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Evergrande dodges default again but sector debt concerns remain

* Bondholders receive overdue coupon payments – source

* Chinese property shares, bonds stage relief rally

* Broader liquidity concerns remain, more debts coming due

SINGAPORE/HONG KONG, Nov 11 (Reuters) – Cash-strapped developer China Evergrande Group averted a destabilising default at the last minute for the third time in the past month, with a source on Thursday saying several bondholders had received overdue coupon payments. Evergrande, the world’s most indebted developer, has been stumbling from deadline to deadline in recent weeks as it grapples with more than $300 billion in liabilities, $19 billion of which are international market bonds. Chinese media outlet Cailianshe reported several bondholders have received interest payments of the three bond tranches that had a total of more than $148 million due last month. The payments were made at the end of a 30-day grace period that ended Wednesday https://www.reuters.com/business/evergrande-faces-default-deadline-148-mln-payment-some-bondholders-paid-report-2021-11-10, as was the case with two separate offshore coupon payments that were due in late September and for which the grace periods ended late last month. A failure to pay would have resulted in a formal default by the company and triggered cross-default provisions for other Evergrande dollar bonds, exacerbating a debt crisis looming over the world’s second-largest economy that has rattled global markets. “The near-term fix seems to be happening but there’s a long way to go before this issue gets sorted out. These are early days,” said the source with knowledge of the matter, referring to Evergrande and declining to be named without authorisation to talk to the media. Evergrande, which is at the centre of a deepening liquidity squeeze in China’s $5 trillion property sector, did not respond to Reuters request for comment on its latest bond coupon payment. Although the developer managed to avoid a default again, woes in the property sector showed no signs of abating with a wall of debt coming due. Evergrande has coupon payments totalling more than $255 million due on Dec. 28. It has come under pressure from its other creditors at home and a stifling funding squeeze has cast a shadow over hundreds of its residential projects. Investor focus is now also shifting to other cash-strapped developers which have a string of offshore payments coming due in the short term, including Kaisa Group. Kaisa has the most offshore debt of any Chinese developer after Evergrande and pleaded for help from creditors. Chinas-state-council-held-meeting-with-property-developers-banks-source- this week. It has coupon payments totalling over $59 million due on Thursday and Friday. While the U.S. Federal Reserve this week warned China’s troubled property sector could pose global risks, there were no clear indications whether Beijing will step in with a broader, national plan to tackle the issue. Chinese regulators have in recent weeks, however, sought to reassure investors saying risks were controllable and excessive credit tightening by banks was being corrected. NN: our recommendation on buying Evergarande US $ debt stands. they are playing this brilliantly. Why would you pay hunderes of millions if you are going to default. They are stringing along the payments making brilliant swap deals for assets. And CHINA INC. will not allow the store house of wealth of the Chinese middle class go tapioca…

 

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Dow falls 200 pts at close after downbeat inflation data

Stocks were falling Wednesday after recent consumer price data revealed that prices had risen to their highest level in three decades. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 257 points, or 0.71%, to 36,062, the S&P 500 slipped 0.97%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq was down 1.85%. On Tuesday, stocks snapped their record winning streak of eight consecutive all-time highs. The Consumer Price Index marked a 0.9% increase in October, reflecting a 6.2% year-over-year increase, the fastest since 1990 and exceeding analyst estimates of 5.9%. Changes in the CPI are used to assess shifts in the cost of living. Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist for LPL Financial, said “inflation remains stubbornly high, to the surprise of many that expected prices to come back to earth sooner.” “The truth is you can’t shut down a $20 trillion economy and not feel some bumps as it restarts,” he said, “but we are hopeful the supply chain issues will resolve over the coming quarters and inflation should calm down as well.” The 10-year Treasury yield rose 1.02% following the release of the CPI. Cliff Hodge, chief investment officer for Cornerstone Wealth, noted that below the surface, over 80% of CPI subcomponents were above 2%, the highest since 1991, “which indicates broader price increases, not only related to reopening.” “The bond market is telling you that the Fed is way behind the curve on policy, as short rates rocketed while long rates have taken the release in stride,” Hodge said. “A flattening curve does not portend well for risk assets into next year. “ NN: This is the first little tremor warning about the earth quake that is coming. The FED and MARKETS have no idea the forces at work here.. Things  have now gone to far with ZERO interest rates and endless stimulation. As you are seeing they have created enormous bubbles in stocks, real estate and have completely turned valuations in debt markets on their ass. They are past the point of no return…… Even when they see the proof of run away embedded inflation they are in denial. They shut down a 20 trillion dollar economy. They not only bent it, reality is they broke it….

