNESDAY morning: 99.32 UP .26 BASIS POINTS FROM TUESDAY’s CLOSE.
WEDNESDAY MORNING NUMBERS ENDS
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And now your closing WEDNESDAY NUMBERS 1: 30 AM
Portuguese 10 year bond yield: 3.021% DOWN 6 in basis point(s) yield
JAPANESE BOND YIELD: +1.318% UP 4 FULL POINTS AND 0/100 BASIS POINTS /JAPAN losing control of its yield curve/
SPANISH 10 YR BOND YIELD: 3.145 DOWN 6 in basis points yield
ITALIAN 10 YR BOND YIELD 3.564 DOWN 8 points in basis points yield ./ THE ECB IS QE’ ING ITALIAN BONDS (BUYING ITALIAN BONDS/SELLING GERMAN BUNDS)
GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD: 2.4890 DOWN 5 BASIS PTS
IMPORTANT CURRENCY CLOSES : MID DAY WEDNESDAY
Closing currency crosses for day /USA DOLLAR INDEX/USA 10 YR BOND YIELD/1:00 PM
Euro/USA 1.1358 UP .0018 OR 18 basis points
USA/Japan: 143.26 UP 0.175 OR YEN IS DOWN 17 BASIS PTS//
Great Britain 10 YR RATE 4.510 DOWN 8 BASIS POINTS //
Canadian dollar DOWN 0.0023 OR 23 BASIS pts to 1.3795
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The USA/Yuan CNY DOWN AT 7.2254, CNY ON SHORE ..CHINA MUST DEVALUE TO GOLD
THE USA/YUAN OFFSHORE DOWN TO 7.2189:
TURKISH LIRA: 38.64 EXTREMELY DANGEROUS LEVEL/DEATH WATCH/HYPERINFLATION TO BEGIN.//
the 10 yr Japanese bond yield at +1.271
Your closing 10 yr US bond yield DOWN 2 in basis points from TUESDAY at 4.295% //trading well ABOVE the resistance level of 2.27-2.32%)
USA 30 yr bond yield 4.777 DOWN 2 in basis points /11:00 AM
USA 2 YR BOND YIELD: 3.797 DOWN 1 BASIS PTS.
GOLD AT 11;00 AM 3390.00
SILVER AT 11;00: 32.77
Your 11:00 AM bourses for Europe and the Dow along with the USA dollar index closing and interest rates: WEDNESDAY CLOSING TIME 11:00 AM//
London: CLOSED DOWN 38.09 PTS OR 0.44%
GERMAN DAX: CLOSED DOWN 133.69 pts or 0.55%
FRANCE: CLOSED DOWN 70.08 pts or 0.91%
Spain IBEX CLOSED DOWN 49.80 pts or 0.37 %
Italian MIB: CLOSED DOWN 240.74or 0.42%
WTI Oil price 59.03 11 EST/
Brent Oil: 61.45 11:00 EST
USA /RUSSIAN ROUBLE /// AT: 81.21 ROUBLE UP 0 AND 27/ 100
GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD; +2.4890 DOWN 7 BASIS PTS.
UK 10 YR YIELD: 4.510 DOWN 8 BASIS POINTS
CDN 10 YEAR RATE: 3.154 DOWN 1 BASIS PTS.
CDN 5 YEAR RATE: 2.753 DOWN 2 BASIS PTS
CLOSING NUMBERS: 4 PM
Euro vs USA 1.1307 DOWN 0.0033 OR 33 BASIS POINTS//
British Pound: 1.3297 DOWN .0055 OR 55 basis pts/
BRITISH 10 YR GILT BOND YIELD: 4.4595 DOWN 5 FULL BASIS PTS//
JAPAN 10 YR YIELD: 1.317
USA dollar vs Japanese Yen: 142.94 UP 0.866 BASIS PTS
USA dollar vs Canadian dollar: 1.3827 UP 0.0056 BASIS PTS CDN DOLLAR DOWN 56 BASIS PTS
West Texas intermediate oil: 57.91
Brent OIL: 61.05
USA 10 yr bond yield DOWN 4 BASIS pts to 4.276
USA 30 yr bond yield DOWN 4 PTS to 4.773%
USA 2 YR BOND: DOWN 6 PTS AT 3.787%
CDN 10 YR RATE 3.170 DOWN 2 BASIS PTS
CDN 5 YEAR RATE: 2.763 DOWN 3 BASIS PTS
USA dollar index: 99.63 UP 49 BASIS POINTS
USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 38.64 GETTING QUITE CLOSE TO BLOWING UP/
USA DOLLAR VS RUSSIA//// ROUBLE: 80.41 UP 1 AND 50/100 roubles
GOLD $3370.00 (3:30 PM)
SILVER: 32.36 (3:30 PM)
DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE: UP 274.69 OR 0.67%
NASDAQ 100 UP 46.40 PTS OR 0.26%
VOLATILITY INDEX: 23.54 DOWN 1.22 PTS OR 5.18%
GLD: $ 310.25 DOWN 4.73 PTS OR 1.50%
SLV/ $29.49 DOWN 0.73 PTS OR OR 2.42%
TORONTO STOCK INDEX// TSX INDEX: CLOSED UP 132.99 OR 0.43%
end
TRADING today ZEROHEDGE 4 PM: HEADLINE NEWS
Stocks, Bonds, & Bitcoin Jump On China ‘Hope’, Powell ‘Nope’, & Trump ‘Rope-a-Dope’
AFTERNOON BIG NEWS
Fed Rejects Trump Calls To Cut Rates: Warns Of “Increased” Stagflationary “Uncertain
Wednesday, May 07, 2025 – 02:00 PM
Since the last FOMC meeting, on March 19th, a great deal has happened – Liberation Day, bond market crisis, stock market crash, a tariff pause, stock market surge, sentiment slump but labor market and hard data surged… and trump has demanded rate-cuts… oh and China cut rates and flooded the zone with liquidity…
Gold has been a dramatic outperformer since March, stocks are rather shockingly unchanged-ish (after collapsing on Liberation Day), Treasury yields are higher, while crude has collapsed…

