BlackMask Financial – Page 531 – BlackMask Breaking News

BEIJING/SYDNEY (Reuters) – Widely watched airfares in China are recovering to pre-pandemic levels as domestic tourists lead a patchy air travel recovery, scattering crumbs of hope to a shattered global travel sector. With international markets like Europe still in partial lockdown, the global tourism industry’s attention is riveted on China’s new travel patterns as it brings COVID-19 under control and lifts curbs on movement. The Chinese domestic market quietly overtook the once-dominant U.S. market in size during the pandemic, but multiple coronavirus outbreaks before last month’s Lunar New Year halted the rebound and could lead to first-quarter losses. Now, with temporary testing and quarantine restrictions once again lifted, average prices for an economy seat during the April 3-5 Qingming festival, or tomb-sweeping holiday, have rebounded to 96% of 2019 levels, according to data from Ctrip. Economy-class airfares for trips over the Labour Day holiday in early May have risen 11% compared with 2019 levels, says Ctrip, run by online travel giant Trip.com Group Ltd. “It seems like demand has really caught up with capacity once again and airlines are deciding discounts are no longer needed to stimulate demand,” said Luya You, transportation analyst at BOCOM International in Hong Kong. “I think the pent-up demand that everyone has been expecting is finally showing up in full force,” said You, adding she expects yields and revenues to reach normal by the second half. Over the last year, Chinese domestic capacity had risen faster than demand, depressing airfares as carriers sought to fill as many seats as possible. A return to fare growth is seen as a final step in the recovery. There are signs the United States, a close second in domestic capacity, is following a similar trajectory months behind China as vaccination rates rise, case numbers fall and airlines add more flights. Average round-trip U.S. domestic fares for May to August remain up to 20% lower than 2019 levels, but are up as much as 36% higher than 2020, online travel agent Hopper said.Europe, however, is bracing for a second lost summer in part because of a hobbled COVID-19 vaccine rollout and a heavy reliance on cross-border traffic. When travel restrictions are lifted, the European market should expect a “bloodbath” with low-cost airlines like Ryanair and Wizz Air competing to offer the lowest possible fares, CAPA Centre for Aviation Chairman Emeritus Peter Harbison said this month. In China, the Lunar New Year holiday is usually the busiest time for local airlines. But this year’s celebration was a wash-out for air travel, with capacity slashed and ticket prices plunging to five-year lows. Now, Chinese airlines are ramping up domestic capacity for the next few months, diverting aircraft from the largely closed international market. Chinese carriers are scheduled to operate 20.7% more domestic flights from April to October compared with 2019, according to flight master, a Chinese aviation data provider. China Eastern Airlines will overtake China Southern Airlines to operate the most domestic flights, while planned flights by Spring Airlines will surge by 62.25% from 2019 levels, the company said. Investors have noticed. Stock prices for the three biggest Chinese airlines have recouped pandemic-related losses. But all airlines are facing new headwinds from rising oil prices – exacerbated this week by a shipping blockage in the Suez Canal – and concerns over COVID-19 restrictions in international markets. Parash Jain, head of Asia Pacific transport research at HSBC, expects 2021 to be another loss-making year for the three biggest Chinese airlines and warns their shares already look like they have overshot. “What we’re seeing is the initial rebound in share prices has reflected the recovery in domestic market for now, with oil as a headwind, with foreign exchange no longer a tailwind and the rest of the world not favourable,” he said. Nick Note: China got their first. They are my blueprint for our BlackJack trade. The reopening of the US economy. Of course the markets are not sure and our trade is hotly contest. The big ones always are.

March 26, 2021 11:54 am

Vaccines appear effective vs New York virus variant; super-spreader events drive variants

