Author: BlackMask Financial

LONDON (Reuters) – Investors pulled $16.2 billion from stocks in the past week in the largest weekly redemption since the March stock market slump, according to the Bank of America’s weekly flows data.Stock markets have staged a remarkable recovery in the past month after the coronavirus crisis cause a massive tumble in March. The rebound has been powered by technology stocks but BofA said there were signs of “tech fatigue”.Tchnology stocks saw the first week of outflows so far this year, with investors redeeming $43 million worth, BofA said its weekly research note. Gold and high-yield bond funds both saw their biggest six-week inflows on record, with $32 billion flowing into high-yielding bonds in what analysts called a “high-yield comeback”. Investors added $11.3 billion into bonds and $53.5 billion into cash in the past week, BofA said, with an internal indicator of sentiment at “extreme bearish”.As lockdown measures aiming to limit the spread of the new coronavirus have brought the global economy to a halt, BofA analysts said that they had seen a massive inflow to cash from BofA private clients in the past four to eight weeks. The U.S. bank also said that nine of ten clients believed the current market recover was a “bear market rally” and seven out of ten said they would only buy the assets that the U.S. Federal Reserve purchases through it various stimulus schemes. Stock markets have staged a remarkable recovery in the past month after the coronavirus crisis cause a massive tumble in March. The rebound has been powered by technology stocks but BofA said there were signs of “tech fatigue”. As lockdown measures aiming to limit the spread of the new coronavirus have brought the global economy to a halt, BofA analysts said that they had seen a massive inflow to cash from BofA private clients in the past four to eight weeks. The U.S. bank also said that nine of ten clients believed the current market recover was a “bear market rally” and seven out of ten said they would only buy the assets that the U.S. Federal Reserve purchases through it various stimulus schemes. Nation to work. Nick Note: Einsteins theory of reactivity needed a constant for the equation to work.   He chose the speed of light..  THAT IS WHY ITS CALLED THEORY. We now know the spEed of light is not a constant. I ran the numbers when i was 10 years old and spoOted the flaw. I was laughed out of the classroom… As usual i was right and the professor assholes were wrong. but their is good news.. I DISCOVERED A BETTER CONSTANT TO USE.  Its called the Nick’s theory of stupidness. Investors (i use the term loosely) sold out of stocks in the biggest rally ever and in a market that will soon be at new highs. And to prove my theory of stupidness they bough gold in the biggest DEFLATION ever. And to prove prove absolutely my theory of stupidness they bought bonds in front of the biggest bond sales ever. Now for my theory of investors stupidness i had to find a constant. Here it is: The masses always sell on the bottom (tech stocks this time) AND buy at the top (gold and bonds) i n their latest money losing venture.  Full disclosure: i am a fuck up. I was to clumsy to get the waiter job with Romeo. No one would hire me. Even my uncle Joe told me he would have to take a “look” at me for a job… he never called back.. thank GOD. SO i had to take the billion dollar hedge fund manager thing. I think Nick’s theory of stupidness will become Nick’s law of stupidness… Which as we know is gods favorite color.

do not let the fucking talking heads idiots fool you. this time it is really different

The stock market finished nearly 2% higher on Friday, despite one of the worst monthly jobs reports in history, as investors continued to look toward a reopening of the economy and bet that the worst of  the economic impact from coronavirus has passed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.9%, 450 points, on Friday, while the S&P 500 was up 1.7% and the Nasdaq 1.6%. Those gains came even amid a historically bad jobs report from the Labor Department, the worst since the 1929 Great Depression. Some 20.5 million jobs have been eliminated in April—that’s nearly every job created over the past decade, gone in a single month.  The unemployment rate shot up to 14.7% as the economy ground to a halt due to coronavirus shutdowns. But neither figures were as bad as expected on Wall Street, however: Economists polled by Dow Jones expected 21.5 million jobs lost and an unemployment rate of 16%. “Today’s report tells us the labor market isn’t as dire as the headlines suggest, which is why equity prices and bond yields are getting a lift,” says Charlie Ripley, senior investment strategist for Allianz Investment Management. “In one month, we nearly wiped out all of the jobs created the previous 10 years, which puts in perspective just how devastating this pandemic has been,” according to Ryan Detrick, senior market strategist for LPL Financial. “Here’s the catch. As our country starts to open back up, many of those jobs will come back, potentially quickly.” “Perhaps the ‘best’ news in the report was that of the 23 million workers who were unemployed in April, about 18 million thought that this was short-term (presumably expecting to be brought back to work within six months),” says Nationwide Chief Economist David Berson. Stocks have rallied aggressively off their March lows as Wall Street becomes increasingly optimistic about a reopening of the economy. Despite dismal economic data and first quarter corporate earnings reports, stocks have looked beyond the near-term turmoil caused by coronavirus. The market has moved higher in recent weeks as several states—including Georgia, Florida, Texas and California—begin to reopen businesses and lift coronavirus lockdowns. The S&P 500 has bounced back more than 30% from its low in late March, now just 15% off a record high. The Nasdaq NDAQ is more than 35% off its lows and on Thursday moved into positive territory for the year.