‘Soft’ data has collapsed since the last FOMC meeting while ‘hard’ data has improved…

Should Powell be pre-emptively cutting... like he did when financial conditions tightened ahead of the election…

The market is expecting only 3 cuts this year now (up from 2 cuts before the last FOMC)…

…and nothing from The Fed today…

And that’s what they got…
- *FED HOLDS BENCHMARK RATE IN 4.25%-4.5% TARGET RANGE
But risks have risen on both sides – raising the spectre of stagflation:
“The Committee is attentive to the risks to both sides of its dual mandate and judges that the risks of higher unemployment and higher inflation have risen.“
“The unemployment rate has stabilized at a low level in recent months, and labor market conditions remain solid. Inflation remains somewhat elevated.”
Uncertainty has risen:
“Uncertainty about the economic outlook has increased further.”
The new statement makes specific reference to trade’s impact on GDP in Q1…
“Although swings in net exports have affected the data, recent indicators suggest that economic activity has continued to expand at a solid pace.”
Read the full redline here…

And so all eyes and ears are now focus on what Powell says at the presser for Powell to explain the difference:
- Sept 2024: weak soft data, tight financial conditions, August market crash, cut rates by 50bps
- May 2025: weak soft data, tight financial conditions, April market crash, pause
Oh, one more difference: Sept 2024: Democrat President; May 2025: Trump President
USA DATA
Consumer Debt Jumps In March As Student Debt Unexpectedly Soars
Wednesday, May 07, 2025 – 04:00 PM
One month ago, just as our long-running narrative that US consumers had been living with maxed out credit cards for the past year was becoming mainstream, the Fed’s February consumer credit data confirmed as much: a huge, 6-sigma miss to expectations of a $15BN print, when the actual number came in at a negative $1BN (and far below the lowest estimate)….

… as a result of both Revolving and non-revolving credit coming in flat or negative.

Fast forward to today when amid rising hopes that we would finally get some trend in the soft credit data, the Fed reported that in March, consumer credit… spiked right back to normal, if largely on the back on non-revolving credit. As shown in the chart below, after February $0.6BN contraction, in March consumer credit rose by $10.2BN, just above the $9.4BN expected, and the first time in months consumer credit wasn’t a shock outlier either up or down.

The composition was familiar: revolving credit (i.e., credit card debt) rose by a modest $1.9BN, better than the $0.3BN drop in February, but excluding that, the lowest print since December.

Meanwhile, non-revolving credit jumped by $8.3 billion, the second highest monthly increase since July 2024.

Why? Well, the answer is rather bizarre because while auto loans shrank by $10 billion in Q1, the biggest quarterly decline in a decade, it was student debt, that debt which is now causing widespread defaults as millions can not afford to pay it as the moratorium is over, that unexpectedly surged by $22BN in Q1 to $1,797 billion, a new all time high.