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Oil prices dip after U.S. inventory report

U.S. crude inventories rose by 1 million barrels in the most recent week, short of estimates for a 2.1 million build in crude stocks, but still countering Tuesday’s API data that showed a surprising drop in stocks. The market has been strong in recent days, buoyed by rising economic data and OPEC’s decision to maintain its slow pace of increased supply in the market.  “After the strong rally over the last few days, oil prices are in a wait and see mode,” said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo. Further underpinning the view the market remains tight, trading giant Vitol Group’s CEO, Russell Hardy, said on Tuesday that oil demand had returned to pre-pandemic levels and demand in the first quarter of 2022 could exceed 2019 levels. “The possibility of a spike to $100 per barrel is clearly there,” Hardy told the Reuters Commodities Summit. Energy trader Gunvor Group expects oil prices to be around current levels this time next year, its chief executive Torbjorn Tornqvist told the Reuters Commodities Summit on Wednesday. Market gains on Tuesday were driven by a short-term outlook from the EIA, which projected gasoline prices would fall over the next few months. That was a key factor U.S. President Joe Biden has been watching to determine whether to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve amid concern over recent soaring gasoline prices. Biden, on Wednesday, said he has asked the National Economic Council to work to reduce energy costs and the Federal Trade Commission to push back on market manipulation in the energy sector in a larger push to reverse inflation. Vitol’s Hardy said that a potential SPR release is likely to have only a short-term impact on the oil market. “The EIA report … does curb concerns that the U.S. will release oil from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR),” Commonwealth Bank analyst Vivek Dhar said in a note. NN: Is this the last hurrah? US producers to the rescue…. Do not believe the bullshit. If you have a valuable commodity… Someone will buy it from you… and someone is bound to finance you.Want proof? Think about the drug trade!!

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US inflation AT a WHOPPING 6.2% in October

Inflation Surges To 31-Year High of 6.2% In October, Testing Fed

Inflation in the US, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), surged to 6.2% on a yearly basis in October from 5.4% in September, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Wednesday. This print surpassed the market expectation of 5.3% by a wide margin. Further details of the publication revealed that the annual Core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose to 4.6% in the same period, compared to the market expectation of 4%. U.S. consumer price inflation accelerated to the fastest pace in three decades last month, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicated Wednesday, as record-high energy prices and supply chain disruptions continue to test the Federal Reserve’s ‘transitory” narrative.  SHIT!! Remember this is October… The skyrocketing prices are still climbing………. The FED is so fucked…..

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Yellen dismisses run away inflation

(Bloomberg) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen repeated her view that elevated U.S. inflation won’t persist beyond next year and said the Federal Reserve will act if needed to prevent a rerun of 1970s-style price rises.nnnn “I’d expect price increases to level off, and we’ll go back to inflation that’s closer to the 2% that we consider normal” as the pandemic fades, Yellen said in an interview that aired Tuesday on National Public Radio’s “Marketplace” show. The Treasury chief said that an end to the pandemic would allow more people to return to work, and with consumer demand returning to normal patterns, that will relieve pressure from wages and goods prices. Yellen, who was chair of the Fed from 2014 to 2018, said the high inflation that persisted through parts of the 1970s and 1980s occurred “because people thought that policy makers wouldn’t bring it to an end, and inflation expectations became embedded in the American psyche.” “That isn’t happening now and the Federal Reserve wouldn’t permit that to happen,” she said. NN: Here is a news flash.. The Fed has already allowed inflation to run out of control and become embedded…….. What a fucking idiot//////…./////////

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New Pfizer drug and ivermectin….. Ivermectin the winner!!

