China Port Explosion Snarls Trans-Pacific Container Trade
The closure of Ningbo Beilun’s Phase III Terminal is expected to have cascading effects on the main trans-Pacific trade lanes out of Asia, and the supply chain at large, in the midst of the peak shipping season.
As Stuart Chris reports for FreightWaves, container traffic has been halted at Ningbo following a shipboard explosion involving hazardous materials at one of the world’s busiest intermodal hubs.
The explosion aboard the Yang Ming vessel YM Mobility on Friday reportedly involved organic peroxide materials.
There were no injuries in the blast, but the terminal has been closed until further notice.
Ningbo is the world’s third-busiest container port, with volume of 33.35 million twenty-foot equivalent units in 2023.
The shutdown couldn’t come at a worse time as record peak volumes for North American imports are forecast for August, after an “early peak” in June as shippers rushed to get holiday merchandise ahead of expected supply chain disruptions in the fall.
“With this closure, Ningbo Port is no longer operational, compounding existing supply chain disruptions exacerbated by Typhoon Gaemi in July,” said Christian Roeloffs, co-founder and chief executive of Container xChange, an online container marketplace based in Hamburg, Germany, in a customer advisory.
“For container trading companies and those involved in container leasing, this incident presents some straightforward challenges worth accounting for. The disruption at the Ningbo Port, combined with pre-existing congestion at major Asian ports, will lead to a deterioration of ocean schedules and further delays in container availability,” Roeloffs said.
“Companies must brace for increased dwell times, potential re-routing of shipments, and a tightening of available container supplies, especially for hazardous and dangerous goods.”
The exchange advised shippers to evaluate alternative routes through other ports but to expect increased congestion at neighboring hubs.
Shippers should also plan for extended delays amid longer dwell times at major ports, and adjust inventory levels and delivery schedules accordingly.
“Would It Kill You Guys?” CNN Gets Confrontational With Harris SPOX For Avoiding Interviews, Press Conferences
The Harris campaign’s ‘hide Kamala’ strategy may be working from a polling perspective – but it’s gone on so long that even CNN is getting annoyed.
“Would it kill you guys to have a press conference?” asked the network’s Jim Acosta (of ‘shouting at Trump’ fame) during an interview with Harris communications director Michael Tyler.
“I’m sure this is not going to be the first time you’ve heard this question, but the Trump campaign is also going after the vice president for not doing enough interviews, for not holding a press conference. Would it kill you guys to have a press conference? Why hasn’t she had a press conference?“
To which Tyler laughed sheepishly and pivoted to robotic talking points about Harris and running mate Tim Walz being “busy” traveling around the country to multiple (teleprompter) campaign rallies.
“Michael, you know a campaign really isn’t really a press conference,” Acosta pushed back. “Why hasn’t she had a press conference? She’s the vice president, she can handle the questions, why not do it?”
Tyler said Harris will sit down for a one-on-one interview before the end of the month, which Acosta said was “not a lot,” adding “can you commit to a press conference by the end of the month?”
Tyler once again deflected – saying “We will commit to directly engage with the voters who are actually going to decide this election, and that is going to be complete with rallies, with sit-down interviews, with press conferences, with all the digital assets that we have at our disposal.”
— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) August 14, 2024
CNN‘s John Berman also pressed a Harris campaign spox over the VP’s lack of media presence.
“The reason I was asking you about today is because it seems like she has time if she wanted to do an interview with a member of the media or do a news conference, correct? There does appear to be that time, if she wanted,” said Berman – to which Harris campaign spokeswoman Adrienne Elrod repeated Tyler’s talking point that Harris and Walz are bringing their message directly to voters.
“She hit a number of battleground states. I think we had 15,000 people in Detroit last week, 12 to 13,000 in Nevada. She’s been taking her message to the voters and drawing large crowds. So she’s actually having those direct conversations,” said Elrod – before Berman cut her off.
“But not today — all I’m saying is not today. She could do an interview today, I would think, you know, because she’s not out there today,” said the CNN host.
