Author: BlackMask Financial

As coronavirus outbreaks spike in some areas of the United States, Apple is planning to close retail stores located in Florida, Arizona, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Apple began reopening stores in the United States in May, and as of this week, 154 of the company’s 271 stores had been reopened. Coronavirus cases are climbing in some places in the U.S., however, and Apple is reclosing locations in affected areas. Apple will be closing eleven of its retail stores, but it’s not yet clear which stores are being closed. Apple had reopened all 18 of its stores in Florida, five in Arizona, three in North Carolina, and one in South Carolina. Apple in a statement said that it is temporarily closing stores in “an abundance of caution” and is closely monitoring the situation. Apple’s retail chief, Deirdre O’Brien in a letter to customers amid of store openings said that Apple will only reopen stores when its confident it can safely serve customers. Decisions to close or reopen stores are based on data evaluation, such as local cases, near and long-term trends, and guidance from national and local health officials. O’Brien warned that Apple would not hesitate to close stores again if coronavirus cases spiked. “These are not decisions we rush into — and a store opening in no way means that we won’t take the preventative step of closing it again should local conditions warrant,” O’Brien said. In stores that have reopened, Apple is implementing safety measures that include mandatory masks, social distancing, frequent cleaning, temperature checks, and more. In some locations, stores are open only for repairs and curb-side pickup, while others are open but with a limited number of people allowed in at one time. Nick Note: The proof is in the pudding. Apple opes stores because the pandemic is over. Only to  close them again a month later. I guess you could say THEIR BACK!! This is not over. Protect yourself!

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A de facto lockdown in the United States has lasted longer than expected despite a rollback in some restrictions on mobility, pointing to a deeper-than-expected contraction in gross domestic product in the second quarter, the IMF said on Thursday. Details will be available when the International Monetary Fund releases its updated World Economic Outlook on June 24, spokesman Gerry Rice told a regular briefing held online. Given the continuing lockdowns, the pace of recovery in the world’s largest economy could be slower, he said, without giving an exact forecast. Rice said the Chinese economy was gaining momentum, with high frequency data showing a stronger-than-expected recovery in investment and services through May. Overall, the balance of risks remained on the downside, he said. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and other top IMF officials have said the Fund is likely to revise downward its already pessimistic forecast for a 3% contraction in global gross domestic output in 2020. The best-case scenario released by the Fund in April had called for the U.S. economy to contract 5.9% in 2020, with a rebound to 4.7% growth in 2021. At the time, it forecast China would maintain positive growth of 1.2% in 2020, with growth expanding to 9.2% in 2021. Rice said the IMF was continuing to provide financing to members through its emergency financing and other facilities. A total of $250 billion of the Fund’s $1 trillion in lending capacity had been disbursed so far, he said. As of Friday, 70 countries will have received some $25 billion in rapid emergency funding that comes largely without the usual IMF conditions, Rice said. Of that total, about $10 billion went to 28 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, he said, noting that marked a huge increase from the Fund’s average annual lending of $1 billion in the region. Nick Note: Its going to be a shrewd awaking when they figure out this is just round 1. The economy is going to slip down the slippery slope into a deep, dark depression, Many people are getting ready to lose everything. NOT US!

The coronavirus pandemic will “fade away” even without a vaccine, but researchers are close to developing one anyhow, President Donald Trump said. “We’re very close to a vaccine and we’re very close to therapeutics, really good therapeutics,” Trump said Wednesday night in a television interview with Fox News. “But even without that, I don’t even like to talk about that, because it’s fading away, it’s going to fade away, but having a vaccine would be really nice and that’s going to happen.” President Donald Trump said  that he believed the coronavirus pandemic would “go away without a vaccine,” contradicting countless warnings from the medical community and his own White House task force. “I feel about vaccines like I feel about tests. This is going to go away without a vaccine, it’s gonna go away, and we’re not going to see it again, hopefully, after a period of time.” Trump added that while the U.S. may see “some flare-ups” of the virus, and while the virus could remain throughout the year, he believed states should lift restrictions and let Americans go back to work.  Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert and member of the White House coronavirus task force, does not think COVID-19 will suddenly go away. “I don’t think there’s a chance that this virus is just going to disappear,” he said recently. “It’s going to be around, and if given the opportunity, it will resurge.” He said he was “almost certain it will come back because the virus is so transmissible and it’s globally spread.” Nick Note: Now you can see why America is becoming another has been empire. China see coronavirus case on the upswing and goes into lock down. The US sees record outbreaks and YOUR president (weather you admit for voting for him or not) he is still YOUR president.  Trump says no more lock downs it will go away by its own. Trump is literary gambling the empire on a plague.

China raised its emergency warning to its second-highest level and canceled more than 60% of the flights to Beijing on Wednesday amid a new coronavirus outbreak in the capital. It was a sharp pullback for the nation that declared victory over COVID-19 in March and a message to the rest of the world about how tenacious the virus really is. New infections spiked in India, Iran and U.S. states including Florida, Texas and Arizona as authorities struggled to balance restarting economic activity without accelerating the pandemic. European nations, which embarked on a wide-scale reopening this week, looked on with trepidation as the Americas struggled to contain the first wave of the pandemic and Asian nations like China and South Korea reported new outbreaks.