(Reuters) – The following is a roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus. New York variant does not escape vaccines Antibodies induced by the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines and the antibody therapy from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals all are able to neutralize a coronavirus variant on the rise in New York, lab experiments show. The New York variant contains mutations – E484K, S477N and D235G – that experts feared might reduce antibody efficacy. The new results “show that this potential problem is not going to be a problem,” said Nathaniel Landau of New York University, who coauthored a report posted Wednesday on bioRxiv ahead of peer review. The mutations all cause changes to the spike protein the virus uses to infect cells and are located in the part of the spike protein where antibodies bind. The researchers exposed replicas of the New York variant to blood from recipients of either the vaccines or the Regeneron antibody combination used to treat infected patients. Antibodies induced by the vaccines were “very effective at binding to the altered spike protein,” Landau said. The Regeneron therapy also was “still a potent blocker” of the virus. “The vaccines are very effective at stopping this highly contagious variant strain of SARS COV2 which is why it is more important than ever to get vaccinated,” Landau said. (https://bit.ly/3ssmR9u) Super-spreader events give life to virus variants Super-spreader events, in which an infected person transmits the virus to many other people, are critical to the survival and predominance of new variants, researchers have found. If coronavirus transmission only occurs one person at a time, a new variant is unlikely to gain a foothold and will usually die out in the population by chance, said Daniel Reeves of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. “Even very strong variants can die out if they are ‘unlucky’ and don’t happen by chance to be transmitted in a super-spread event,” he added. His team’s new mathematical models, posted on Wednesday on medRxiv ahead of peer review, show that early super-spreader events infecting more than five people are critical to a variant’s survival, while super-spreader events infecting more than 20 people are critical to its eventual predominance. Even a very infectious new variant usually needs a super-spreader event to help it overtake a current variant, Reeves explained. The findings provide yet another reason to focus on preventing large super-spreader events by prohibiting large indoor gatherings, focusing on adequate ventilation indoors, and mandating highest quality masks (K95 or N95) when group exposures are unavoidable, the researchers concluded. (https://bit.ly/39fZ4C7) Coronavirus can infect mouth tissues, spreading infection The new coronavirus can infect salivary glands, which can then play a role in transmitting the virus to the lungs or digestive tract via saliva, according to a report published on Thursday in Nature Medicine. Researchers first studied mouth cells from healthy volunteers, looking for two proteins the coronavirus uses as entryways. Cells in the salivary glands and the gums expressed both proteins, making them vulnerable to infection. Next, researchers discovered genetic material from the virus in mouth tissues from COVID-19 patients, indicating infection. They also found evidence that the virus was replicating in some of these cells. Among 27 volunteers with mild COVID-19, those with virus in their saliva were more likely to report loss of taste and smell, suggesting that infected salivary glands might help explain some oral symptoms of COVID-19, the researchers said. “The study’s findings suggest that the mouth, via infected oral cells, plays a bigger role in SARS-CoV-2 infection than previously thought,” study coauthor Kevin Byrd of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said in a statement. “When infected saliva is swallowed or tiny particles of it are inhaled, we think it can potentially transmit SARS-CoV-2″ further into the body.” (https://go.nature.com/3spbFdQ) Nick Note: Its obvious its the crowds people bunching up that is now driving the epidemic. So sad the solution is so simple. But the masses have to bunch up in herds…… We all know what are solution is,,,,

March 26, 2021 4:39 am

US closes mostly higher after Biden’s presser

US stocks ended higher as President Joe Biden held his first presidential conference and as weekly jobless claims slumped to a one-year low. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6% to 32,619.48, the S&P 500 was also up 0.5% to 3,909.52 and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.1% higher to 12,977.68. Financials and industrials led the gainers, with the communication services and technology sectors the only decliners on Thursday. The US 10-year yield rose 1.62%. At a news conference held at the White House, US President Joe Biden on Thursday pledged 200 million COVID-19 vaccinations within the first 100 days in office, after the administration achieved its initial goal of 100 million shots on Friday, which was the 59th day of Biden’s term, according to CNBC. Initial jobless claims was 684,000 for the week ended March 20, a drop of 97,000 from the previous week’s filings. Analysts polled by Econoday expected 730,000 claims. The previous week was revised up by 11,000 to 781,000. The four-week moving average was 736,000, down 13,000 from the prior week’s revised rate. The US 10-year yield rose by 2.6 basis points to $1.64%, after declining earlier in the session. Fed could begin tapering its asset purchase program by rolling back Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities it has bought when the economy starts to make “substantial further progress toward our goals,” Powell was cited as saying in media reports. The West Texas Intermediate futures slumped by 4.5% to $58.42 due to worries Europe was facing a new wave of the COVID-19 pandemic even as Germany backed off from harsher measures in April, outweighing the potential impact on supply of a container ship blocking the Suez Canal. “The weak point in Europe remains around the vaccine rollout amid the rise in new virus cases and the tightening of restrictions… which likely means the mooted acceleration in Q2 may have to be pushed back by a quarter,” National Australian Bank director of economics and markets Tapas Strickland was cited as saying in a report from Reuters. In company news, Darden Restaurants (DRI) reported fiscal third-quarter earnings and sales that slid year-on-year but still topped Wall Street estimates. Shares jumped by 8.2%, the most on S&P 500. Nike (NKE) is facing social media furor and boycott in China after the company said it was concerned about reports of forced labor in, and connected to, the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China. Shares fell by 3.4%, the steepest decliner on the Dow.

