Author: BlackMask Financial

Federal prosecutors and regulators are investigating whether “market manipulation or other types of misconduct” led to a meteoric rise in shares of companies such as GameStop and AMC, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. The Justice Department’s fraud section and the San Francisco U.S. attorney’s office have sought information about the trading from brokers and social-media companies that were hubs for the trading, the WSJ reported, Nick Note: Reality is the hedge funds and mutual funds are using social media to manipulate the markets to the disadvantage of the little guys. They are taking advantage of their stupidity and using cool dude chats to fuck them to the wall… And it ain’t over!

A cloth mask worn over a surgical mask improves fit and could boost protection.

Fit matters when it comes to your mask protecting you against the virus that causes COVID-19, and layering a well-fitting cloth mask over a surgical mask is likely to prove beneficial, according to new findings released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The findings were not expected to lead to new mask recommendations by the CDC. The public health agency maintains that everyone age 2 and older should wear a face covering when outside their home. It also doesn’t change the recommendation that primarily medical workers in high-risk environments should rely on N95 masks, which act as a strong filter against any contaminants but is notably tougher to breathe in and withstand for long periods of time. Still, the experiment touches on some of the big questions Americans have on how best to protect themselves when mixing in public, such as grocery stores and airplanes. The research suggests that when a person “double masks” — wearing a polypropylene surgical mask with a cloth mask on top — and the people around them did the same, the risk of transmitting the virus falls more than 95%. Researchers, who used two mannequin-like forms to test exposure, found a similar benefit with tightening a single surgical mask around the ears to improve its fit. Using a hack known as a “knot and tuck,” the researchers ensured the surgical mask fits closely around the face without gaps. The benefit, though, fell to 80% if only one person wore the double mask and 60% if only one person knotted their surgical mask for a tighter fit.

Dr. John Brooks, chief medical officer for the CDC’s COVID-19 emergency response, said the research results suggest that combining the close fit of a cloth mask with the filtration of a surgical mask is a good option. It also makes the case that “community masking” — everyone wearing a mask and not just a few people — matters. “Universal masking is one of our most potent interventions to control the pandemic, we believe,” Brooks told ABC News in an interview. “When all of us mask, not only does it giving us some personal protection. But by each of us doing that, we’re protecting other people,” he added.

The CDC has struggled with its public message on masks. Early in the pandemic, health officials urged the public not to wear masks because of concerns about dire shortages for health care workers. They also believed the virus would behave like other respiratory viruses and mostly transmit when a person shows symptoms like a cough and fever. But after research showed the virus that causes COVID-19 was spreading at an alarming rate through some people who never had symptoms, the CDC in April 2020 abruptly shifted gears and began recommending the public wear cloth masks. By June 2020, the World Health Organization agreed that people should wear masks especially when social distancing is not possible.

In recent weeks, the CDC has been pressed on whether it should toughen its recommendation on masks because of new variants of the virus that make it more transmissible. One question was whether the CDC might embrace N95 masks for public use and try to boost production. There are still shortages of N95 masks.

But agency officials have declined to suggest specifically that Americans wear the tight-fitting N95s because — while highly effective — they are particularly difficult to wear for long periods of time because they are harder to breathe in. Also, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky has said wearing an N95 mask probably isn’t necessary in public places. “I think if everybody is wearing a mask, if you’re wearing it and six feet apart … you have enough protective effectiveness in the barriers of those two masks and the space between you that you probably don’t need it,” Walensky said Jan. 27 during a CNN Town Hall. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert and President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, has said people shouldn’t read too much into the evolving discussion on masks. Scientific experiments are likely to shed new light on what’s most effective, but the recommendation on face coverings remain the same. “The discussion is changing, not the goalposts,” Fauci told Fox News on Jan. 27, responding to a question about how many masks a person should wear. He later added: “You know what would be a good start? If everybody wears at least one mask. I think that would be important.”