Chinese officials described the situation in Beijing as “extremely grave.” “This has truly rung an alarm bell for us,” Party Secretary Cai Qi told a meeting of Beijing’s Communist Party Standing Committee.

After a push that began June 14, the city expects to have tested 700,000 people by the end of the day, said Zhang Qiang, a Beijing party official. About half of them were workers from the city’s food markets, nearby residents and close contacts. The party’s Global Times said 1,255 flights to and from the capital’s two major airports were scrapped by Wednesday morning, about two-thirds of those scheduled. Since the virus emerged in China late last year and spread worldwide, there have been more than 8.1 million confirmed cases and at least 443,000 deaths, according to a tally kept by Johns Hopkins University. Experts say the true toll is much higher, due to the many who died without being tested and other factors.

The U.S. has the most infections and deaths in the world, with a toll that neared 117,000 on Wednesday, surpassing the number of Americans who died in World War I.

Arizona reported a daily high of nearly 2,400 new infections for a total of more than 39,000, while in Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott insisted the state’s health care system could handle the fast-rising number of new cases and hospitalizations. Tuesday marked the eighth time in nine days that Texas set a new high for COVID-19 hospitalizations at 2,518. State health officials reported 2,622 new cases. Texas began aggressively reopening its economy May 1. Abbott noted that Texans may have become lax in wearing masks or practicing social distancing and urged people to stay home as much as possible. As the U.S. struggles with the first wave of the virus, other countries where it was widely thought to be under control faced disturbing developments. Nick Note:  while China shuts thing down. You leader Trump claims their is nothing to do the virus will go away on its own. I truly wish you good luck!

The OPEC + technical committee that met today made no further recommendations for further production cuts, focusing instead on members who do not abide by the current agreement, sources said. Another objective of the meeting was to examine the impact of the reduction. The second OPEC producer, Iraq, is also historically the least compliant member of OPEC +. However, even Iraq has significantly reduced its crude oil exports this time. Iraqi exports fell 300,000 barrels per day (b / d), or 8%, in the first two weeks of June compared with May. These figures suggest that Iraq continues to improve compliance with record production cuts, in part thanks to strong, solid armaments from Russia and Saudi Arabia, who have refused to sign another month of production cuts high level unless the laggards do their part. But getting closer to the reductions agreed in June is two months too late – for a two-month pact. OPEC + sources say Iraq and Kazakhstan are expected to present their plans on how they will offset the extra barrels they produced in May and until tomorrow’s JMMC meeting. present in June. The group will likely expect lagging members to make up for their overproduction, barrel for barrel, in July and August. OPEC + compliance was 87% in May. OPEC + reductions of 9.7 million barrels per day have so far had a modest positive effect on oil prices, not least because the amount of crude oil stored worldwide is still quite excessive. And there is growing concern, including within the petroleum industry, that some of this lost demand will not return soon. Nick Note: DAHHH

The United States may be at a crucial point in the coronavirus pandemic, with cases rising again and officials deciding whether to stay the course on reopening. At least 19 states have seen new cases go up in the last two weeks and six states on Tuesday reported record increases, CBS News’ Manuel Bojorquez reports.

Florida reported 2,783 new cases. Texas reported 2,622, and Arizona reported a one-day jump of 2,392 new cases. Oklahoma, Oregon and Nevada also reported their highest single-day spikes in cases yet.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis dismissed concerns Tuesday that reopenings are driving his state’s record-breaking run. He said spikes there are due to increased testing, particularly in high-risk areas like nursing homes and farming communities. “You do now have widespread testing of asymptomatic people,” he said at a press conference Tuesday. He acknowledged that community spread is happening, but the state’s reopening plan isn’t changing. “The restaurants have been doing this for, what have they been doing it for – for six weeks? I mean, the idea that that all of a sudden is the reason, I’m not sure that that’s the case. So no, we’re not shutting down,” he said.  But bars in several cities have started closing on their own after workers and patrons tested positive for the virus, including Lynch’s pub in Jacksonville. Seven of its 49 employees tested positive. So did Erika Crisp and ten of her friends after going there for drinks. “We’ve all been stuck indoors for months being careful. Social distancing. Doing everything the right way,” she said. “And then the first night we go out … Murphy’s Law, I guess.” A similar phenomenon is happening as bars reopen in Texas, according to Governor Greg Abbott, who threatened to suspend liquor licenses for restaurants violating reopening rules. “There are certain counties where a majority of the people who are testing positive in that county are under the age of 30 and this typically results from people going to bar-type settings,” said Abbott. The mayors of nine Texas cities sent Abbott a letter urging him to grant them the authority to mandate face masks in public.  Nick Note: This is serious shit. They should lock down these outbreak areas before they kill all of us! Or at least try!