New Pfizer antiviral and ivermectin, a pharmacodynamic analysis New Pfizer antiviral, PF-07321332, C₂₃H₃₂F₃N₅O₄ PF-07321332 is designed to block the activity of the SARS-CoV-2-3CL protease, https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-rel… So, what is a protease? So what is a protease inhibitor? And, what is 3CL? Chymotrypsin-like protease (3CL main protease, or 3CL Mpro) Identification of SARS-CoV‑2 3CL Protease Inhibitors by a Quantitative High-Throughput Screening (3rd September 2020) https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/… The activity of the anti-SARS-CoV-2 viral infection was confirmed in 7 of 23 compounds Microscopic interactions between ivermectin and key human and viral proteins involved in SARS-CoV-2 infection https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/artic… the strength and persistency of the interaction between IVE and the binding site of 3CLpro indicate that a partial inhibition of the catalytic activity could have place as the drug interacts with the main subdomains that define the enzyme binding pocket: Identification of 3-chymotrypsin like protease (3CLPro) inhibitors as potential anti-SARS-CoV-2 agents https://www.nature.com/articles/s4200… as shown in Fig. 4, out of 13 OTDs only ivermectin completely blocked ( more than 80%) the 3CLpro activity at 50 µM concentration. Development, validation, and approval of COVID-19 specific drugs takes years. Therefore, the idea of drug repositioning, also known as repurposing, is an important strategy to control the sudden outbreak of life-threatening infectious agents that spread rapidly. Ilimaquinone (marine sponge metabolite) as a novel inhibitor of SARS-CoV-2 key target proteins in comparison with suggested COVID-19 drugs: designing, docking and molecular dynamics simulation study https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/artic… From the docking analysis, ivermectin showed the highest docking score with an average energy of −8.5 kcal mol−1 among all the compounds. Remdesivir showed the lowest binding energy and highest docking score of −9.9 kcal mol−1 https://bnf.nice.org.uk/medicinal-for… Ritonavir, C37H48N6O5S2 Ivermectin, C48H74O14 Exploring the binding efficacy of ivermectin against the key proteins of SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis: an in silico approach https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti… We have documented an intense binding of both ivermectin B1a and B1b isomer to the main protease with subsequent energy (ETot-) values of -384.56 and -408.6. PF-07321332 is designed to block the activity of the SARS-CoV-2-3CL protease, https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-rel… Risk of virus developing resistance to PF-07321332 Molecular Docking Reveals Ivermectin and Remdesivir as Potential Repurposed Drugs Against SARS-CoV-2 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/… With SARS-CoV-2 S Spike protein Ivermectin showed high binding affinity to the viral S protein as well as the human cell surface receptors ACE-2 and TMPRSS2. In agreement to our findings, ivermectin was found to be docked between the viral spike and the ACE2 receptor Binding Interactions of Selected Drugs With Human TMPRSS2 Protein (ACE2 protein) The docking results revealed that ivermectin showed the highest binding affinity to the active site of the protein (MolDock score −174.971) and protein–ligand interactions Binding Interactions of Selected Drugs With Human ACE-2 Protein that ivermectin showed the highest binding affinity to the active site of the protein (MolDock score −159.754) and protein–ligand interactions With SARS-CoV-2 S Glycoprotein Ivermectin showed the highest binding affinity to the predicted active site of the protein With SARS-CoV-2 Nsp14 Protein ivermectin showed the highest binding affinity (MolDock score −212.265) and protein–ligand interactions Binding Interactions of Selected Drugs With SARS-CoV-2 PLpro Ivermectin showed the highest binding affinity to the predicted active site of the protein (MolDock score −180.765) and protein–ligand interactions. NN: And the winner is Ivermectin….