How realistic is it that in a time when millions of former “students” are about to start defaulting en masse, that it is student loans which are again propelling consumer spending, we keep a close eye on this series because while many expect that the student loan bubble bursting will accelerate the recession, we may be getting just the opposite as Trump takes another page from the Biden playbook and starts firehosing “student” loans to anyone with a pulse who can fog a mirror.
USA ECONOMIC NEWS
Chapter 7 Individual Bankruptcies In April Rise By 16% Year-Over-Year
Tuesday, May 06, 2025 – 09:45 PM
Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times,
Chapter 7 bankruptcy filings by Americans rose by 16 percent year over year to hit 30,961 filings in April, the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) said in a May 2 statement.

Total bankruptcy filings, which include submissions from both individuals and businesses, were up by 9 percent on an annual basis.
When an individual resorts to Chapter 7 bankruptcy, the court assesses the value of his or her assets and sells them to pay off as many outstanding debts as possible. Any remaining debt is canceled. The individual gets to keep some of the assets that were exempted from the process.
“The 9 percent increase in total bankruptcy filings in April 2025, particularly the 16 percent surge in individual chapter 7 filings, reflects the mounting financial strain on households, elevated prices, and higher borrowing costs,” Michael Hunter, vice president of bankruptcy data provider Epiq AACER, said in a statement.
While individual bankruptcy filing numbers jumped in April, the country’s overall economic situation has improved over the past months, according to employment and inflation data.
In April, the U.S. economy added 177,000 new jobs, which followed 185,000 additions in March, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was quoted as saying in a May 2 White House Fact Sheet:
“This is the second month in a row where the jobs report has beat expectations. Wages are continuing to rise and labor force participation is increasing. This is exactly what we want to see. More Americans working for higher wages. More winning is on the way!”
Meanwhile, according to BLS data, the 12-month annual inflation rate dipped to 2.4 percent in March, equaling the September low. Since June 2024, the inflation rate has remained at or below the 3 percent level, easing price pressure on customers.
A Gallup survey published on April 30 showed that 29 percent of Americans cited inflation or the high cost of living as the most important financial issue facing their families. It is down from 41 percent last year.
Commercial Bankruptcy, Private Equity
According to the May 2 ABI statement, overall commercial bankruptcy filings made by businesses decreased by 12 percent in April on an annual basis.
There was a 4 percent growth in subchapter V business filings, which “highlights the ongoing challenges for small businesses seeking relief, pointing to a broader need for accessible restructuring options,” Hunter said.
There are concerns about the role of private equity investments in business bankruptcies.
In an April 25 post, the Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP), a nonprofit watchdog, found there was a “disproportionate number” of private equity involvement in bankruptcies during the first quarter of 2025.
After analyzing bankruptcies of companies with more than $1 billion in liabilities, PESP discovered that seven out of 10 bankruptcies were of businesses owned by a private equity company, even though private equity only makes up 6.5 percent of the U.S. economy.
“This continues a troubling trend: in 2024, private equity-backed companies comprised 11 percent of all bankruptcies and 54 percent of large bankruptcies (those with over $1 billion in liabilities),” PESP said.
“Just three months into 2025, the industry is already outpacing that track record.”
According to PESP, private equity focuses on short-term gains and rapid value extraction from businesses they invest in, thereby risking the long-term sustainability of the entities.