In the precious metals markets, gold was down 0.4% to $1,728.20 an ounce, with silver down 0.3% to $25.16 an ounce.

Among energy ETFs, the United States Oil Fund fell 3.8% to $39.89 and the United States Natural Gas Fund was up 2% to $9.64. Among precious-metal funds, the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF was down 0.2% to $32.24 and SPDR Gold Shares were down 0.4% to $161.78. The iShares Silver Trust was up 0.2% to $23.29.

March 25, 2021 10:51 am

United’s May flights to reach 52% of 2019 schedule

https://youtu.be/axdLu6L_-u4

(RTTNews) – As more travelers begin to plan long-awaited getaways with family and friends, United Airlines is kicking off summer vacation season with a robust May schedule that includes the addition of 26 new nonstop routes between Midwest cities such as Cleveland, Cincinnati and Milwaukee and popular vacation destinations such as Hilton Head, South Carolina; Pensacola, Florida; and Portland, Maine. The airline also plans to resume more than 20 domestic routes and will start new service between Orange County, California, and Honolulu.

Internationally, in May United will fly more than 100% of its pre-pandemic schedule to Latin America compared to what it operated in 2019, including more flights to Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America and South America.

The airline also plans to resume flights between Chicago and Tokyo Haneda, resume passenger flights between New York/Newark and Milan and Rome, and restart service between Chicago and Amsterdam. In total, United plans to operate 52% of its overall schedule compared to May 2019, whereas in May 2020 United operated 14% of its overall schedule compared to May 2019. Nick Note: sounds like a recovery to me…… The TSA reports over a million people flying a day.

March 25, 2021 10:35 am

Futures: What You Trade Determines How You’re Taxed

By Jim Forrester, CPA

Futures trading covers a vast array of trading instruments, from stock indices and U.S. Treasury bonds to precious metals, energy sources such as oil and gas, and everyday foodstuffs including meats, grains and coffee.

Some futures traders buy and sell futures contracts to establish a current price of a purchase or sale to take place at a later date, thus providing a hedge against adverse price changes. Others speculate by buying or selling based on where they expect the market to go in order to profit from the very movements the hedgers seek to avoid.

When tax time rolls around however, the Internal Revenue Service groups each of your futures trades into one of two categories: securities or commodities. The biggest difference: commodities enjoy a lower tax rate.

While it may seem commonsensical to figure out which class your trades best fit, the number of new hybrid financial products created with the passage of the Commodities Futures Modernization Act of 2000 (CFMA) effectively blurred the distinction between some securities and commodities, at least for tax purposes.

The CFMA expanded the definition of a “broad-based index” (10 or more securities) to include almost all futures and options on stock indices, including “e-minis,” treating them as commodities and favoring them with a tax break. “Narrow-based” indices (nine or fewer securities), by contrast, are considered securities and taxed at the ordinary capital gains rate.

Securities vs. Commodities

Securities futures capital gains/losses are reported either on Schedule D (Capital Gains and Losses) or as ordinary capital gains/losses on IRS Form 4797 Part II (Sales of Business Property) if you elected mark-to-market accounting. Your securities trades are taxed as short-term capital gains at the ordinary income tax rate of up to 35%.

Commodities futures capital gains/losses are reported on Form 6781 (Section 1256 Contracts), which qualifies these for an advantageous tax split: 60% at the long-term rate of 15% and 40% at the ordinary short-term rate of up to 35%, or a combined tax rate of 23%, for a tax savings of 12%.

Because of this attractive 60/40 split, most commodities traders forego mark-to-market accounting and its favorable “loss insurance” in order to reap the benefits of the lower capital gains rate.

The Exception: Single-Stock Futures

What would IRS regulations be without an exception or two, right? In the case of futures, that exception affects single-stock futures, or SSFs, also referred to as securities futures contracts.

The IRS lumps SSFs in with securities and taxes them on the same basis as their underlying stocks, options or narrow-based indices. As a result, you pay the short-term capital gain rate of 35% on single-stock futures, and not the lower rate the IRS affords to commodities futures.