 

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US sees oil market oversupplied by early next year

The US government projected that the global oil market will become oversupplied and prices will fall by early next year, cooling expectations that the White House may tap the nation’s emergency reserves.

Supply increases next year from OPEC nations as well as US drillers will ultimately pressure prices lower. The US benchmark crude will fall below $80 a barrel by December and reach as low as $62 by the end of next year

Its global counterpart Brent will average $72 a barrel in 2022, the Energy Information Administration said in its Short-Term Energy Outlook on Tuesday. US pump prices will drop below $3 a gallon by February, the data show. “We forecast that global oil stocks will begin building in 2022, driven by rising production from OPEC+ and the United States, along with slowing growth in global oil demand,” the EIA said. The Biden administration has been under pressure to act to suppress rising gasoline prices that are now at the highest levels since 2014. But the report may weaken the argument for a release of oil from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a move that had been seen as the most direct action US President Biden could take to drive down prices, especially after OPEC and its allies resisted Biden’s calls to bring more crude supplies into the global market. A White House official said on Tuesday afternoon that the administration has reviewed the EIA forecast and welcomes news of moderating prices. It also said that it has nothing to announce Tuesday in terms of a SPR release and it continues to engage with OPEC+ on increasing supply. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve holds more than 600 million barrels of crude in underground caverns in Louisiana and Texas for major emergencies. Existing volumes are large enough to replace all the oil that the U.S. imports from OPEC and its allies for more than a year. “There is no real reason for an imminent release,” said Spencer Vosko, director for crude oil at Black Diamond Commodities LLC. “The bigger question here is production. While US shale producers are showing constraint it looks like global supplies could be on the mend.” Global oil supply is set to average 101.42 million barrels a day in 2022, while worldwide demand is seen at 100.88 million barrels a day. Meanwhile, US crude production is expected to rise to average 11.9 million barrels a day in 2022 as drillers make a comeback. A nearly 15% rally in West Texas Intermediate crude prices since July is luring some shale producers to ramp up output, most notably private drillers. While the outlook marks an expected increase in supply, it is still far from the record annual volume reached in 2019 as the recovery across major shale regions has been mixed. NN: I LOVE our oil trade…. Wait, watch and then we will fuck them to the wall.

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Oil Prices rise first Crude Draw in Six Weeks

The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday reported its first crude oil inventory draw in six weeks, even as the United States ventures well on the other side of the typical driving season. This week, the API estimated the inventory draw for crude oil to be 2.485 million barrels. Despite the six previous weeks of builds, U.S. crude inventories are still 60 million barrels below where they were at the beginning of the year—and low enough to continue to press upwards on prices. In the previous week, the API reported a build in oil inventories of 3.594-million barrels, compared to the 1.567-million-barrel build that analysts had predicted. U.S. oil production for the week ending October 29—the last week for which the Energy Information Administration has provided data—rose 200,000 bpd to 11.5 million bpd—still 1.6 million bpd below the all-time high of 13.1 million bpd reached right before the pandemic took hold in the United States. The API reported a draw in gasoline inventories as well, of552,000 barrels for the week ending November 5—compared to the previous week’s 552,000-barrel draw. Distillate stocks saw an increase in inventories of 573,000 barrels for the week, on top of last week’s 573000-barrel increase. NN: DO not let them shit you. The US oil industry if nothing else is resistant. Production is recovering nicely. In fact its increasing faster then demand on balance. And with the coming shut down it will be off to the races once again.

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German 7-day COVID19 incidence sets third record in a row….. Russia: New record in daily coronavirus fatalities…..Hungary adds most daily virus cases in 7 months.. Ukraine breaks another record for the number of daily deaths from coronavirus……. China reports 89 COVID cases as outbreaks grow……… COVID cases spike in Greece, hospitals buckle….bark Bark BARK!!

The German seven-day COVID-19 incidence rate continues to increase since setting a record and rising above 200 for the first time on Monday. Early on Wednesday, data compiled by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) showed that the rate, which measures the number of people infected per 100,000, has risen to 232.1 to reach its highest level since the pandemic began. The nationwide death toll increased to 96,963 in the meantime, with another 236 fatal outcomes attributed to the virus, while the total number of infections rose by 39,676 to 4,844,054.

