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96,845,000: Record Number of Americans Not in the Labor Force

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The number of Americans counted as “not in the labor force,” meaning they did not have a job and were not looking for one, increased by 1,763,000 to a record 96,845,000 in March, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday. This “not in the labor force” number reached its previous record high of 96,297,000 in August 2018, during President Trump’s tenure, driven largely by Baby Boom retirees. BLS notes that many of those who are not in the labor force are retired, going to school, or have family responsibilities that keep them out of the labor force. Going forward, widespread business closures are expected to produce millions more people who have no job and are not looking for one because there are fewer places to look, at least through April and maybe longer. After breaking 25 records under President Donald Trump–most recently in December 2019–the number of employed Americans dropped sharply in March, to 155,772,000, BLS reported. That’s a drop of 2,987,000 from the near-record 158,759,000 Americans counted as working in February. People are considered employed if they did any work at all, even part-time or temporary, for pay or profit during the survey reference week – the week of March 12 in the case of today’s report. At the same time, the number of unemployed Americans increased by 1,353,000 in March to 7,140,000. People are classified as unemployed if they do not have a job, but actively looked for work in the prior four weeks, and are currently available for work. The March unemployment rate–which registered a 50-year low of 3.5 percent in February–jumped to 4.4 percent in March, a 0.9 point increase and the largest month-over-month increase since January 1975. And that’s just for starters.
Nick Note: Remember 30,60,90 Thats how long before the bad news is OVER. I call it a FLASH Depression. Position yourself for the FLASH Recovery. I believe it will be the greatest most profitable trade ever!
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Leaders back Navy firing of ship captain; sailors cheer him

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. defense leaders are backing the Navy’s decision to fire the ship captain who sought help for his cornonavirus-stricken aircraft carrier, even as videos showed sailors cheering him as he walked off the vessel. Videos went viral on social media Friday, showing hundreds of sailors gathered on the ship chanting and applauding Navy Capt. Brett Crozier as he walked down the ramp, turned, saluted, waved and got into a waiting car. Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly abruptly fired Crozier on Thursday, saying the commander created a panic by widely distributing a memo detailing the escalating virus outbreak on his ship and pleading his leadership for help. Modly said Crozier “demonstrated extremely poor judgment” in the middle of a crisis. The ship is docked in Guam, and so far 137 of the nearly 5,000 sailors on board have tested positive for the virus. The Navy has said as many as 3,000 will be taken off the ship and quarantined by Friday evening to stem the spread of the virus. Crew members are needed to remain on the shop to maintain critical systems and protecting the carrier. On Friday, Jonathan Hoffman, the chief Pentagon spokesman, said Defense Secretary Mark Esper supported Modly’s decision to fire Crozier from his command job. He said Modly told Esper he had lost confidence in the captain. And Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told FoxNews that he trusted Modly’s judgement. He said it was a difficult decision, and that Modly is accountable to the American people for it. Crozier, in his memo, warned of a growing outbreak of the coronavirus on the ship and asked for permission to isolate the bulk of his crew members on shore, an extraordinary move to take a carrier out of duty in an effort to save lives. And he said that if commanders didn’t act quickly, they would be “failing to properly take care of our most trusted asset, our sailors.” Videos posted online showed sailors chanting Crozier’s name and applauding him as he left the ship. A number of lawmakers have questioned the firing as too hasty a decision. Hoffman said that 41 percent of the sailors on the ship have been tested, and results are still coming in. He said no sailors are hospitalized. Nick Note: This is a real hero. And their is a price to pay for speaking truth in the evil world. And a hundred millions later i can tell you its well worth it!

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HOLY SMOKE Idiots ‘BURNING 5G masts’ after conspiracy that ‘radiation sparked coronavirus’ is spread by celebs

CONSPIRACY nuts are reportedly setting phone masts alight and targeting engineers after a bizarre claim 5G “radiation” caused the deadly coronavirus spread.

The theory originated last month after a video filmed at a US health conference claimed Africa was not as affected by the disease because it is “not a 5G region”. The myth was quickly debunked after the World Health Organisation confirmed there were thousands of Covid-19 cases in Africa. The government has also confirmed there is “no evidence to suggest that 5G has anything to do with Covid-19”. Celebs have been slammed for sharing the conspiracy theory, including Jason Gardiner and Callum Best, who posted similar claims that 5G can impact the immune syste. But the claims have still been doing the rounds on WhatsApp via a lengthy voice note – with phone masts now being set alight in the UK. Engineers are now also being targeted with social media users encouraging each other to destroy the masts in a Stop 5G Facebook group.