JUST IN: CNN asks Harris-Walz campaign spokesperson Adrienne Elrod (@adrienneelrod) why Harris can’t do an interview today since she has no campaign event and nothing to do. She says Harris has a campaign event on Friday. CNN says they are asking about today not Friday. WATCH pic.twitter.com/fB8nLKqcEH
Meanwhile, Trump did a lengthy press conference at Mar-a-Lago last week and had a 2 hour conversation with Elon Musk – something Harris clearly couldn’t pull off because her biggest liability, like Biden, is her brain.
Nearly half the available Bitcoin supply has not moved in the past six months, onchain data confirms. In the latest edition of its weekly newsletter, “The Week Onchain,” analytics firm Glassnode shows investors did not “sell the top” on BTC.
Bitcoin hodlers double down on reaccumulation
Bitcoin may have put in a new all-time high some five months ago, but a large section of the BTC investor base continues to double down on its holdings.
Analyzing the realized cap HODL waves indicator, Glassnode reveals that just over 45% of all bitcoins have remained dormant in their wallets for at least the past half a year.
Despite the record highs and subsequent volatility, a considerable swath of market participants prefer to do nothing.
Long-term holders (LTHs) — entities hodling coins for at least 155 days — distributed to the market both leading up to the all-time high and later on.
“We can also assess the 7-day change in LTH supply as a tool to assess rates of change in their aggregate balance. We can see substantial LTH distribution, typical of macro topping formations, into the March ATH,” Glassnode explains.
“Fewer than 1.7% of trading days have ever recording a larger distribution pressure. More recently, this metric has returned to positive territory, indicating that the LTH cohort are expressing a preference for holding onto their coins.”
That theme speaks to what “The Week Onchain” describes as “a notable slow-down in the distribution pressure by LTHs.”
“This has led to the percentage of network wealth held by this cohort to firstly stabilize, and then recommence growing,” it continues.
“Despite the substantial sell-side pressure by LTHs into the market ATH, wealth held by longer-term investors remains historically elevated when compared to previous all time high breakouts.”
BTC sell-off angst pervades market mood
As Cointelegraph continues to report, sell-side pressure is never far from traders’ minds this month.
After the mass sell-off at the start of August, concerns of a retest of six-month lows have combined with analysis showing “older” coins moving onchain.
Recent fluctuations in the Crypto Fear & Greed Index underscore the uncertainty currently running through crypto as a whole.
Countering this is optimism over global liquidity, with some perspectives seeing crypto benefiting from a move toward financial policy easing.
“Global money supply is exploding up. Plus we just broke out of a massive 4 year consolidation,” Charles Charles Edwards, the founder of quantitative Bitcoin and digital asset fund Capriole Investments, wrote on X this week.
WHO Declares Monkeypox “Global Health Emergency” – Again
Just when we thought we had the monkeypox menace whipped, the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday declared an African outbreak of mpox (renamed so as not to offend monkeys, apparently), a new public health emergency.
The UN agency’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced the declaration in Geneva after accepting a recommendation from WHO’s emergency committee.
As the Epoch Times notes further, Tedros said there have already been more than 14,000 reported cases and 524 reported deaths in Africa this year, a jump from last year. He also pointed to the emergence of a new mpox strain, or clade, which he described as worrying.
“In addition to other outbreaks of other clades of mpox in other parts of Africa, it’s clear that a coordinated international response is essential to stop these outbreaks and save lives,” Tedros said at a briefing.
Mpox is a virus that occurs in animals and humans. Mpox can spread between people and causes an illness that typically manifests with a rash and resolves in a few weeks. But some cases can lead to death.
Mpox has predominately affected men who have sex with other men.
A public health emergency of international concern, or global health emergency, is the highest level of alarm the WHO can convey.
It’s declared for extraordinary events deemed to constitute a public health risk to countries through the international spread of disease.
COVID-19 was declared a public health emergency of international concern in 2020.
That declaration ended in 2023 after the number of cases dropped considerably.