Nick Note: Think for yourself and grow rich. The stupid money never see the recovery. And this is NOT  the great depression. In the 1929 crash and subsequent depression the central bank tightened. lessons learned since then and especially in the Great recession of 2008 taught that you must save the system and flood the economy with money. And they have done this in the present crises like never seen before. in the great depressions bossiness were permanently closed unable to recapitalize.  The worker bees had no social safety net. NOW with the system flooded with cash serious  business will easily recapitalize.  And The  Mel types at the dinner who though financing was done with his master card at 18% was broke before this happened. JOBS HAVE NOT NOT NOT BEEN LOST BUT TEMPORARILY SUSPENDED.  This time their is an extensive unemployment insurance system. And happy checks for all. This time rents, mortgages, car payments and credit cars debt payments has been suspended. And they have learned mass quarantines are not the answer.

BOTTOM LINE: 1 MILLION DEAD 2 MILLION DEAD IS ACCEPTABLE COLLATERAL DAMAGE THEY WILL:

LET MY  PEOPLE GO…  TO SHOP!

GENTLEMAN WILL START THEIR ENGINES.

PLAY BALL.  TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME  GIVE ME WIPES AND MASKS I DON’T CARE IF THE CORONAVIRUS COMES BACK. 

COME FLY WITH ME ON THE BLEACHED ALUMINUM TUBES

ALL THIS WILL BE REGARDED AS A SOLUTION.

YOU WILL SEE THE FASTEST ECONOMIC RECOVERY IN HISTORY

 

White House adviser Kevin Hassett said on Friday that the Trump administration would support the Federal Reserve’s decision if it wanted to introduce negative interest rates in response to the coronavirus crisis. “If the Fed did decide to have negative interest rates, we will support it,” Hassett stated. However, he noted the White House doesn’t want to advise the central bank what to do. “We respect the Fed independence,” the official insisted. The Fed lowered interest rates to the 0.00-0.25% amid the pandemic but stressed it doesn’t intend to cut rates further. However, some traders noted they expect the central bank to resort to negative rates next year. Nick Note: As we have long predicted the US will have double digit NEGATIVE interest rates. Its a guaranteed event. The deficit has gone from a trillion dollars to 6 trillion with no end in sight. It will get ugly. But first long rates will soar. It takes a certain finesse to trade our beloved ZEROES…….

Countries around the world are developing Covid-19 smartphone apps to limit the spread of coronavirus and relax lockdown restrictions. It’s hoped the information they gather can be used to alert people whether they pose a risk of spreading the contagion, and need to isolate. But, over recent weeks, a split has emerged between two different types of app – the so-called centralised and decentralised versions. Both types use Bluetooth signals to log when smartphone owners are close to each other – so if someone develops Covid-19 symptoms, an alert can be sent to other users they may have infected. Under the centralised model, the anonymised data gathered is uploaded to a remote server where matches are made with other contacts, should a person start to develop Covid-19 symptoms . This is the method the UK is pursuing. By contrast, the decentralised model gives users more control over their information by keeping it on the phone. It is there that matches are made with people who may have contracted the virus. This is the model promoted by Google, Apple and an international consortium. Backers of the centralised model say it can give the authorities more insight into the spread of the virus and how well the app is performing. Supporters of the decentralised approach say it offers users a higher degree of privacy, protecting them from hackers or the state itself revealing their social contacts. In truth, both are unproven at this stage. South Korea, seen as one of the most successful countries at tackling Covid-19, has done it without a contact-tracing app. It has however used other surveillance methods which would be seen as invasive by many. At the start, the centralised approach was seen pioneering. Singapore’s TraceTogether was widely viewed as the one to emulate. But that changed after it emerged the app was only being used by about 20% of the local population, and there had been a resurgence of Covid-19 cases. Part of the problem is that TraceTogether does not work properly when in the background on iPhones because of the way Apple restricts use of Bluetooth. The firm has promised to waive these curbs, but only if apps fall into line with its decentralised system. Singapore has since signalled it will do so as a result. “We are working with Apple and Google to make the app more effective, especially for iOS users,” a spokesman told the BBC. Australia, another early adopter of the centralised approach, launched its CovidSafe app based on TraceTogether, and faced similar issues as a consequence. It too has said it plans to adopt the Apple-Google framework, citing a “big shift in performance of Bluetooth connectivity”. And on Wednesday, Colombia confirmed it too was considering a switch after having to turn off the contact-tracing feature in its CoronApp. “[We need to] minimise the risk of generating unnecessary alerts,” said presidential advisor Victor Munoz. The developer claims that the combination of the two leads to “very accurate contact tracing results without the need for [the Google-Apple interface”. But this has raised privacy concerns, which may have contributed to a fairly high drop-out rate. The Norwegian Institute of Public Health said that as of 28 April, 1.5 million people had downloaded the app, but only 899,142 were actively using it – representing just 20.5% of over-16s in the test zones. India’s contact-tracing app, Aaroya Setu, takes a similar approach to Norway’s. To tackle adoption, the government has ruled all government and private sector workers must use it. Until Apple and Google release their interface, known as an API, it’s impossible to be sure their system will be any more successful. But the list of nations flocking to it keeps growing. Germany surprised many when it confirmed it had been convinced decentralisation was the way to go – it had previously seemed set to go hand-in-hand with France. “We assume that adapting ProteGo Safe to Google and Apple APIs will be necessary,” developers’ notes read. “We assume that adapting… to Google and Apple APIs will be necessary.” Italy’s Immuni announced it too was backing the US tech giants’ initiative on 29 April, praising its stronger guarantee of anonymity. Other countries set to do likewise include:

