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INDIA1 PM Modi on approach for New Delhi-Gandhi Int'l Airport from Tirapati Int'l Airport
MC545 US Navy Clipper departed Diego Garcia nw
Myanmar coup latest: UN Security Council set to meet on crisis
Friday, March 5
9:00 p.m. The United Nations Security Council will discuss the crisis in Myanmar during a meeting Friday. This will be the council's first meeting on the Feb. 1 coup during the monthlong U.S. presidency in March. Earlier this week, the new American ambassador to the U.N., Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said the international community needs to "ramp up the pressure" on Myanmar's military.
8:25 p.m. Indian security forces have increased patrols along the border with Myanmar to stop any entry of refugees, Reuters reports, citing officials. Some Myanmar police have reportedly fled to India to avoid orders handed down by the military government.
2:30 p.m. Police opened fire in Mandalay, killing one person, witnesses and media said. The young man was shot in the neck, media said. Earlier in the day, a big crowd had marched peacefully through the city, chanting, "The stone age is over, we're not scared because you threaten us."
1:30 p.m. Electric power was lost in many parts of Myanmar because of a technical failure, said a utility official in the biggest city, Yangon. Residents of cities from the capital, Naypyitaw, to Yangon and Mawlamyine in the south reported the power going off in the early afternoon. "It happened because of a system breakdown. We didn't cut the power. It'll be back in the evening," said a utility official in Yangon.
11:30 a.m. YouTube has removed five channels of Myanmar's military-run television. "We have terminated a number of channels and removed several videos from YouTube in accordance with our community guidelines and applicable laws," a YouTube spokeswoman said in a statement. The channels taken down include the state network Myanmar Radio and Television as well as the military-owned Myawaddy Media, MWD Variety and MWD Myanmar.
11:00 a.m. Citizens prepare barricades against security forces in a Yangon area where a major crackdown took place on Wednesday. A 60-year-old protester tells Nikkei Asia: "Nowhere is safe."
https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Myanmar-Coup/Myanmar-coup-latest-UN-Security-Council-set-to-meet-on-crisis
U.S. blocked Myanmar junta attempt to empty $1 billion New York Fed account, sources say
Myanmar’s military rulers attempted to move about $1 billion held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York days after seizing power on Feb. 1, prompting U.S. officials to put a freeze on the funds, according to three people familiar with the matter, including one U.S. government official.
The transaction on Feb. 4 in the name of the Central Bank of Myanmar was first blocked by Fed safeguards. U.S. government officials then stalled on approving the transfer until an executive order issued by President Joe Biden gave them legal authority to block it indefinitely, the sources said. A spokesman for the New York Fed declined to comment on specific account holders. The U.S. Treasury Department also declined to comment.
The attempt, which has not been previously reported, came after Myanmar’s military installed a new central bank governor and detained reformist officials during the coup.
It marked an apparent effort by Myanmar’s generals to limit exposure to international sanctions after they arrested elected officials, including de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who had won a national election in November. The army seized power alleging fraud, claims that the electoral commission has dismissed.
A spokesman for Myanmar’s military government did not answer repeated calls seeking comment. Reuters was unable to reach officials at the central bank.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/04/us-blocked-myanmar-junta-attempt-to-empty-1-billion-ny-fed-account-.html
75% Of All Jobs Added In February Were Waiters And Bartenders
Call it payback for the December restaurant shutdowns.
It took a few minutes after the BLS reported the impressive February jobs report, which showed a whopping 379K total jobs added in February (and 465K private payrolls, or more than double the 195K expected), for traders to read between the lines and realize that there was much less than meets the eye in the latest jobs report.
To wit: of the 379K jobs, a whopping 355K, or 93%, were in leisure and hospitality, and within this category the one and only sector that truly boomed the most under the Obama admin was on top: employees food service and drinking places, i.e. waiter and bartenders, accounted for a massive 286K jobs, or 75% of the total job gains in February. Call it payback for the December collapse in restaurant workers when nearly 400K jobs were lost amid the latest round of restaurant shutdowns. To be sure, a rebound in restaurant jobs was to be expected. Recall that in our preview of today's number we quoted Goldman which said that "infection rates fell and the severity of business restrictions generally eased" in February, and "reflecting this, restaurant seatings on OpenTable rebounded modestly further to -56% from -59% (yoy survey week to survey week)." It appears that the rebound was far stronger than even Goldman had expected.