And as Off-Guardian opines, this is the second time in two years the WHO has declared monkeypox a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern” (PHEIC). It was originally labelled such in the summer of 2022…before quietly having that status rescinded in 2023.
In truth, it was a narrative that flapped its little wings as hard as it could but never got off the ground.
There’s some talk of clades and variants and whatnot, but we’re all too familiar with this dance now to let a costume change distract from the same old routine.
We know what’s going on.
The only questions worth asking are “why now?” and “what next?”
President Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) showed complete disregard for our freedom of choice earlier this year, by forcing the automotive industry to transition to electric vehicles (EVs) rather than allowing Americans to choose the cars they want to buy and drive. Our government shouldn’t be dictating who wins or loses, but rather should allow Americans to make the choice for themselves.
The EPA finalized a rule that functions as a de facto gas car ban on light and medium duty vehicles, requiring 56% of vehicle sales in the U.S. to be electric by 2032. If people feel moved to buy EVs and do their part in quelling climate change, that’s up to them. But forcing a rushed mandate goes too far.
The remnants of a once bustling automotive manufacturing hub can be found along Pittsburgh’s Baum Boulevard, where people could buy themselves a brand-new Ford or Chrysler. A mandate of this severity would be the nail in the coffin for gas powered vehicles. With something so personal to each individual or family – and so vital to the economy – the government should be embracing freedom and not issuing a rule that takes away our autonomy.
At Americans for Prosperity, we advocate for sustainable legislation that increases economic prosperity for all. The “tailpipe rule” issued by the EPA is the antithesis to the mission we’ve worked to uphold. By phasing out affordable, more reliable options like gas powered vehicles, Pennsylvanians will have to make calculated decisions about where they spend their money in order to adapt to this market shift. By denying Americans choice, the federal government is ignoring the same people they committed to serve.
Despite the EPA’s efforts, Americans aren’t running to car lots to purchase expensive EVs. In fact, Tesla continues to lay off thousands of employees after experiencing a less than thrilling start to 2024. In short, people aren’t buying EVs like some industry leaders had hoped.
EV sales in Q1 2024 fell 15.2% in comparison to Q4 2023, demonstrating a shift in Americans’ purchasing power. The government shouldn’t force the American people to purchase vehicles they don’t want – or likely can’t afford – just to sustain Biden’s climate agenda. During a time where Americans are forced to be more money conscious due to inflation, it’s confusing why the government is issuing mandates that will only further inflict financial strain on the American people.
Even when people do choose to purchase an EV for themselves and/or their family, national EV infrastructure lags far behind, creating challenges for EV drivers. The government is investing millions to build more comprehensive charging infrastructure, but the roll out is happening at a snail-like speed. In Pennsylvania, a majority of new charging stations are built and concentrated in major cities like Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, leaving much of the state without reliable access to public charging stations. The pace at which critical charging stations is an ill omen, at least for Biden’s EPA; EV’s are too expensive, and the technology is not yet ready for universal adoption – let alone a government mandate.
In Pennsylvania, as of July 2023, just over 47K residents own registered EVs. This is out of a whopping 11,800,712 registered vehicles. Just as I expressed in 2021, when discussing Biden’s massive spending package that included electric vehicle rebates for households making up to $500K a year: who does this benefit? It’s whoever you see driving a Tesla on your block.
Democratic U.S. Sen. John Fetterman has echoed similar sentiments. This past March, Fetterman called for further conversation surrounding Biden’s EPA tailpipe mandate. Fetterman stated, “we need to respond to what seems to be the American consumer sentiment, what seems to be a diminished kind of enthusiasm, for EVs.”
Pennsylvania has a rich history of manufacturing, specifically in the automotive industry. It’s ingrained in our culture in ways many other states can’t understand. Through this blatant display of government overreach the EPA is choosing which sectors to uplift and which ones to take out at the knees.
To disregard the voice of the people and our nation’s functioning free market system by implementing a rushed, ill-advised plan is not the American way.