Focusing on rapid financial gains can result in “significant mismanagement” and instability, thereby pushing up bankruptcy rates among private equity-owned businesses.
“Bankruptcies are a key bellwether signaling the broader risks associated with private equity investments. For investors and the public alike, bankruptcy trends mark a critical moment and highlight the industry’s need for regulation and transparency,” the nonprofit said.
END
Countdown To Shortages? Last Cargo Ships From China Arrive In US Port
Wednesday, May 07, 2025 – 10:25 AM
US tariffs on most Chinese goods are currently holding at 145%, but were not applied to goods transported by cargo ships already at sea. This means that many of the products still flowing through US ports do not require companies to pay extra duties. This is about to change, however, as the last ships from China that are free from tariff charges are now finally arriving to the West Coast.
The effects of the tariffs are already hitting China like a sledgehammer. Numerous companies have cancelled orders from Chinese manufacturers and businesses are implementing a “wait and see” strategy (when they should be looking for alternative suppliers). Some companies are searching for port storage facilities to hold their goods in the hopes that tariffs will be removed. Ultimately, this means that many of China’s factories are going to remain shut down, perhaps for months.
The establishment media in the US is hyping up the event as potentially “worse than covid” in terms of impending shortages, but is this really the case? Are empty shelves on the way?
The pandemic comparison ironically betrays a certain faulty logic on the part of journalists and pro-globalism economists. Even in the midst of the lockdowns, the supply chain remained relatively adaptable. It’s hard to believe that tariffs could be worse considering not all manufacturing countries are facing the same obstacles.
China in particular is not as integral to America’s supply chain as it once was. Since 2018, US imports from China have dropped from 21% of total goods to 13% of total goods. US dependency on China has been in steep decline. Only 7% of US exports go to the Chinese; a negligible portion of total GDP.
On the other hand, China is in serious trouble. Though their exports to the US have fallen to 15% of total goods, the communist nation is in the middle of a crushing deflationary crisis. Any major shocks to their system at this juncture will cause a long term crisis. Furthermore, there’s no replacement consumer market to fill the void that the US leaves behind. The US alone represents 30% of the total global consumer market. Nearly every manufacturer in the world is reliant on American purchases.
Even more dangerous is China’s reliance on US agricultural goods. Their imports from the US have dropped from 29% in 2009 to 13% in 2024, but their food supply is still precarious. Again, any shock to this area of their economy could have far reaching repercussions.
There are, however, some risks to the US. For example, a large percentage of over the counter drugs and some antibiotics in the US are sourced from China (about 95% of U.S. ibuprofen comes from China, for example). Around 20% of apparel imports and 24% of textile imports come from China. From 60% to 80% of many consumer electronic items in the US are manufactured in China, including smartphones, laptops and game consoles. Around 80% of all toys in the US are made in China.
While over the counter drug shortages might represent a viable problem, many of the goods Americans buy from China are less necessary.
More significant economic effects will probably be visible in smaller boutique businesses that import materials for their products. Companies that rely on China for cheap bottles, cans, containers, boxes and labels, etc. to package their goods. Small businesses will take a hit if they source completely from China, and will probably raise their prices as they look for alternatives.
The direct-from-China loophole has also been closed, so international direct importers like Temu, Shein and Aliexpress will take a hit.