Russia: New record in daily coronavirus fatalities

The number of deaths caused by COVID-19 registered daily in Russia reached a new record-high of 1,239 on Wednesday, taking the total tally of fatalities observed since the start of the pandemic to 250,454. In the meantime, the country’s health authorities noted 38,058 new infections in the previous 24 hours. The figure for total cases recorded since the beginning of the contagion thus now stands at 8,911,713. The count of people that recovered from the disease so far rose to 7,654,161. Meanwhile, a total of 60,004,358 persons received the first dose of a vaccine against the virus, and 57,256,745 got both shots.

Hungary adds most daily virus cases in 7 months

The number of COVID-19 cases in Hungary has increased by 8,434 during the last 24 hours, the country’s health authorities unveiled on Wednesday. The increase marks the sharpest jump in single-day infections since early April, while the number of fatalities attributed to the virus came in at 98. There was also a rise in hospitalizations that reached 4,830, with 463 people in intensive care, according to the data.

Ukraine breaks another record for the number of daily deaths from coronavirus

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukraine on Tuesday set another record for the number of daily deaths from coronavirus amid a surge in infections caused by population reluctance to receive the vaccine. The Ministry of Health reported 833 coronavirus deaths in the last day, surpassing the previous high of 793 over the weekend, bringing the country’s total confirmed deaths from COVID-19 to 73,390. In a country of 41 million people, 18,988 new infections have been reported daily over the past day. Although there are four vaccines available in Ukraine – Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Sinovac – only 18% of the population is fully vaccinated. This is the second lowest indicator in Europe after Armenia. In an effort to expedite the introduction of the vaccine, authorities have demanded that teachers, government employees and other workers be fully vaccinated by November 8 or have their salaries suspended.

China reports 89 COVID cases as outbreaks grow

China reported 50 new local Covid-19 infections on Saturday, as authorities said stringent curbs will remain to disrupt the virus’s domestic transmission. Hebei province, which is close proximity to Beijing, reported 21 new cases, the National Health Commission said on its website. Infections have risen steadily in recent days, with authorities reporting 36 new cases on November 5 and 28 cases a day earlier. Mainland China had 97,823 confirmed coronavirus cases in total as of November 7. More than 800 locally-transmitted infections with confirmed symptoms have been reported since mid-October in 19 province-level regions, prompting a flurry of curbs on tourism and leisure businesses under Beijing’s zero-tolerance policy.

South Korea urges COVID-19 booster shots, as severe cases hit record

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea encouraged its citizens to take COVID-19 booster shots on Wednesday, as more of the elderly fell ill and reported vaccine breakthrough infections, driving serious and critical cases to a record.

Severe coronavirus cases jumped from the mid-300s in October to 460 on Wednesday, official data showed. Of the severely ill patients, more than 82% were aged 60 and older.

Son Young-rae, a senior health ministry official, told a news conference that the increase is not posing a threat to the country’s healthcare system yet, as there are nearly 500 ICU beds available. He said the speed of the rise in severe cases and the size of total infections, especially among the unvaccinated, are the major points to consider in deciding its future response to the healthcare system. South Korea’s overall rate of vaccine breakthrough infections remains low at 85.5 people per every 100,000 inoculated. But it has steadily risen in recent weeks, led by the elderly, as vaccine protection wanes over time and the group’s weaker immune system makes them more vulnerable to infections. Of the total serious and critical patients with vaccine breakthrough infections in the past eight weeks, 93% were from those aged 60 and above, according to the government data. The country has inoculated 640,232 people with a booster shot, since the programme began last month, mainly using vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna. South Korea started a gradual easing of COVID-19 restrictions this month, as it has fully vaccinated nearly 90% of its adult population, or 77% of its 52 million people. The authorities have said a circuit breaker will be issued when there is a major strain on the number of hospital beds to treat serious cases, but have not revealed the exact threshold. The country reported 2,425 new cases for Tuesday. It has recorded a total of 385,831 infections, with 3,012 deaths so far.