Buffett 13F Confirms Sale Of 400 Million Apple Shares, Other Liqudations; New Positions In ULTA And HEI
At the start of August, we reported the shocking news revealed deep inside the Berkshire 10Q, that billionaire Warren Buffett had sold more than half of his AAPL holdings (approximately 400 million shares according to our calculations)…
… as part of Berkshire’s biggest portfolio liquidation on record, one which saw some $75.5 billion in stock sales during the second quarter of 2024.
Of course, all these were only approximations since the 10Q did not break out the specifics of the Berkshire portfolio, which is why were were eagerly awaiting today’s release of the Berkshire 13F for the second quarter. It confirmed what we already knew:
Buffett indeed sold some 389.4 million shares of AAPL in Q2, bringing his total to exactly 400 million shares as of June 30. What is remarkable is that Buffett managed to unwind more than half his massive position (which at March 31 amounted to $135.4 billion), while the stock was levitating for much of Q2. Also remarkable is that even with the huge sale, Apple still remains Berkshire’s top holding, valued at $84.2 billion as of June 30.
Going down the list, Buffett also sold 3.6%, or 4.4 million, of his shares in Chveron, which remained the 5th largest position in Berkshire’s portfolio.
The other 3 names in the top 5 were unchanged during the quarter, but as previously reported, we already know that Berkshire has been slowly dumping a lot of BofA shares, as he is now also liquidating his 2nd largest position (amounted to $41.1 billion as of June 30, but certainly less now).
There were some other stake reductions including:
Capital One Financial, where Buffett sold 21.3% of his March 31 stake, reducing his ownership from 12.5 million to 9.8 million shares.
T-Mobile, where Buffett sold 10.9% of his stake, reducing ownership from 5.2 million to 4.7 million shares.
Louisiana-Pacific, where Buffett sold 9.6% of his stake, cutting ownership from 6.6 million to 6.0 million shares.
Floor & Design, where Buffett sold 16.8% of his stake, cutting ownership from 4.8 million to 4.0 million shares.
It wasn’t all sales: Buffett also added to existing positions in the following names:
Occidental: added 2.9%, or 7.3 million shares, bringing the total to 255.3 million shares. OXY is his 6th largest position, behind Chevron.
Chubb: added 4.3%, or 1.1 million shares, bringing the total to 27 million shares in what is now his 9th largest position by value.
Liberty Media: added 5.5%, or 6.7 million shares, bringing the total to 128.8 million shares.
Sirius XM: added 262% or 96.2 million shares, bringing the total to 132.9 million shares.
Also of note, there were two liquidations, as Berkshire dumped its entire stake in Snowflake, selling 6.125 million shares worth $990 million as of Q2, and also liquidated his stake in Paramount Global; this amounted to 7.5 million shares of the flaming dumpster fire worth $88.6 million.
Finally, Buffett added two new positions:
HEICO Corp: Berkshire purchased 1 million shares of the aerospace product manufacturer, worth $185 million
Ulta Beaty: Berkshire purchased 690K shares of the beauty store operator, worth $267 million.
That said, both of these positions are tiny and barely make a dent in the firm’s $280 billion portfolio.
Finally, one thing which we find odd is that while the 13F showed some $50.6 billion in stock sales (by value) in Q1, Berkshire’s 10Q cash flows statement disclosed the $75.5 billion worth of stock had been sold in Q2, indicating that at least $25 billion worth of sales took place without being revealed on the 13F.
While we muse over this puzzle, here is the full breakdown of Berkshire’s latest 13F
Western sources have reportedly leaked Russian plans drawn up between 2008 and 2014 for “a series of overwhelming strikes across Western Europe,” the Financial Times reported.
Citing documents from Western security sources, Putin allegedly sought to enable the Russian navy to execute nuclear strikes within NATO territory were a conflict with the alliance to emerge.
Targets would not be solely military. According to William Alberque, a former NATO official:
“There could be hundreds, if not thousands, of targets mapped across Europe, including military and infrastructure targets.”