It is unlikely that tariffs on China alone will have a dramatic effect on US supplies. A number of corporations are already moving their manufacturing elsewhere and some companies are already relocating some factories to the US. That said, US domestic manufacturing is definitely not what it used to be and it’s not ready to fill gaps in the supply chain left behind by major export nations. If a significant number of countries are forced to shut down factories at the same time, shortages could indeed be a threat.
Domestic production needs to become a center stage issue for the Trump Administration, which has been laser focused on tariffs but has not given a detailed enough plan for bringing back “Made In USA” fast enough to compensate for the consequences. The American public needs to hear how exactly this will be done.
In the meantime, its far more likely that China will implode under the weight of the tariffs and its ongoing deflationary crisis. If the CCP wants to avoid a massive jobless rate and civil unrest, they will blink.
END
IT BEGINS!!
Crackdown On Student Loan Defaulters To Begin With Benefit Seizure, Then Wage Garnishment
Wednesday, May 07, 2025 – 12:40 PM
Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times,
The U.S. government will begin seizing federal benefits from 195,000 student loan defaulters in June, with wage garnishment notices set to reach 5.3 million borrowers later this summer, the Education Department announced on May 5, marking the formal restart of involuntary collections after a years-long pause.

The renewed enforcement effort begins with the Treasury Offset Program, which allows the federal government to intercept tax refunds, Social Security checks, and other federal payments to recover unpaid student debt. Borrowers affected by the program began receiving notices this week, the department said.
“Starting today, approximately 195,000 defaulted student loan borrowers will begin receiving an official 30-day notice from the U.S. Department of Treasury notifying them that their federal benefits will be subjected to the Treasury Offset Program,” the Education Department said in Monday’s announcement.
Following the notice period, administrative wage garnishment will begin later this summer for all 5.3 million borrowers who remain in default. Guaranty agencies have also been authorized to resume involuntary collections on defaulted loans under the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program, the department added.
The move officially ends a pandemic-era freeze first imposed in March 2020 under President Donald Trump and extended multiple times under the Biden administration. Although payments officially resumed in fall 2023, most collection efforts remained paused—until now.
In an April 21 statement previewing the shift, the department said the decision was necessary to “restore common sense and fairness” and protect taxpayers, citing data that only 38 percent of the 42.7 million federal student loan borrowers were current on their loans, while nearly 10 million were delinquent or in default. The remainder were in forbearance, deferment, or grace periods.
“Student and parent borrowers–not taxpayers–must repay their student loans,” the Education Department said at the time.
“There will not be any mass loan forgiveness.”
As of early 2025, roughly 5 million borrowers were already in default and another 4 million were in late-stage delinquency, defined as 91 to 180 days behind on payments. The New York Federal Reserve estimated that delinquent student debt reached $250 billion by the end of 2024.
To help borrowers avoid wage garnishment or benefit offset, Federal Student Aid (FSA) has launched direct outreach and expanded support services, encouraging borrowers to enroll in income-driven repayment (IDR) plans, make voluntary payments, or begin loan rehabilitation.
Alongside the repayment restart, the Education Department also issued a Dear Colleague letter to colleges and universities on May 5, warning that schools must act quickly to avoid federal penalties tied to rising default rates.
The letter reminded institutions that the cohort default rate—the share of former students who default soon after leaving school—must stay below 40 percent in a single year or 30 percent for three years in a row, or the school risks losing access to Pell Grants and federal student loans.
To mitigate that risk, the department urged schools to immediately contact former students with reminders of their loan obligations and information on repayment plans.
“As we begin to help defaulted borrowers back into repayment, we must also fix a broken higher education finance system that has put upward pressure on tuition rates without ensuring that colleges and universities are delivering a high-value degree to students,” Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement.
“For too long, insufficient transparency and accountability structures have allowed U.S. universities to saddle students with enormous debt loads without paying enough attention to whether their own graduates are truly prepared to succeed in the labor market.”
The department also said it plans to publish institution-level nonpayment rates later this month to increase transparency and accountability across the higher education sector.
The enforcement restart follows the collapse of former President Joe Biden’s sweeping student loan forgiveness plan, which aimed to cancel hundreds of billions in debt through executive action. The Supreme Court struck down the plan in 2023, ruling that the administration lacked the authority to cancel loans without congressional approval.
In April, McMahon made clear that the department would no longer pursue blanket debt forgiveness.