One telecoms engineer, who didn’t wish to be named, said: “There are Facebook groups posting videos of the masts being set on fire and people encouraging others to do the same. “Wuhan was a test bed for the 5G rollout but is a dumbfounded connection.” Mobile UK, who represent networks EE, 02, Three and Vodafone, confirmed to The Sun Online some workers had been abused over the false claims. They said in a statement: “During this challenging situation, it is concerning that certain groups are using the COVID-19 pandemic to spread false rumours and theories about the safety of 5G technologies. “More worryingly some people are also abusing our key workers and making threats to damage infrastructure under the pretence of claims about 5G. Nick Note: Now the crazy shit has started

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Putin: We need to cut oil output by 10M bpd

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) led by top world crude exporter Saudi Arabia and its allies will meet Monday via videoconference, a source close to OPEC said Friday, while another source said the OPEC-plus group is debating cutting global supply by 10 million barrels per day (bpd), adding that any further cuts must include producers from outside the alliance. U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said he had brokered a deal that could result in Russia and Saudi Arabia cutting output by 10 million to 15 million bpd, representing 10-15% of global supply. Trump said he made no offer to cut U.S. output. Last month, the OPEC and its allies failed to reach a deal on oil production cuts after OPEC-plus leader Moscow refused to tighten supply to counter the effects of the coronavirus outbreak.

An OPEC source told Reuters that OPEC-plus is waiting for the outcome of a meeting between Trump and the oil companies later on Friday and that a final figure on cuts depends on participation by all oil producers.

Saudi Arabia on Thursday made a surprise call for a meeting of the OPEC group and its OPEC-plus partners to “stabilize the oil market,” which has been rocked by a price war between Saudi Arabia and the key player in the OPEC+ grouping, Russia, but it was not immediately clear which other countries would take part in Monday’s meeting. Nick Note: Everybody blinked. I am telling you by hook or crook they will (US included) cut global production by a whopping 15 million Barrels per day. then its zoom zoooom zooooom zoooooom!

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Fed Temporarily Eases Capital Requirements for Big Banks

Central bank aims to address strained conditions in Treasury market

Jerome Powell’s Federal Reserve says it will ease the supplementary leverage ratio for one year.

The Federal Reserve  eased rules around how banks account for their supersafe assets, a move meant to boost the flow of credit to cash-strapped consumers and businesses during the coronavirus slowdown. The Fed said it would exclude for one-year Treasurys and deposits held at the central bank from banks’ supplementary leverage ratio calculation. The ratio measures capital—funds that banks raise from investors, earn through profits and use to absorb losses—as a percentage of loans and other assets. Big U.S. banks must maintain capital equal to at least 3% of all of their assets, including loans, investments and real estate. By holding banks to a minimum ratio, regulators effectively restrict them from making too many loans without increasing their capital levels. The banks are sitting on giant stockpiles of cash, U.S. government debt and other safe assets. By tweaking how the ratio is calculated, the Fed is effectively trying to engineer a swap. Remove Treasurys and central bank deposits from the calculation, the thinking goes, and banks should be able to replace them in the asset pool with loans to consumers and businesses. The Fed made it clear that tweak is designed to give banks more flexibility to grow their assets rather than shrink their capital by increasing shareholder payouts. “Banks have saved their pennies for a rainy day and this is the rainy day,” said Mike Mayo, an analyst at Wells Fargo. Relaxing these particular rules likely wouldn’t lead to a buildup of risk in the financial system, said Barclays PLC analyst Jason Goldberg, because both cash and Treasurys are very safe. Before the recent market turmoil, there had been discussion about excluding these assets from the leverage ratio. “It certainly doesn’t hurt,” Mr. Goldberg said. The Fed also said its move would help prevent further trading hiccups in the market for U.S. Treasurys. Banks’ tight balance sheets have made it difficult for them to act as middlemen in the market in recent weeks, contributing to unusual price swings. By relaxing these rules, the Fed is recognizing that despite its historic intervention in the financial markets, banks are still best equipped to keep credit flowing through the economy, analysts say. “At this point in time, the Fed needs banks to have bigger balance sheets,” said Brian Kleinhanzl, an analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc. Nick Note: This is nothing short of endles easing. It will drive the markets to astronomical highs before the wipeout 2 years from now!