To make matters more confusing, the IRS doesn’t require your broker to report SSF proceeds on your IRS Form 1099-B, which lists proceeds from stock sales. While your broker or brokers may choose to include this information on your 1099-B, if they don’t, it can be a headache to break them out, especially under the crunch of tax deadline.

Futures traders have been given a considerable tax break in recent years that reflects the changing and expanding nature of the various financial products available

. But if you don’t report correctly, you may join the majority of traders who routinely overpay to the IRS.

Before filing this year, contact a Traders Accounting tax professional. We can help you sort out your activity and file a complete return that fully complies with IRS guidelines while achieving maximum tax advantages.

Take it from experienced traders: don’t go it alone when it comes to filing with the IRS. One false move can cost you plenty, possibly even your trader tax status. We strongly recommend you seek the assistance of a trader tax professional at Traders Accounting this tax season.

March 25, 2021 8:06 amMarch 25, 2021 10:08 am

US in green premarket with COVID in focus

Major stock markets on Wall Street registered gains ahead of Thursday’s session as the coronavirus pandemic continued to loom over the United States economy. The latest news revealed AstraZeneca posted updated results of its vaccine’s interim analysis, saying that the jab is 76% effective in preventing the COVID-19. Meanwhile, billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates estimated the crisis should be over by the end of next year. The Dow Jones surged 0.34% or 110 points at 4:20 am ET, while the Nasdaq 100 rose 0.55%. At the same time, the S&P 500 climbed 0.38%. The euro stood 0.06% lower against the dollar to sell for 1.18063. Nick Note: chill out you must get through this choppy stage. It is the norm when a market has gone through a major 10% correction and the bottom is in…. Welcome to the chop shop……. chop chop chop…

March 25, 2021 5:39 am

Ship stuck in Suez like a “beached whale”, firm aiming to free it says

SINGAPORE — Efforts to dislodge a 400 m (1,312 foot) long container vessel that has choked traffic along the Suez Canal resumed at high tide on Thursday, with five tugs working to drag the vessel to deeper water, according to ship-tracking data. The Ever Given vessel ran aground diagonally across the single-lane stretch of the southern canal on Tuesday morning after losing the ability to steer amid high winds and a dust storm, the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said in a statement. It is now blocking transit in both directions through one of the world’s busiest shipping channels for goods, oil, grain and other products linking Asia and Europe. Peter Berdowski, CEO of Dutch company Boskalis, which is trying to free the ship, said it was too early to say how long the job might take.

“We can’t exclude it might take weeks, depending on the situation,” Berdowski told the Dutch television program “Nieuwsuur.”

He said the ship’s bow and stern had been lifted up against either side of the canal. “It is like an enormous beached whale. It’s an enormous weight on the sand. We might have to work with a combination of reducing the weight by removing containers, oil and water from the ship, tug boats and dredging of sand.” Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM), the technical manager of Ever Given, said dredgers were working to clear sand and mud from around the vessel to free her while tugboats in conjunction with Ever Given’s winches are working to shift it. Marine services firm GAC issued a note to clients overnight saying efforts to free the vessel using tug boats continued, but that wind conditions and the sheer size of the vessel “were hindering the operation.” Ship-tracking software shows five tugs surrounding the Ever Given and three more heading towards it. The ship’s GPS signal shows only minor changes to its position over the past 24 hours, however. Several dozen vessels, including other large container ships, tankers carrying oil and gas, and bulk vessels hauling grain have backed up at either end of the canal to create one of the worst shipping jams seen for years. Roughly 30% of the world’s shipping container volume transits through the 193 km (120 miles) Suez Canal daily, and about 12% of total global trade of all goods. Shipping experts say that if the blockage is not likely to be cleared within the next 24-48 hours, some shipping firms may be forced to re-route vessels around the southern tip of Africa, which would add roughly a week to the journey. But the chairman of the Suez Canal Authority told media that despite the blockage some cargo was able to move south and that efforts to dislodge Ever Given would continue. Consultancy Wood Mackenzie said the biggest impact was on container shipping, but there were also a total of 16 laden crude and product oil tankers due to sail through the canal and now delayed by the incident, amounting to 870,000 tonnes of crude and 670,000 tonnes of clean oil products such as gasoline, naphtha and diesel. Nick Note: having sailed many times the Panama canal and the Suez canal. i can tell you the Suez Canal is a bitch especially this time of year, Its very narrow and the banks are sand which are constantly caving in. And the desert winds are fierce. On my last trip through going North into the Med we got hit by a sand storm that actually pealed the paint on the pilot house. This grounding is a big shit. Most all the China goods and oil (5 million barrels a day) into Europe passes through this shortcut. It is one of the worlds 3 vital shipping lanes. From what i am told this dinosaur of a container ship (happens more often then they admit) lost power and the wind beached her. I have long advocated against these super ships, weather they are oil tankers, container ships or cruise ships. They are just plain to big. Having had small cargo ships and yachts i can tell you when things go wrong they really go wrong big time. My old friend Captain Casey once told me while we where sheltering from a hurricane. That Mother Nature is the biggest bitch you will ever know. And watch out when she get mad.