Commenting on the surge in leisure jobs, South Bay research writes that "the surge in Leisiure & Hospitality payrolls reflects rising Consumer spending in the face of bad snowstorms and continued COVID restrictions. Imagine what will happen when those brakes are let off."
Imagine indeed: as Renaissance Macro analyst Neil Dutta said, “With COVID cases moderating, employment growth is picking up in high touch service industries. As the vaccination campaign goes on, we will see cases continue to drop and people going out and doing things. This will lead to a boom in the economy, service industries especially. We are going to see a seven figure jobs number at some point in the next few months. Bank on it.”
Besides waiters and bartenders, employment also rose in accommodation (+36K) and in amusements, gambling, and recreation (+33K) as more of America reopened.
Another notable change: while there were gains in most service sectors - with the main losses concentrated in Government (-86K, driven by a plunge in local government education (-37,000) and state government education (-32,000) and Construction (-61K), temp payrolls continued to grow, adding 53K in February.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/75-all-jobs-added-february-were-waiters-and-bartenders
Gates Industrial, Inc. sold by Blackstone Group: $364.32m-Mar 2
Sold through a holdco. Omaha Aggregator (Cayman) L.P. by Blackstone Group.
Gates Industrial Corporation plc is a manufacturer of power transmission and fluid power solutions. The Company operates its business on a product-line basis through its two reporting segments, such as power transmission and fluid power. Its power transmission segment includes elastomer drive belts and related components used transfer motion in a broad range of applications. Its fluid power segment includes hoses, tubing and fittings designed to convey hydraulic fluid at high pressures in both mobile and stationary applications, and other high-pressure and fluid transfer hoses used to convey various fluids. The Company sells its products under its Gates brand name. Its products are used in applications across various end markets including construction, agriculture, energy, automotive, transportation, general industrial, and consumer products. Number of employees : 14 300 people.
https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/GATES-INDUSTRIAL-CORPORAT-40311490/company/
Blackstone Group Inc. is an investment firm. The Company's alternative asset management business includes investment vehicles focused on real estate, private equity, public debt and equity, growth equity, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis. It operates through four segments: Private Equity, Real Estate, Hedge Fund Solutions and Credit & Insurance. The Private Equity segment includes corporate private equity business, which consists of it's corporate private equity funds, Blackstone Capital Partners funds, it's sector-focused corporate private equity funds, including it's energy-focused funds, Blackstone Energy Partners funds and it's core private equity fund. The Blackstone Real Estate Partners funds target a range of opportunistic real estate and real estate related investments. The Hedge Fund Solutions segment consists of Blackstone Alternative Asset Management. The Credit & Insurance segment consists principally of Blackstone Credit. Number of employees : 2 905 people.
https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/THE-BLACKSTONE-GROUP-INC-60951400/company/
https://www.finviz.com/insidertrading.ashx?oc=1779290&tc=7&b=2
STACY25 USAF E-4B Nightwatch wn from Wright-Patterson AFB and looks like it is heading to Lincoln (unless Offutt still open)
>>65310 pb
Repo Wreck: 10Y Tumbles Below Fails Charge, Trades -3.1% In Repo
Last night we showed - for the second day in a row - that contrary to Powell's protests, the situation in the repo market is going from bad to worse, as the 10Y traded as low as -4.25% in repo, deep below the fails charge of -3% meaning lenders of cash to Treasury shorts have to pay them instead of pocketing a lending fee. And while had hoped that the Treasury announcement that $38BN in 10Ys would be auctioned off in next week's reopening would restore some normality to the repo market, that has failed to materialize as of Friday morning, when according to ICAP, the cost to borrow 10-year Treasuries in the repo market opened below the -3% penalty rate Friday, with the repo rate for 10-year Treasuries posted at -3.10%.