“American taxpayers will no longer be forced to serve as collateral for irresponsible student loan policies,” McMahon said in April.
“The executive branch does not have the constitutional authority to wipe debt away, nor do the loan balances simply disappear.”
While supporters of Biden’s proposal argued that widespread forgiveness would reduce inequality and stimulate economic growth, critics said it was fiscally reckless and unfair to borrowers who had already repaid their loans—or never borrowed at all.
VICTOR DAVIS HANSON
USA/ANTISEMITISM//HAMAS// REPORT
KING NEWS
| The King Report May 7, 2025 Issue 7487 | Independent View of the News |
| Bessant, Greer to Meet with China to Launch Trade Talks (in Switzerland): BBG 18:00 ET China Vice Premier He Lifeng to Meet with Bessent: China MOFA (May 9-12) – BBG 18:07 ET Bessent on Fox News to Laura Ingraham on Tuesday night 19:03 to 19:14 ET: ‘I was traveling to Switzerland to negotiate trade and China officials were coming there, too.’ ‘We will meet on Saturday and Sunday with Chinese officials; everything on table.’ ‘Current tariffs on China are unsustainable.’ ‘We don’t want to decouple with China over textiles and things like that.’ ‘We do want to decouple over strategic industries like steel, semiconductors, medicines.’ ‘We are going to build here.’ https://www.foxnews.com/video/637243899711 Protests erupt in China after furious workers demand back pay as Trump’s tariffs on imports jolt economy https://nypost.com/2025/05/06/world-news/protests-erupt-in-china-as-trumps-steep-tariffs-bite-extremely-anxious/ POTUS on China: “They want to negotiate, and they want to have a meeting… Their economy is suffering greatly because they are not trading with the U.S and they made most of their money off the U.S., don’t kid yourself… They don’t make the money off other countries… massive numbers of companies are now moving into the US…” https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1919791991455465592 @POTUS: “Everyone says ‘when are you gonna sign deals?’ We don’t have to sign deals. We could sign 25 deals right now if we wanted. We don’t have to sign deals. They have to sign deals with us. They want a piece of our market. We don’t want a piece of their market.” https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1919792987648725274 Trump also said: By not trading with China, the US is saving billions of dollars per day; and ‘We’ll meet with China at the right time.’ Trump: I look forward to meeting the new Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney. I very much want to work with him, but cannot understand one simple TRUTH — Why is America subsidizing Canada by $200 Billion Dollars a year, in addition to giving them FREE Military Protection, and many other things? We don’t need their Cars, we don’t need their Energy, we don’t need their Lumber, we don’t need ANYTHING they have, other than their friendship, which hopefully we will always maintain. They, on the other hand, need EVERYTHING from us! The Prime Minister will be arriving shortly and that will be, most likely, my only question of consequence. Trump after Carney meeting: “Regardless of anything, we are going to be friends with Canada… I have a lot of respect for the Canadians.” https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1919789330236596362 Trump: “The Houthis have announced that — they don’t want to fight anymore. They just don’t want to fight, and we will honor that, and we will stop the bombings. They have capitulated… They say they will not be blowing up ships anymore.” https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1919788236076896555 (Hours later, a Houthi spokesman denied Trump’s claim.) @RapidResponse47: @SecRubio on the Houthis: “This was always a freedom of navigation issue. These are a band of individuals with advanced weaponry that were threatening global shipping, and the job was to get that to stop, and, if it’s going to stop, then we can stop.” https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1919788528445091885 US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent testifying in front of the US House Appropriations Committee: Trade deals may come ‘as soon as this week.’ There could be a ‘substantial reduction’ in tariffs on US goods. “China, we have not engaged in negotiations with as of yet.” “There is nothing in the data that shows we are in a recession. As a matter of fact, the jobs report has surprised to the upside… Having looked at a detailed analysis, I would believe the 1st quarter GDP would be revised upward.” US debt trajectory is unsustainable and the US is on the ‘warning track’ on its federal debt limit. Hard to know when market would rebel against US debt. “The United States Government will never default. We will raise the debt ceiling.” https://x.com/YahooFinance/status/1919758686689341592 @SecScottBessent: “There was no accountability. That is why the 450 organizations that sit above Treasury, where Treasury acts as the paymaster, are unable to pass an audit. So, we have cracked down on that. Every payment now requires a TAS number.” https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1919765253807603918 Investing.com: Loews continues to prioritize share repurchases as a key component of its capital allocation strategy, viewing its stock as trading at a discount to the sum of its parts… https://www.investing.com/news/company-news/loews-q1-2025-presentation-mixed-results-amid-continued-share-repurchases-93CH-4021661 Loews Corporation Reports Net Income of $370 Million for the First Quarter of 2025 https://www.citybiz.co/article/689993/loews-corporation-reports-net-income-of-370-million-for-the-first-quarter-of-2025/ Gold soared