Fresh meat prices were up 8.1% at the end of April, as the coronavirus pandemic causes serious issues in the American supply chain. Pork and beef prices could increase by an unprecedented 20% in the coming months, according to a new report from CoBank. With pork and beef production plunging by 35%, CoBank economist Will Sawyer says shortages and price inflation are “nearly assured.”
Fresh meat prices escalated 8.1% in stores, compared to the same period last year, according to Nielsen data for the week ending April 25. Experts expect prices to skyrocket in the coming weeks, as meat processing plants across the US are forced to close due to the coronavirus pandemic. Pork and beef prices could increase by as much as 20% compared to 2019, according to a new report from CoBank, a cooperative bank that is part of the Farm Credit System. A 20% increase would be an unprecedented price hike, according to Will Sawyer, CoBank’s lead animal protein economist. Pork prices have only experienced inflation of more than 10% twice in the last 20 years; neither time did inflation grow to 20%. Pork and beef production has plunged by roughly 35% compared to this time last year, according to the CoBank report. As a result, Sawyer says, grocery stores running out of products and price inflation are “nearly assured.” Some 115 meat and poultry processing plants have reported COVID-19 cases, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released last week. There have been 4,913 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 20 deaths among workers, as experts say meat processing plants are becoming the next hotspot for the pandemic. A number of massive meat processing plants have been forced to shut down due to COVID-19 cases or operate at a limited capacity, as concerned employees refuse to come to work and new social distancing policies roll out. In an effort to combat shortages, President Trump recently signed an executive order demanding that meat processing plants stay open. With slaughterhouses shutting down, farmers have been forced to kill pigs and destroy inventory instead of selling at a loss. Hog farmers are expected to euthanize seven million pigs in the second quarter alone. Nick Note: its not the lack of meat. its the lack of butchers. The new supply of cutters are stuck in Tijuana.

 

https://youtu.be/yJp9NZ9niTI

Oil could hit $100 per barrel within the next 18 months, Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris told CNBC on Wednesday—a hard pill to swallow with Brent currently trading below $30 per barrel. Sawiris, chairman of one of Egypt’s largest companies, Orascom Telecom Media and Technology Holding S.A.E., is Egypt’s second-richest man and has a net worth somewhere between $3 billion and $7.5 billion. It’s hard to pin down because net worth is a (downward) moving target these days. Sawiris told CNBC that he would buy airline stocks. At the same time, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway dumped all of its airline holdings after losing nearly $50 billion in Q1. The selloff hit the airlines hard. Sawiris not only talked up investing in oil, which he said could reach $100 per barrel but spoke out to CNBC against Saudi Arabia and Russia, who Sawiris alleges were trying to kill off the U.S. shale industry. Sawiris also told the network that he supported U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to reopen the American economy. “They might not find the cure, they might not find the vaccine, so how long are we going to be in prison in our homes?” Sawiris asked. It is precisely this reopening that is the oil industry’s most promising—or rather, the only—path forward, as current demand destruction is too much for the heavily indebted US shale industry to bear forever—particularly when combined with overproduction from OPEC and its allies up until now. Sawiris has been a champion of the reopen movement, stating as far back as a month ago that he would commit suicide if the lockdown measures were not rescinded within two weeks. Air traffic is down 90%, with airlines currently losing $10 billion monthly, according to Barron’s, who reported on Wednesday that Citi analyst Stephen Trent shares also thinks that this might be a good time to buy into at least one airline: United. Air traffic is a significant component of the transportation industry’s demand for crude oil and crude oil products. Nick Note: The Saudis have played the US like a fine Stradivarius Violin. They have wiped out the deep in debt oil shale business.  and shut in deep sea oil (that costs over $80 a barrel to produce) just as demand will ramp up again. Do not let them shit you. Its Gentleman Start Your Engines and Come Fly with Me as they set the captives free to shop. 30% of global oil production has been wiped out in this price war to never return. And demand will soar. you will see spot oil and gasoline shortages. One Hundred dollar a barrel oil here we come. Remember me i told you oil would plunge to under $10 a barrel and it did last month. And i am telling you oil will soar to $100 a barrel.