“We want to communicate to the public that if you want to get more out of that mask, there’s a number of low-tech ways you can improve its performance,” Brooks said. Nick Note: Being the inventor of the “UGLY MASK” and P3 nanoparticle filter ULPA 15 I  can tell you we have know for a long time the dangerous of the N95 coffee/ toilet paper filters. So noow they admit their filters are not working so well especially on the mutated strains. Their solution is wear 2 masks…. REALLY!. For a fact no one even in high risks settings have reported they have NOT tested positive for the virus much less get infected using  the UGLY MASK.. And reports back from the field report that half the people in high risks environments using the billion dollar conglomerate toilet paper coffee filter SHIT are testing positive and half of those are getting infections..I have made thousands of them at great financial loss and as Sarah says DAD you invent things people do not want! Well Sugar Bugger that is my fate in life!!!

Feb 11 (Reuters) – Geneva-based Pictet Group’s assetmanagement arm expects the S&P 500 to rise 10% from its currentlevels, with improving economic growth and easy monetary policyhelping to extend its rally. The S&P 500 has risen around 21% from its October lows, and closed on Wednesday at 3909.88 points.

“There is a risk of a melt up in a way, in the U.S.especially, and you don’t want to stand against it,” LucaPaolini, chief strategist at Pictet Asset Management, told theReuters Global Markets Forum on Wednesday.

But valuations were high at current levels, said Paolini,whose company manages more than $200 billion in assets. U.S. bond yields may rise in the next three-to-six monthsdue to an uptick in inflation expectations and possibly somepre-emptive Fed guidance on tapering its massive stimulusprogramme, Paolini said. He expected the 10-year treasury yield to end 2021 around1.25%, last seen in March 2020. It is currently at 1.14%. Paolini said global inflation levels are likely to remainlow this year, but accelerate in 2022 when the global economy isexpected to return to near-full potential. But there was still a risk of rising inflation, which shouldbe hedged with gold, some commodities and U.S. TIPS, or treasuryinflation protected securities, he added. Paolini called high-yielding corporate bonds an “incrediblymrisky” investment in the context of U.S. junk bonds fallingbelow 4% for the first time ever. To make a good return at this level (in junk bonds), hesaid, “you need to have … no rise in bond yields, no Fedtaper, decline in default rates, a strong economy, and I thinkit is quite unlikely that you’re going to get all of that.” Paolini said there was not a strong case for bitcoin pricesto rise in the long term, calling the meteoric rise ofcryptocurrencies a side effect of a long period of monetaryexpansion. “That’s a very speculative asset class, which I think is …incredibly dangerous.” Bitcoin powered to a record high earlier this week,nearing$50,000, following Elon Musk-led Tesla’s investment in the cryptocurrency that had investors believing it may become a main stream asset class.(This interview was conducted in the Reuters Global MarketsForum, a chat room hosted on the Refinitiv Messenger platform. Nick Note: Forget the Wall Street speak in the above report. The main takeaway is the FACT this stock market is about to go parabolic. And I do freaked out markets.And i especially do their demise. All i can tell the bulls is the condemned eat hearty!