for the 2nd straight day. On Tuesday physical gold hit 3424.26 (+90.34) at 13:39 ET. ESMs traded mostly lower but sideways from the Nikkei opening on Tuesday until they broke lower at 20:23 ET. ESMs then relentlessly stair-stepped lower until they hit the daily low of 5607.00 at 9:52 ET. Bessent’s ‘trade deals could appear this week’ comment unleashed manic buying. ESMs rallied to 5671.75 at 12:12 ET. When it became evident that ESMs buying was exhausted and the daily high of 5673.25 would NOT be challenged, traders unloaded. ESMs sank to 5621.00 at 13:50 ET. ESMs then methodically rallied on buying for the inculcated Fed Day Rally. After hitting 5651.00 at 15:45 ET, day traders looked to liquidate. But there are few organic buyers in the market. So, once again, there was a late ESM decline. ESMs fell to 5622.50 at the NYSE close. Tuesday’s King Report: The most likely course of action today would be for stocks to retrench before there is enough zest to begin the Fed Day rally. Ford and Palantir should weigh on stocks in early NYSE trading. Positive aspects of previous session Bessent created a late morning thru midday rally. USMs rallied modestly. Negative aspects of previous session Stocks declined sharply with another late drop; Gold surged again; Oil and gasoline rallied sharply. The dollar declined smartly. Ambiguous aspects of previous session What will PE Powell say? First Hour/Last Hour Action [S&P 500 Index]: 1st Hour from NYSE Open: Up; Last Hour: Down Pivot Point for S&P 500 Index [above/below indicates daily trend to traders]: 5614.15 Previous session S&P 500 Index High/Low: 5649.58; 5586.04 “In 2014, after 3 of Fauci’s bugs escaped, 300 scientists asked Obama to shut him down. Obama declared a moratorium—but Fauci moved the experiments offshore, mainly to the Wuhan lab. Now our own government—CIA, FBI, State, DOE—all say those experiments likely sparked the COVID pandemic. And it all started as bioweapons research in 1947. President Trump just moved to shut it down—for good.” — HHS Sec. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. https://x.com/IngrahamAngle/status/1919701498012795182 RFK JR: “In all of the history of Gain-of-Function research, we cannot point to a single good thing that has come of it.” https://x.com/TheChiefNerd/status/1919501165403779118 @MEMRIReports: Temple University Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) President Rishi Arun during a Panel Honoring Cop-Killer Mumia Abu-Jamal: It Is Our Job to Destroy the U.S.; Samidoun Official Mohammed Khatib: Liberating Palestine Will Help Dismantle America. https://x.com/MEMRIReports/status/1919740630772633631 Trump teased that he would make a big announcement later this week. Pundits opine that Trump will issue an executive order to regulate NIL deals in college sports following a meeting with Ex-Alabama football coach Nick Saban at the UA Commencement last week. @SteveGuest: “Federal campaign finance records show that on June 30, 2024, billionaire Michael Bloomberg cut a $19 million check to help reelect former President Joe Biden. Roughly a month later, the Biden administration proposed a regulation affecting the entire financial industry, which Bloomberg had long pushed for.” https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/investigations/3399424/michael-bloomberg-biden-donation-19-million-2024/ On Tuesday, a Pakistan military spokesman says there have been three missile strikes from India on targets inside Pakistani territory and Pakistan has shot down 5 Indian airplanes. India said it carried out strikes at terrorist camps in Pakistan. Perhaps this is why gold has soared the past two days. Today is Fed Day. Stocks usually rally into the release of the FOMC Communique or the ensuing Fed Chair press conference. The known world expects no rate cut and the same Fed jabberwocky that they cannot see, hear, or speak about anything due to uncertainty about Trump’s tariffs – except that Trump’s policies will reduce the Earth to a burnt-out cinder. Ergo, it’s all up to renowned Trump hater Powell to say something that makes the market move. ESMs and NQMs soared on the US-China trade talk news. ESMs hit +63.50 and NQMs hit +254.50 seven minutes after their 18:00 ET opening. ESMs are +45.50; NQMs are +186.50; and USMs are +2/32 at 20:30 ET. Reported border skirmishes between India & Pakistan tempered the euphoria for stocks. Expected econ data: March Consumer Credit $9.287B; FOMC Communique 14:00 ET; Powell 14:30 ET S&P Index 50-day MA: 5568; 100-day MA: 5788; 150-day MA: 5819; 200-day MA: 5746 DJIA 50-day MA: 41,102; 100-day MA: 42,444; 150-day MA: 42,711; 200-day MA: 42,223 (Green is positive slope; Red is negative slope) S&P 500 Index (5606.84 close) – BBG trading model Trender and MACD for key time frames Monthly: Trender is positive; MACD is negative – a close below 5447.29 triggers a buy signal Weekly: Trender and MACD are negative – a close above 5987.57 triggers a buy signal Daily: Trender and MACD are positive – a close below 5430.16 triggers a sell signal Hourly: Trender and MACD are negative – a close above 5676.01 triggers a buy signal @ElectionWiz: America First Legal, founded by Stephen Miller (WH Dept CoS), has sued Supreme Court Justice John Roberts and the Judicial Conference, stating the courts are acting like a political arm instead of a judicial one. FBI ‘misled the public’ in claiming 2017 GOP baseball shooting wasn’t domestic terror: House Intel – The report concludes the FBI’s doubts about the shooting being an act of terrorism was based upon falsehoods, half-truths and manipulations of the known facts… https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/fbi-misled-public-claiming-2017-gop-baseball-shooting-wasnt-domestic @EndWokeness: RIP Logan Federico (22) She was killed in her home on Saturday by Alexander Dickey, a career criminal with MULTIPLE previous arrests. 