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US Banks Internal systems Crashing

Chase changed its online banking website a number of weeks ago. Some businesses, when they do that, give you a choice of interface for a few months. This gives you a chance to get used to it and gives their programmers a chance to fix bugs (and there are ALWAYS bugs.) It appears Chase didn’t go that route and suddenly my company was faced with a new interface. Since then I found I couldn’t download past statements – when asking for company I got sent to personal – and most times not at all. One night, quite randomly, the link worked and I downloaded every statement I could ever possibly need while it was still active.
Today I tried to make a transfer between accounts and the links kept taking me back to the account details page. I use a Mac but so do lots of people. I tried Chrome – same result. I tried Palemoon – same result. I tried Safari – same result. I then remembered an obscure back door link and went looking for it on a part of the interface that is seldom used – Bingo! Up came the link and I made the transfer. I can only assume it was so seldom used that they missed it in their tinkering with all the main links. I am not going to say where it is or their programmers will go and “improve” it by breaking that link. BTW – I come from Videogame management with the mantra of locking down and testing. As with the Coronavirus it is always Test! Test! Test! And speaking of the Coronavirus, this is the worst possible time to screw up online banking software.

PNC account hasn’t worked for four days….I’m using Samsung Tab 4 with Android. It keep saying net work connection error. I’ve Uninstaller and reinstalled twice. I can go on PNC thru browser but not on mobile app.
When I talked to customer service they didn’t even know there was a problem although looking at all these it seems to be pretty wide spread..

Nick Note: I am Waring you the US banking system on the account side is starting to crumble. US banks are more NY people dependent then any other banks in the world!

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US mulls shutting oil output in Gulf of Mexico – report

The Trump administration is considering a proposed shutdown of oil rigs in the US Gulf of Mexico to protect workers who have begun contracting the new coronavirus (COVID-19), the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik – 03rd April, 2020) The Trump administration is considering a proposed shutdown of oil rigs in the US Gulf of Mexico to protect workers who have begun contracting the new coronavirus (COVID-19), the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. Several workers on oil platforms have tested positive for the new virus. Shuttering Gulf rigs over health concerns until the pandemic eases would likely reduce US oil production during a world-wide glut that has driven prices down to historically low levels, the Journal said. Nick Note: the perfect excuse to join the OPEC+ cartel newest gambit to fis prices. The US is not cutting production… perish the thought its the coronavirus… Comrade!

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik – 03rd April, 2020) The Trump administration is considering a proposed shutdown of oil rigs in the US Gulf of Mexico to protect workers who have begun contracting the new coronavirus (COVID-19), the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Several workers on oil platforms have tested positive for the new virus. Shuttering Gulf rigs over health concerns until the pandemic eases would likely reduce US oil production during a world-wide glut that has driven prices down to historically low levels, the Journal said.

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Antibody tests key to ending COVID-19 lockdowns

Paris (AFP) – It’s the key that opens to door from total lockdown: serologic testing, which will show definitively who has contracted COVID-19 and is in theory safe to return to work. “Everyone’s waiting for serologic testing, the whole world,” said France’s Health Minister Olivier Veran. He said that the global research community was focussing on ways of perfecting the tests, which measure viral antibodies in a person’s blood that signal immunity. Veran said that mass production of the tests could start within weeks. “It’s a huge factor, especially when we’re trying to reduce confinement,” he said. The World Health Organization said that serologic tests were still being developed but were yet to be properly evaluated. Current diagnostic tests, known as RT-PCR, are invasive and use genetic analysis to see if a person is actively infected. Serologic testing, which only requires a drop of blood to conduct, focuses instead on finding virus antibodies, the presence of which indicates that an individual has had COVID-19 and is now likely immune.

“Antibodies are one of the key immune response components. They start to be detectable around a week after initial infection,” said Andrew Preston, a reader in Microbial Pathogenesis at the University of Bath.

There are two types of antibodies associated with the COVID-19 immune response: IgM, which the body produces in the early stages of viral response, and IgG, which arrive later on during infection. The tests being developed can identify both antibodies, key hallmarks of a patient’s auto-immune response to the virus. “Thus there is great interest in the use of an antibody test to indicate immunity against disease for use in the lifting of lockdown restrictions,” said Preston. Antibody testing is so crucial because of the large proportion of people with COVID-19 infections who may not show symptoms but can still pass the virus on to others. Such tests already exist for other illnesses. And once they are perfected for the novel coronavirus the results can be analysed in labs using existing hardware. Nick Note: Since we took Hydroxychloroquine and Tamiflu Last December when a staff member returned from a trip where he had contact with sick Chinese tourists we believe we may be immune. The problem is without confirmation we cannot let our guard down.