As we have repeatedly explained, and as Bloomberg comments this morning, when the interest rate on overnight cash loans backed by the newest 10-year note goes below -3%, it’s cheaper to pay the regulatory fine for failing to return the collateral on time than it is to renew the loan - a sign that short selling is intense.
This is hardly news considering the relentless move higher in yields which we now know has been facilitated by wave after wave of new shorts, to the point that the 10Y may now be the most actively shorted future of all major liquid instruments.
Regardless of the cause, unless the repo stabilizes in the coming days ahead of next week's 10Y auction - which may be the most important market event of the quarter if last week's catastrophic 7Y is any indication - then people will have a major problem on his hands, because after failing to admit that there is a major repo problem during yesterday's WSJ Q&A the Fed chair will lose even more credibility as he now is forced to scramble to restore order, something which he may only be able to do with an emergency announcement ahead of the March 17 FOMC.
Finally, making matters even more serious, moments ago Politico reported that FDIC Chair Jelena McWilliams said it doesn’t see need for continued SLR relief beyond March 31, adding that in her view it "doesn't that seem as though banking agencies need to extend an emergency move that made it cheaper for insured depository institutions to hold cash and U.S. government bonds on their balance sheets." In other words, unless Powell immediately reassures markets that the SLR will get extended, it's about to get far worse.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/repo-wreck-10y-tumbles-below-fails-charge-trades-31-repo
got dafuq outta there when it showed.
Tesla’s Plunge Wipes Out $90 Billion of Market Value in One Week
The rout in Tesla Inc. shares this week has far exceeded the broader market’s decline and already wiped out nearly $90 billion from the electric-vehicle maker’s valuation.
To put that loss in perspective, consider that it exceeds the entire individual market capitalizations of about four-fifths of companies in the S&P 500. Tesla’s shares fell below the $600 mark on Friday, plunging to their lowest since Dec. 10. The stock has now lost 17% of its value just this week, extending its 2021 drop to 20%. The surge that helped propel the Elon Musk-led company into the ranks of the S&P 500 in 2020 has turned into a steep decline this year amid a greater push from legacy automakers into electric vehicles. Traditional industry bigwigs including General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co., Volkswagen AG have all in recent months announced their EV lineups and the intent to aggressively expand into the nascent market.
Tesla’s lofty valuation also took a hit from a broader sell-off in high-multiple technology stocks this week. Investors ditched the group amid a rise in Treasury yields, leading to concerns that companies trading at high valuations may not perform up to expectations if borrowing costs surge. The EV industry leader was among the top decliners in both the Nasdaq 100 Stock Index, as well as the S&P 500 Index. Tesla’s current market capitalization stands at around $552 billion, a far cry from the high of $837 billion it reached in late January.
Smaller EV startups also followed into Tesla’s lead on Friday. Major decliners in the group included Lordstown Motors Corp., Nio Inc., Workhorse Group Inc., XPeng Inc., as well as some of the blanck check companies awaiting merger with electric car makers, such as Churchill Capital Corp. IV and Northern Genesis Acquisition Corp.
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/tesla-s-plunge-wipes-out-90-billion-of-market-value-in-one-week-1.1572932
and of course unrelated to this fund loading up on Tesla stock….
ARK Funds Fall Into A Bear Market
ARK Investment Management LLC’s highflying exchange-traded funds are firmly in a bear market following another round of steep declines Friday.
The core five ETFs of star stock picker Cathie Wood’s New York asset-management firm fell between 4% and 7% in recent trading as shares of technology and other fast-growing stocks continued to sell off. Those declines have pushed ARK’s funds down more than 20% from their most recent highs, meeting the traditional threshold used for determining when securities and indexes have entered a bear market.
ARK’s ETFs have plunged past the broader stock market. The S&P 500, which ARK uses as a benchmark for its own funds, is off about 5% from its Feb. 12 high.
ARK’s flagship innovation fund has been hardest hit. The $23 billion fund was off 31% from its previous high, with roughly half of those declines coming this week alone. The drops for ARK’s other funds weren’t far off.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/ark-funds-fall-into-a-bear-market-11614962953