The US has thrown into disarray plans for a new global tax framework for technology companies after suspending talks with European countries — and warning them of retaliatory measures if they press ahead with their own taxes. In a letter to four European finance ministers seen by the Financial Times, US Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin warned that discussions had reached an “impasse”. He said the US was unable to agree even on an interim basis changes to global taxation law that would affect leading US digital companies. The move dashes international discussions under the auspices of the Paris-based OECD for a more equitable approach to taxing multinational companies. It will also infuriate European capitals desperate to raise revenue after the devastation to public finances wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic. With the US threatening tariffs if European nations continue levying digital taxes, the letter paves the way for a summer of transatlantic tension and heated negotiations. Paris, Madrid, London and Rome have been among the capitals to champion new taxes on Apple, Facebook, Google and other tech giants, arguing that the companies profit enormously from the European market while making minimal contributions to public coffers. “Attempting to rush such difficult negotiations is a distraction from far more important matters,” said Mr Mnuchin in the letter, dated June 12. “This is a time when governments around the world should focus their attention on dealing with the economic issues resulting from Covid-19.” The letter, sent to Rishi Sunak, the UK chancellor of the exchequer, French economy minister Bruno Le Maire, and the finance ministers of Italy and Spain, called for talks to be suspended. The US Treasury secretary also reiterated prior threats to retaliate if the countries continued to implement their own digital taxes. “The United States remains opposed to digital services taxes and similar unilateral measures,” Mr Mnuchin wrote. “As we have repeatedly said, if countries choose to collect or adopt such taxes, the United States will respond with appropriate commensurate measures.” The US wanted to resume the talks later this year, he said in the letter. European diplomats said that they would send a joint reply shortly. The OECD had proposed a compromise with two pillars. The first suggested countries would be allowed for the first time to have some rights to tax profits made on the basis of sales in their jurisdictions. This would not just apply to US tech giants, but would also give the US, for example, limited taxing rights over European luxury goods companies. The second was that there would be a global minimum corporate tax rate to stop countries lowering corporate tax rates in an attempt to shift company headquarters to their jurisdictions. Mr Mnuchin insisted that discussions on the second pillar remained on track and that the parties were “much closer to an agreement”. He said the US hoped to bring these talks on a global minimum tax to a conclusion this year. However, few think a global compromise is possible without agreement on both pillars, so the US letter is likely to find few supporters in European finance ministries. The UK Treasury said on Wednesday it intended to press ahead with its own digital services tax, which is already enshrined in British law, although US tech companies are not required to pay anything until 2021. In January Mr Mnuchin and his French counterpart Mr Le Maire managed to prevent a complete breakdown in the process, with the US suspending its plans for tariffs on predominantly French goods alongside a commitment by Paris not to collect revenues from its digital tax immediately, even though the liabilities would still accrue. But earlier this month, the Trump administration cleared the way for punitive measures against a broad range of countries that had adopted or were in the process of adopting digital taxes. Robert Lighthizer, the US trade representative, announced a probe into whether digital tax measures in the UK, Spain, Italy and other countries amounted to an unfair trade practice, which allows Washington under US law to unilaterally slap tariffs on imports from the countries involved. The US had already launched such a probe against France for its digital tax plans, and unveiled a list of products, including French wines, that would be targeted for retaliation, but had so far held off imposing those levies. The US Treasury did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter. Nick Note: Kind of hard when you are fighting a global pandemic to focus on the mundane

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories (excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve) increased by 1.2 million barrels from the previous week. At 539.3 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are about 15% above the five year average for this time of year.  U.S. crude oil refinery inputs averaged 13.6 million barrels per day during the week ending June 12, 2020 which was 116,000 barrels per day more than the previous week’s average. Refineries operated at 73.8% of their operable capacity last week. Gasoline production increased last week, averaging 8.4 million barrels per day. Distillate fuel production decreased last week, averaging 4.5 million barrels per day.U.S. crude oil imports averaged 6.6 million barrels per day last week, down by 222,000 thousand barrels per day from the previous week. Over the past four weeks, crude oil imports averaged about 6.7 million barrels per day, 10.0% less than the same four-week period last year. Total motor gasoline imports (including both finished gasoline and gasoline blending components) last week averaged 530,000 barrels per day, and distillate fuel imports averaged 163,000 barrels per day.  Total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 1.7 million barrels last week and are about 10% above the five year average for this time of year. Finished gasoline inventories increased while blending components inventories decreased last week. Distillate fuel inventories decreased by 1.4 million barrels last week and are about 28% above the five year average for this time of year. Propane/propylene inventories increased by 2.7 million barrels last week and are about 6% above the five year average for this time of year. Total commercial petroleum inventories increased last week by 7.1 million barrels last week. Total products supplied over the last four-week period averaged 16.5 million barrels a day, down by 20.4% from the same period last year. Over the past four weeks, motor gasoline product supplied averaged 7.6 million barrels a day, down by 20.9% from the same period last year. Distillate fuel product supplied averaged 3.2 million barrels a day more than the past four weeks, down by 20.2% from the same period last year. Jet fuel product supplied was down 62.3% compared with the same four-week period last year