UK’s Jewish Chronicle, citing unnamed intel sources, claims Fakhrizadeh was hit by Mossad team without US involvement, says killing likely set back nuke weapons program by years Top Iranian scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was assassinated in November by a Mossad team using a one-ton automated weapon that had been smuggled into Iran in pieces, according to a Wednesday report in London’s Jewish Chronicle. The US was not involved in the operation, which may have set back the rogue Iranian nuclear weapons program by years, the report said. Apparently based at least in part on unnamed Israeli sources, the report appeared timed to send a message both to Iran, which is openly breaching the 2015 P5+1 nuclear deal, and to the new US administration, which is planning to re-enter the deal, highlighting Israel’s oft-stated determination to take whatever action is necessary to prevent Iran from attaining nuclear weapons. Fakhrizadeh was killed on a road outside Tehran on November 27. Iran has blamed Israel for the hit. The team that carried out the hit had over 20 members, both Israeli and Iranian nationals, the Jewish Chronicle reported, citing “intelligence sources.” At least some of those sources were evidently Israeli; one was quoted saying, “Thank God we got all our people out and they didn’t catch anyone. They didn’t even come close.” The agents surveilled Fakhrizadeh for eight months before the assassination, the report claimed. It said agents were on the ground at the time of the assassination to operate the gun from a distance. The report claimed Fakhrizadeh was hit by a burst of 13 bullets from the “hyper-accurate” weapon, which did not injure his wife or 12 bodyguards who were traveling with him. Some of the numerous contradictory reports of the killing at the time, by contrast, claimed several of Fakhrizadeh’s bodyguards were also killed in the attack. The weapon was mounted on the back of a Nissan truck and detonated to destroy evidence after the assassination, the report claimed. “The bespoke weapon, operated remotely by agents on the ground as they observed the target, was so heavy because it included a bomb that destroyed the evidence after the killing,” it added. The US was not involved in the assassination, the report said. The Americans were given only a “little clue.” It further asserted that Israeli analysts believe Fakhrizadeh’s killing has extended the time Iran would need to construct a nuclear weapon, if it decides to break out for the bomb, from 3.5 months to some 2-5 years. Furthermore, it said, Iran has “secretly assessed that it will take six years” before a replacement for Fakhrizadeh is “fully operational.” Publication of the report came as Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing off against the new administration in the US, with President Joe Biden having said he intends to re-enter the 2015 JCPOA nuclear deal negotiated under president Barack Obama, an agreement from which president Donald Trump withdrew. Netanyahu, who publicly lobbied against the 2015 deal, has warned Biden that it would be a “mistake” and “folly” for the US to rejoin the JCPOA. “There is no doubt that whatever approach the Americans take with Iran, Israel will ‘defend itself by itself,’” the Wednesday report said, and quoted an anonymous but plainly Israeli source saying: “Our main strategy for leverage over the United States is to present our 2018 intelligence to the IAEA. But if it doesn’t work, we will act. The US won’t love it, but we will keep our sovereignty and fight every existential threat… If the situation becomes critical, we will ask nobody for permission. We will kill the bomb.” The report’s details of the Fakhrizadeh hit appear to at least partially accord with Iranian media claims after the killing that it was carried out from afar using a remote-controlled machine gun attached to a car. Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said a satellite-controlled gun with “artificial intelligence” was used in the attack. The Jewish Chronicle report said the planning of the assassination began after the Mossad stole a trove of documents from a Tehran warehouse on Iran’s nuclear program, in an operation publicized by Netanyahu in 2018. In a companion piece Wednesday for the Spectator magazine, Jake Wallis Simons, the journalist who wrote the Jewish Chronicle article, elaborated that Fakhrizadeh’s centrality to the rogue Iranian nuclear weapons program was underlined by the discovery that documents in the trove “were found to have been handwritten” by him, and some had his fingerprints “literally” all over them. Fakhrizadeh, the writer said he was told, “was found to be the architect of everything in the archive. He was directing all aspects [of the Iranian program], from the science and the secret sites to the personnel and the knowhow. From that moment – to use Mossad slang – it became clear that the scientist had to ‘depart’.” There have been various reports describing how Fakhrizadeh was killed, including by a team of shooters on the ground and remote weapons controlled by satellites. Israel and the US say Fakhrizadeh headed Iran’s rogue nuclear weapons program.

Continue reading “Report: Iranian nuke scientist was killed by Israeli 1-ton automated gun”

United States major stock markets closed mixed on Wednesday in a volatile session fueled by the investors’ optimism over the passing of stimulus relief bill as President Biden sought support with government officials as well as CEOs of top American firms. On the other hand, Federal Reserve Bank Chair Jerome Powell gave a speech later in the day expressing concerns regarding the uncertainties of the economic recovery and achieving maximum employment. He also outlined that continued federal support of businesses and workers will be necessary even after the pandemic.The Dow Jones closed at a record high gaining 0.20% led by Walgreens rising 3.22%, while the Nasdaq 100 was down 0.23% as Tesla plummeted 526%. The S&P 500 ended 0.03% in the red with Akamai Technologies dropping 10.91%. The euro remained flat against the dollar changing hands at $1.21204 at 4:04 pm ET. Nick Note: This is the crazy shit you get in a bubble. For now ride the wave