0 national outrage https://x.com/EndWokeness/status/1919601733849723315 The VE Day Hangover: What happened when the bunting came down and Britain became a grim, sour place – and divorce rates skyrocketed – Winston Churchill had hinted that the future was going to be far from a picnic in his address to the nation. Take a night off to celebrate, he’d urged, but ‘after that we must begin the task of rebuilding our hearth and homes’.,, The country was a mess, many of its cities wrecked by German bombers, the economy virtually bankrupted by the huge cost of fighting the war on borrowed money and dependent for its very survival on transatlantic loans made on crippling terms… Britain was broke – and it showed… Divorce rocketed among unhappy families in which the experience of war took a heavy toll, a widespread phenomenon that went largely unrecognised in that stiff-upper-lip era. Too many men were secretly scarred, particularly those who had seen action… https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14685255/The-VE-Day-Hangover-happened-bunting-came-Britain-grim-sour-place-divorce-rates-skyrocketed.html | |
SWAMP STORIES FOR YOU TONIGHT
GREG HUNTER INTERVIEWING KAREN KINGSTON
Government Admits it Knew Covid Vax Shots were Fraud – President Trump, Pull Them Off the Market! – Karen Kingston
By Greg Hunter On May 7, 2025 In Political AnalysisNo Comments
By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
Karen Kingston is a biotech analyst and former Pfizer employee who is back with some grotesque news about what the US government knew about the CV19 bioweapon vax. They knew it was not safe at all, and the FDA also knew Pfizer committed fraud to get the CV19 injections approved. Kingston says, “This is the government’s words exactly: ‘The FDA was aware of the protocol violations.’ So, the FDA was aware of the fraud that was reported . . . before it granted emergency use authorization (EUA) for its vaccine. They were aware of the fraud. Second, the government said it ‘had continued access’ to the Pfizer vaccine clinical data, and ‘in the FDA’s view, Pfizer’s vaccine is effective.’ Notice they dropped the word ‘safe.’ The minimum bar is safe before effective, but they intentionally dropped the word safe. . . . They ignored safety. For the last five or six years, the FDA’s mantra has been to sacrifice safety and disregard disabilities, disease and death that vaccines and gene editing products cause in children and adults in the name of science. . . . They (FDA) had access to the data, and my point is the whole immunity (for Pfizer) is null and void because they co-conspired to commit fraud by withholding safety information of willful injury battery and murder of adults and children. Under the vaccine law, it says the manufacturer shall not be held liable for punitive damages unless they are engaged in fraud or intentional withholding information. . . or other criminal or illegal activity relating to the safety and effectiveness of vaccines.”
The government and Pfizer knew the CV19 vaccines were not safe. Kingston says, “In 2020, they met and listed out Myocarditis. Pericarditis, neurological malfunctions, respiratory failure, multiple system inflammatory disease, Guillain-Barré syndrome, and they listed everything out except for cancer. So, they knew the CV19 vax would cause all those debilitating injuries, infertility and death. . . . Taking the CV19 shots off the childhood vaccine schedule is not enough. These shots, by definition, according to President Trump’s Executive Order yesterday, are dangerous bioweapons. That’s what these shots are, and you can go through President Trump’s criteria, and they meet that criteria. So, these shots need to be taken off the market and not be found in any community in the United States of America, or in any community around the world at this point. . . . The information has been there. It’s been in our face, and we have gone along with being gaslit and saying the Trump Administration doesn’t know, and once they know, they will make a change. Well, the Trump Administration, our current Administration, just put in writing, yeah, we know the CV19 vax is fraud. We don’t care, and we are not changing our mind. That’s a tough pill to swallow.”
In closing, Kingston points out they want to put so-called mRNA in everything to fight cancer, but all the studies for the past several decades on mRNA say it causes cancer. Kingston says, “Pfizer is telling us we are putting in faulty genes. We are debilitating you. We are disabling you. We are sterilizing you, and we are killing you. We are directing the evolution of human beings to become more weak and more dependent on us. . . . To survive, you will need us. It’s on their website. It’s called ‘directed evolution.’ They are directing the extinction of our species. That is what this is. They are playing God. . . .You can call it eugenics. You can call it depopulation, but the new word is ‘directed evolution.’ It’s mRNA technology or personalized medicine, it’s all the same thing.”
There is more in the 80-minute interview.
Join Greg Hunter of USAWatchdog.com as he goes One-on-One with renowned biotech analyst Karen Kingston as she uncovers pure evil with the approval of the deadly and debilitating mRNA CV19 bioweapon vax that has yet to be pulled from the market by the new HHS Secretary RFK Jr. and President Trump.
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After the Interview:
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SEE YOU TOMORROW
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