Russia is also evidently still capable of transporting nuclear weapons on surface ships, which experts say carries a significant risk of escalation or accident. The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I), signed by the U.S. and Russia in 1991, was supposed to have eliminated this possibility, although many have often questioned Moscow’s adherence to it.
Possible targets presented by the FT included the west coast of France, military installations in Norway, Germany, and Estonia, as well as the British port town of Barrow-in-Furness, known for its production of nuclear submarines.
“They see (tactical nuclear warheads) as potentially war-winning weapons,” says Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey and an arms control expert.
“They’re going to want to use them, and they’re going to want to use them pretty quickly.”
Anton Bendarzsevszkij, director of the Oeconomus Economic Research Foundation, has said that “there is a global arms race that resembles the Cold War of the 1950s and 60s,” according to Mandiner.
Russia is said to have north of 5,500 nuclear warheads in its arsenal, while the United States has just over 5,000, meaning the two countries control some 90 percent of such weapons today.
Pentagon Belatedly Reveals 8 US Troops Were Wounded In Syria Attack Last Week
Since last fall US forces have recorded over 100 rocket and drone attacks on their positions in Iraq and Syria by Iran-aligned militias or Syrian national militias, depending on the side of the border. While most of the time these incidents pass without casualties, some observers have long suspected the Pentagon attempts to keep the number of wounded or injured US personnel from these attacks under wraps.
The Pentagon belatedly revealed Tuesday that a total of eight US troops were wounded in a drone attack that struck a US base in northeast Syria last Friday. Spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said that all eight were treated for traumatic brain injuries – the common term for potential head injuries when a person is too near a blast – as well as smoke inhalation.
“Three of those service members have returned to duty while the others remain under observation,” told a press breifing. “According to CENTCOM (US Central Command), none of the injuries are life-threatening.”
It happened at Rumalyn Landing Zone, which is in Hasaka in northeast Syria – for years subject of the US military occupation. While over the weekend the Pentagon acknowledged the attack, saying their were minor injuries, it had withheld details as well as to the number of troops injured.
These attacks have been on the rise of late, as ABC Newsdetails:
Since Oct. 18, there have been close to 170 attacks taking place on a nearly daily basis as Iranian-backed militia groups target U.S bases in Iraq and Syria, supposedly in retaliation for the Israel-Hamas war.
Those attacks largely stopped after Feb. 4 following large-scale U.S. airstrikes in Iraq and Syria and a drone strike that killed a top-level leader of the Kataib Hezbollah militia group that the U.S. held responsible for the attacks.
Since the July 31st Israeli killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, the region has been on edge in expectation of a major Iranian retaliation on Israel. This has put American troops occupying easter Syria in harm’s way, leading many to question what the Pentagon is still doing there.
The Pentagon and mainstream media have meanwhile dusted off the ole ‘counter ISIS’ mission rationale…
“In a little-publicized campaign, American aircraft conduct airstrikes and provide live aerial surveillance to SDF ground forces who conduct raids on suspected Islamic State cells,” WSJ wrote this week. “While they usually stay a safe distance from the fighting, elite U.S. troops sometimes conduct missions on their own to kill or capture senior Islamic State leaders.”
This is a recipe for seeking to keep US troops there as part of yet another post-911 era ‘forever war’ which has no specific and definable aims.
What is RLZ? It stands for Rumeilan Landing Zone. An austere US base in the Northeast of Syria with a paved runway that was constructed sometime in 2016. (The naming convention can also be seen in the similar KLZ base for Kobani Landing Zone) pic.twitter.com/c5JSZFG4OP
WSJ wrote further that “Islamic State’s latest comeback effort represents a different challenge than the one it posed in its heyday, when hundreds of militants would charge through isolated villages and crowded cities in tanks and pickup trucks mounted with machine guns. Now the group operates in smaller cells armed with rifles and booby traps.”
Of course, no one ever asks anymore how the Islamic State got to Syria in the first place, in the context of the Western allies and Gulf axis drive to overthrow Assad.
Remember how many terrible gaffes she made, speaking in word salads and nodding her encouragement to pretend we all understood what the heck she was talking about?