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel’s swift vaccination rollout has made it the largest real-world study of Pfizer Inc’s COVID-19 vaccine. Results are trickling in, and they are promising. More than half of eligible Israelis – about 3.5 million people – have now been fully or partially vaccinated. Older and at-risk groups, the first to be inoculated, are seeing a dramatic drop in illnesses. Among the first fully-vaccinated group there was a 53% reduction in new cases, a 39% decline in hospitalizations and a 31% drop in severe illnesses from mid-January until Feb. 6, said Eran Segal, data scientist at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel. In the same period, among people under age 60 who became eligible for shots later, new cases dropped 20% but hospitalizations and severe illness rose 15% and 29%, respectively. Reuters interviewed leading scientists in Israel and abroad, Israeli health officials, hospital heads and two of the country’s largest healthcare providers about what new data shows from the world’s most efficient vaccine rollout. The vaccine drive has provided a database offering insights into how effective the vaccines are outside of controlled clinical trials, and at what point countries might attain sought-after but elusive herd immunity. More will be known in two weeks, as teams analyse vaccine effectiveness in younger groups of Israelis, as well as targeted populations such as people with diabetes, cancer and pregnant women, among a patient base at least 10 times larger than those in clinical studies.  “We need to have enough variety of people in that subgroup and enough follow-up time so you can make the right conclusions, and we are getting to that point,” said Ran Balicer, chief innovation officer of HMO Clalit, which covers more than half the Israeli population. Pfizer is monitoring the Israeli rollout on a weekly basis for insights that can be used around the world. As a small country with universal healthcare, advanced data capabilities and the promise of a swift rollout, Israel provided Pfizer with a unique opportunity to study the real-world impact of the vaccine developed with Germany’s BioNTech But the company said it remained “difficult to forecast the precise time when herd protection may start to manifest” because of many variables at play, including social distancing measures and the number of new infections generated by each case, known as the reproduction rate. Even Israel, in the vanguard of the global vaccine drive, has lowered expectations of emerging quickly from the pandemic because of soaring cases. A third national lockdown has struggled to contain transmission, attributed to the fast-spreading UK variant of the virus. On a positive note, the Pfizer/BioNTech shot appears to be effective against it. “We’ve so far identified the same 90% to 95% efficacy against the British strain,” said Hezi Levi, director-general of the Israeli Health Ministry. “It is still early though, because we have only now finished the first week after the second dose,” he said, adding: “It’s too early to say anything about the South African variant.” Israel began its vaccination programme Dec. 19 – the day after Hanukkah – after paying a premium for supplies of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. Four days later, the more contagious UK variant was detected in four people. While the vaccine is preventing illness in older people, the variant now makes up about 80% of new cases. Finding themselves in a race between the vaccine and the new variant, Israel began giving shots to those over 60 and gradually opened the programme to the rest of the population. Every detail was digitally tracked, down to in which arm the patient was jabbed and what vial it came from. One week after receiving the second Pfizer dose – the point at which full protection is expected to kick in – 254 out of 416,900 people were infected, according to Maccabi, a leading Israeli healthcare provider. Comparing this against an unvaccinated group revealed a vaccine efficacy of 91%, Maccabi said. By 22 days after full vaccination, no infections were recorded. Israeli experts are confident the vaccines rather than lockdown measures brought the numbers down, based on studying different cities, age groups and pre-vaccine lockdowns. The comparisons were “convincing in telling us this is the effect of the vaccination,” said Weizmann Institute’s Segal. With 80% of senior citizens partially or fully vaccinated, a more complete picture will begin to emerge as soon as this week. “And we do expect further decline in the overall cases and in the cases of severe morbidity,” said Balicer, of HMO Clalit. There may be early signs that vaccinations are tamping down virus transmission in addition to illness At Israel’s biggest COVID-19 testing centre, run by MyHeritage, researchers have tracked a significant decrease in the amount of virus infected people carry, known as cT value, among the most-vaccinated age groups. This suggests that even if vaccinated people get infected, they are less likely to infect others, said MyHeritage Chief Science Officer Yaniv Erlich. “The data so far is probably most clear from Israel. I do believe that these vaccines will reduce onward transmission,” said Stefan Baral, from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in Maryland. It is unclear whether Israel will be able to keep up its world-leading vaccination pace. “When you vaccinate fast and a lot, you eventually get to the hardcore – those who are less willing or harder to reach,” said Boaz Lev, head of the Health Ministry’s advisory panel. The vaccination pace is seen even more crucial with the British variant’s rapid transmission. “In the race between the UK variant spreading and the vaccinations, the end result is that we are seeing a kind of plateau in terms of the severely ill,” said Segal. The big question is whether vaccines can eradicate the pandemic. Michal Linial, a professor of molecular biology and bioinformatics at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, said data from past decades suggests viruses become endemic and seasonal. She predicted this coronavirus would become far less aggressive, perhaps requiring a booster shot within three years. “The virus is not going anywhere,” she concluded. Nick Note: Its all a matter of knowledge. Suck it up you will need a vaccine AND AND a booster shot every 6 months to a year… SO!