COVID cases spike in Greece, hospitals buckle

Greece is experiencing a fourth wave of COVID, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis warned Tuesday as daily infections hit their highest since the pandemic began, with hospitals starting to buckle under the pressure of rising infections. The country notched up a record 8,613 new COVID-19 cases in 24 hours, the National Organisation of Public Health said, after cases more than doubled in less than a fortnight.Forty-six people died of the disease on Tuesday, after 65 a day earlier. “We are facing a fourth wave,” which “mainly concerns the unvaccinated,” Mitsotakis said Tuesday evening after talks with his visiting Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte. He said the government was “focused on increasing vaccination numbers” and “taking measures without resorting to a lockdown”. The north of the country, where inoculation rates are lower than in other regions, has been the worst hit in recent days. In the second city of Thessaloniki, management at a key hospital fighting COVID said it was overwhelmed with patients. Nikos Kapravelos, head of the emergency department at the Papanikolaou Hospital, at the weekend warned against a new spike similar to during the second wave in November last year. Health authorities on Friday made COVID passes mandatory for open-air restaurants and cafes, as well as indoor public spaces. Face masks are still mandatory indoors and at large outdoor gatherings.

However, in several regions, the measures are not being respected, especially in some Orthodox churches where images in the media have shown maskless worshippers kissing icons and not observing social distancing.

Father Timotheos, spokesman for the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece, on Monday claimed on Mega TV that “sacred icons do not transmit the virus or disease”. Senior health ministry official Marios Themistokleous on Monday warned cases were on the rise in Greece, even if 61.2 percent of the population had received two vaccination jabs. He said appointments for a first dose of the COVID vaccine had increased sharply in recent days.

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UAE: OPEC+ Capable Of Raising Oil Production If There’s Demand

The OPEC+ group has the capability to increase its crude oil supply to the market if there is demand, according to one of the key members of the coalition, the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The UAE has the capacity to boost its own crude oil supply to the market in case the market needs it and the OPEC+ alliance endorses it, Suhail al-Mazrouei, the UAE’s Energy Minister, told Dubai-based Asharq TV channel as carried by Reuters. Despite the UAE’s reassurance that market demand will be met, the OPEC+ group ignored calls from the U.S. Administration and other major oil importers such as India and Japan to increase December supply more than initially planned. OPEC+ decided last week to continue easing the collective oil production cuts by just 400,000 barrels per day next month, ignoring calls from major oil-consuming nations to open the taps and tame the price rally. The rationale for keeping a cautious approach seems to be assessments from OPEC+ experts that Q4 would see a smaller market deficit than expected earlier and that the balance would tip into surplus next year. Days before that, U.S. President Joe Biden had said at the G20 meeting in Rome that the refusal of OPEC+ in recent weeks to increase crude oil production is affecting America’s working class.

OPEC+ not only ignored the calls for extra crude oil supply, but it also told the market, via Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, that “oil is not the problem” in the global energy crisis.

The OPEC+ decision was taken “to ensure a stable and a balanced oil market, the efficient and secure supply to consumers and to provide clarity to the market at times when other parts of the energy complex outside the boundaries of oil markets are experiencing extreme volatility and instability, and to continue to adopt a proactive and transparent approach which has provided stability to oil markets,” OPEC said after the meeting. NN: Toothless tiger comes to mind. OPEC a illegal market manipulation conspiracy bribes, payoffs and all. Their are people sitting in jail far far less then corrupt  OPEC. They were prosecuted under the foreign corrupt practices act. Instead of taking OPEC on by simple unleashing American oil, Biden fucks US producers and begs OPEC for more oil. All the oil America could ever need is locked up and restricted by the Biden’s administration open hostility to US pipelines, shale and US on shore and off shore traditional production. They have unleashed the inflation monster from hell. It will result is a stock and real estate market crash and a 1920’s style GREATER depression……. I can’t wait!