Don’t worry. Now we have a shiny NEW Kamala Harris who’s prepared to be the leader of the free world.
Going back even further, who remembers her alleged inappropriate relationship with her boss that helped her to rapidly (allegedly) climb the political ladder in California? And what about her keeping black men incarcerated in California past their release dates just so they could be used as slave labor? What about her throwing the book at 2,000 people for possessing marijuana while currently laughing/cackling about how “nobody should go to jail for smoking some weed?”
But that was the OLD Kamala Harris.
You’re encouraged to forget all that. Not just encouraged, but you’re gaslit and brainwashed into forgetting it. The Shiny New Kamala Harris (SNKH) is a whole different human being.
SNKH is teleprompted and scripted. She doesn’t say anything that wasn’t already approved for her to say because the propaganda machine knows about those confusing word salads she rambles. In fact, SNKH hasn’t done a single interview since she was shoved into place for a floundering Joe Biden.
SNKH has had her entire background “disappeared” into some internet black hole. You know and I know that she was the “border czar” but all the “fact checkers” are acting like this never happened. Everything that is happening at the border and with illegal migrants now will continue to happen and even worsen if she is elected. She has a proven track record of doing… absolutely nothing about this issue. But I challenge you to find any mention of her shortcomings on the MSM.
SNKH is lauded as “Mommala” to the Gen Z-ers. But in fact, she has no children and she’s certainly not maternal when it comes to things like protecting kids from violent criminal migrant gangs. And if her step-daughter, Ella Emhoff, a radical pro-Palestinian “model,” reflects SNKH’s values, I want none of that. In fact, Ella’s dad is Jewish, and Ella has “pointedly insisted she does not consider herself Jewish,” according to an article from the NY Post.
Emhoff has also raised cash for “urgent relief for Gaza’s children” — which critics said would find its way into terrorist hands. The presumptive first stepdaughter remains “an active presence in pro-Palestinian circles,” according to the New Republic.
And that isn’t all – the candidate who everyone thought would be her Vice Presidential pick, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, was looked over for Tim Walz, a dude who turned Minnesota into a “sanctuary state” for illegals and LBGTQ kids whose parents won’t allow them to undergo “gender-affirming care.” Oh, and also, he’s lied about his military service. Repeatedly. We’re talking stolen valor level lies.
But the MSM is beating a totally different drum.
In the span of the three weeks since President Joe Biden dropped out of the election on Twitter and someone tried to assassinate former President Trump, SNKH has undergone a total transformation, courtesy of the Mainstream Media Propaganda Machine. The media appears to be colluding with the Democrats or Harris’s campaign or someone to make her a totally different and socially acceptable choice for president.
Not only have they memory-holed all mentions of “border czar-ing,” but they’ve also gotten rid of many of her former faux pas. They have created a new Kamala Harris to present to the world in the span of just 23 days. They have created a total illusion of SNKH’s greatness and somehow completely turned the polls around.
Or have they?
I remember when we all thought Hillary Clinton was going to win back in 2016 and were shocked when Trump was announced as the 45th president. The polls then showed a strong lead for HRC, but in the end, even allegedly cheating, she lost.
Are the polls now any different? Are all these positive polls for real that show this ultra-confused woman trouncing President Trump? The same President Trump who got shot and got up pumping his fist in the air telling us to “fight!?” The same President Trump who was soundly defeating President Biden? Has it turned around that quickly or are they just telling us that it has?
I honestly think it’s the second. I have great difficulty imagining who could believe this ridiculous scheme to paint SNKH as a totally different person. Of course, I also can’t understand why people thought Joe Biden was A-OK and non-demented until his fateful debate with Trump. So perhaps I’m wrong.
The Harris Campaign is feeding the Shiny New Kamala Harris creation, too
Of course, the Harris Campaign is right up there, priming the pump for all the wonderful things SNKH has accomplished and will soon accomplish. But they don’t seem to believe the MSM is doing enough.