March 24, 2021 5:25 pm

S&P 500 reverses gains and closes lower as tech sells off, Nasdaq falls 2%

The S&P 500 gave up earlier gains and closed in the red Wednesday as tech stocks sold off, continuing a market rotation out of high-flying growth names. The market suffered an ugly close where the declines in technology shares accelerated, dragging down the major averages in a rapid fashion in the final minutes. The S&P 500 fell 0.6% to 3,889.14 after rising as much as 0.8%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped 2% to 12,961.89, closing at its session low. Apple, Facebook and Netflix all slid more than 2%, while Tesla fell 4.8%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped into the red in the final seconds of the session, closing 3.09 points lower at 32,420.06. The blue-chip benchmark jumped more than 300 points at its session high. Classic reopening plays like airlines and cruise operators rolled over in afternoon trading. Shares of cruise operators fell to session lows after Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the sailing order limiting cruises will stay in place until Nov. 1. Norwegian Cruise Line dropped 4.9% following the news, while Royal Caribbean and Carnival fell 1.9% and 2.8%, respectively. Delta and United Airlines also ended the day lower.

The tech sell-off came even as bond yields continued to decline from recent highs. The 10-year Treasury yield dipped 3 basis points to 1.61% Wednesday, falling for a third day after the rate hit a 14-month high last week.

One bright spot on Wednesday was the energy sector, which gained 2.5% as oil prices bounced back 6%. The material and financial sectors also outperformed, rising about 0.7% each. “Stocks encountered volatility but powered ahead in the first quarter. Cyclical stocks — those sensitive to economic momentum — continued to lead,” said Tony DeSpirito, chief investment officer of U.S. fundamental equities at BlackRock. “We think it makes sense to position for the start of a new and powerful economic cycle.” On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen appeared for a second day for virtual Capitol Hill testimony. Talking with members of the Senate Banking Committee, Powell said he expects the economy to experience superior growth in 2021 amid a recovery from the pandemic.

“There’s going to be a very, very strong year in the most likely case,” Powell said. “There are of course risks to the upside and downside, but it should be a very strong year from a growth standpoint…Longer run we do have to raise revenue to support permanent spending that we want to do.”

Shares of Intel wiped out earlier gains and fell more than 2% even after the chip giant unveiled plans for a comeback. The firm said it would open two new factories to manufacture chips for its own use and for other companies. Investors are on edge as many regions of the world are seeing rising Covid-19 cases as highly contagious variants continue to spread. Germany and France are extending or enforcing new lockdown measures. Still, expectations for a successful reopening in the U.S. remain high as the pace of vaccinations in the country is picking up with nearly one in five adults now fully vaccinated. “The bull case for equities is persuasive in a recovering economy,” Oliver Brennan, head of research at TS Lombard, said in a note. “Earnings expectations have caught up with the pre-crisis level; risk here remains to the upside.” Nick Note: the global economy is reopening… Especially the US… Don’t let them shit you.

March 24, 2021 5:05 pm

Yellen suggests 28% corporate tax rate within ‘global framework’

United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Wednesday that a corporate tax rate of 28% would be “appropriate within a global framework” in order for the US to remain competitive. Furthermore, in her testimony before the Senate Banking, Housing, & Urban Affairs Committee, the ex-Federal Reserve chairwoman dismissed the advantages of former President Donald Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. “I don’t think it had a very substantial impact on investment spending in the United States,” Yellen told lawmakers. On Tuesday, she said that the Biden administration is examining tax hikes in order to fund an ambitious infrastructure bill that could be worth $3 trillion. Nick Note: The present corporate tax rate is a flat 21%. The new tax rate is to be negotiated. What ever… i could see the tax rate returning to 25%. Before the tax change in2018 the tax rate was 35% so this PROPOSED tax increase is a nothing Berger.

Author: BlackMask Financial

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