LONDON (Reuters) – World shares rose to new all-time highs overnight and European indexes strengthened, with market sentiment generally upbeat on the prospect of fiscal stimulus and vaccine rollouts and ahead of a speech by U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. The MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 49 countries, was up 0.2% at 0833 GMT, having touched new peaks shortly before. Overnight, MSCI’s ex-Japan Asian shares index also broke above its previous high hit in January.. European indexes strengthened after a shaky start, with the STOXX 600 and London’s FTSE 100 both up 0.2%.  The dollar slipped slightly against a basket of currencies, down 0.2% at a two-week low of 90.263. “The reflation rally continues and interestingly with the dollar now weakening which suggests inflows into Asia are being recycled,” wrote Sebastien Galy, senior macro strategist at Nordea Asset Management in an emailed note. “Eventually, the reflation in commodities will start to affect real economic activity and create a negative feedback loop, especially oil,” he said. Oil prices rose overnight but steadied as European markets opened. Brent has risen for eight days in a row, the longest sustained run of gains since January 2019, while U.S. oil gained for seven days, the longest rally since February 2019. China’s consumer price index fell more than expected, but factory prices posted their first year-on-year rise in 12 months, suggesting gathering momentum in the industrial sector. up. Chinese stocks rose to multi-year highs on the last trading day before the week-long lunar new year holidays “China has been able to recover quickly because it controlled the pandemic quickly, which enabled it to fill the gap caused by production bottlenecks in countries where COVID-19 restrictions were still in place,” Marcin Adamczyk, head of emerging markets debt at NN Investment Partners, wrote in a note.  U.S. President Joe Biden said on Tuesday he agreed with a proposal by Democratic lawmakers that would limit or phase out stimulus payments to higher-income individuals as part of his $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill. The U.S. government will begin shipping COVID-19 vaccines directly to community health centres next week, as part of Biden’s goal of administering 100 million doses of the vaccine in his first 100 days in office. Earnings also contributed to market optimism. Japan’s Toyota hiked its full-year earnings forecasts by 54% to a record $19 billion. Societe Generale beat profit forecasts for the fourth quarter, as did Dutch bank ABN Amro. After a slight pullback on Wall Street on Tuesday, S&P 500 futures pointed towards a stronger open, up 0.3%. U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will speak in a webinar about the state of the U.S. labour market at 1900 GMT. “The Fed’s job in avoiding unwarranted moves higher in yields is about to get more difficult,” wrote Derek Halpenny, MUFG head of research for global markets EMEA, in a note to clients. “Tonight’s speech will need to be carefully balanced between an improving outlook due to COVID and continued caution given the high levels of uncertainty and the long road to achieving its new, higher inflation goal.” U.S. CPI data is also due later in the session. The 10-year treasury yield was little changed at 1.1534%, having dipped from a spike on Monday to its highest since March last year. In Europe, the benchmark 10-year German Bund yield was steady at -0.445%. Italian borrowing costs hit a one-month low on Tuesday as Mario Draghi made progress in his attempt to form a government. The euro was up 0.2% at $1.2137, its highest in 9 days. Elsewhere, Bitcoin was trading around $46,763 and Ethereum hit new record highs. Nick Note: Feel the heat…… the stampede of the herd…. The  roar of the crowd. They know no fear. Driven by greed the desperadoes are playing right into our hands.  We are in essence front running them. This is a sophisticated game we play  and rarely comes along. Not every rally has the stupids jumping in with both feet. I have had this trade unfold only a handful of times in the past 40 years. The First was the silver run. My mentor Tome Rubin said to me watch and learn. “The first run (which we are in now in the stock market) builds your bank. The second phase the end of the mania where we short is where fortunes are made”. So hit the fucking reset button as your are starting to figure out this is new all over again.