According to Axios, they are making up headlines and attributing them to MSM networks in their ad campaigns.
Image Courtesy of Axios
No, those aren’t real. Those are ads that will pop up when you search Google for something related to the topic of SNKH and her wannabe VP, Tim Walz. Those misleading ads are fake headlines, wild dreams, and crazy wishes that are made to look absolutely real to those who are searching for information.
The ads include links to real articles from the news outlets, but the headlines and supporting text have been altered to read as though the articles support the Harris campaign’s objectives.
For example, an ad that ran alongside an article from The Guardian shows a headline that reads “VP Harris Fights Abortion Bans – Harris Defends Repro Freedom” and then includes supporting text underneath the headline that reads, “VP Harris is a champion for reproductive freedom and will stop Trump’s abortion bans.”
An ad featuring a link to an NPR story reads, “Harris Will Lower Health Costs,” with supporting text that says, “Kamala Harris will lower the cost of high-quality affordable health care.”
It’s not illegal but it’s kinda crazy how all those “disinformation” websites aren’t all over this. They red-flagged me for posting links to studies with opposing results.
What it all adds up to
In my humble opinion, here’s what we could expect from a Harris presidency:
More crime and devolution from our leaky southern border
More difficulty for the average REAL American to get social assistance because we’re spending billions on illegal immigrants
Unsafe cities because of liberal ideas of “criminal justice”
Even more inflation than we’re already facing at the grocery store
A full-on stock market collapse as the world loses faith in America and our dollar
More surveillance and control
A war in the Middle East that will spill over into the rest of the world
A globe that has no respect for Americans
More DEI-related incompetence
More Marxist B(aloney) S(andwiches) shoved down our throats at every opportunity
A quick trip to communism when people can no longer survive in the inhospitable economic climate of the future
Remember, you know what you know about her. Don’t let this tomfoolery and gaslighting make you forget how inept this person is and how unsuited she is for the highest office in the United States of America.
Bullion, Bitcoin, & Black Gold Battered But Sanguine CPI Slams Leaves Stocks & Bonds Confused
Inflation ‘surprise’ data continues to drift back lower (at February lows after this morning’s CPI) but more problematically macro growth ‘surprise’ data is hovering near COVID lockdown lows…
Source: Bloomberg
…and it is that potential growth scare that is dominating traders’ minds as they reduce rate-cut expectations…
Source: Bloomberg
Markets are confused…
… Small Caps up, Dow down; Short-end of yield curve higher in yield, long-end lower; dollar flat as rate expectations slide; growthy Mag7 stocks rally while growthy commodities tumble…
Source: Bloomberg
…and gold and crypto slammed with dollar unch (though gold seemed to see this coming way early)…
Source: Bloomberg
…and distracted…
…as Kamala’s prediction market odds are now 12 pts above Trump’s…
Source: Bloomberg
By the end of the day, The Dow was up, Small Caps down, Nasdaq unch… until a late-day panic-bid put some lipstick on the pig ahead of tomorrow’s retail sales data…
VIX was clubbed like a baby seal back to a 16 handle…
Treasuries were mixed with the short-end lagging (2Y +3bps, 30Y -4bps), but all yields are down on the week…
Source: Bloomberg
Today’s price action was a little wild in bond land with the CPI print sending 2Y up to 4.00% where it was firmly rejected…
Source: Bloomberg
The dollar was dumped overnight and through CPI, only to retrace those losses to end unchanged on the day…
Source: Bloomberg
While the dollar was unchanged, gold prices tumbled, erasing much of Monday’s gains…
Source: Bloomberg
Oil prices followed a similar trajectory, with WTI dropping to a $76 handle intrday (after an unexpected crude build)…
Source: Bloomberg
Bitcoin was battered back down to $59k after CPI and reports that Kamala’s administration is dumping more Silk Road seizures…
Source: Bloomberg
Finally, market-driven financial conditions have eased dramatically in the last few months…
Source: Goldman Sachs
…clearly the market is demanding 200bps of cuts this year…or else, Kamala loses!.
