Bank of England slows bond-buying, sees economy bouncing back more quickly

The Bank of England slowed the pace of its trillion dollar stimulus program and forecast a faster recovery for Britain from the coronavirus slump on Thursday, but stressed it was not tightening monetary policy.

Governor Andrew Bailey said it was good news that the economy looked set for a stronger recovery than previously forecast, with less unemployment. But he also stressed there would still be a big shortfall against the economy's pre-pandemic path. "(Let's) not get carried away. It takes us back by the end of this year to the level of output that we had essentially at the end of 2019 pre-COVID," Bailey said at a news conference after the BoE's decision.

The central bank said it would reduce the amount of bonds it buys each week to 3.4 billion pounds, down from a current pace of 4.4 billion pounds a week. "The expected completion point of the purchase programme remained unchanged. This operational decision should not be interpreted as a change in the stance of monetary policy," the BoE said.

So far, most central banks in rich countries around the world have stressed they are in no hurry to scale back huge the amounts of support they have provided for their economies.

But the Bank of Canada said last month it could start to raise rates by late 2022 and pared back its bond-buying.

Sterling initially fell on the announcement but then moved higher against the U.S. dollar and recovered against the euro.

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/bank-england-keeps-rates-size-bond-buying-plan-hold-2021-05-06/

the rest should start to do same over next few weeks.

morning

SAM356 USAF KAF AC of interdast departed MacDill AFB after an overnight-inbound from Panama Pacifico Airport yesterday heading se-looks like San Juan, PR at present

SAM395 USAF G5 ws from JBA depart

>>51222

chek't

shifty bastid

kek

>>51226

with ya on that one.

Overdue

Lebanon's lights may go off as cash for electricity runs out

Lebanon’s lights may go off this month because cash for electricity generation is running out, a lawmaker said on Thursday, as the country grapples with a deep economic crisis.

Lebanon’s parliament had approved a $200 million emergency loan to finance fuel imports for power generation in March, but a committee reviewing the loan has yet to approve it. “We should not forget that starting May 15, gradual darkness will start,” said Nazih Negm, a member of parliament, according to a government statement released after he met the caretaker finance and energy ministers.

The Lebanese have long learned to live with regular power cuts that run for at least three hours a day in the capital and much longer in other areas, because the state’s power plants cannot meet demand. Many people rely on private generators. But the financial crisis has exacerbated the heavily indebted nation’s problems, as the government struggles to find enough foreign exchange to pay for fuel and other basic imports. The loan, approved by lawmakers in March, is being reviewed by a constitutional committee, which is studying whether it is lawful. The government resigned after a massive blast in Beirut in August and is now acting in a caretaker capacity. Lebanon usually keeps enough fuel for about two months or so, as it is too costly to hold strategic reserves for longer.

The economic meltdown, the biggest crisis since the end of Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war, has fuelled unrest, locked depositors out of their accounts and hammered the currency, which has lost around 90% of its value against the dollar.

https://www.reuters.com/article/lebanon-crisis-electricity/update-1-lebanons-lights-may-go-off-as-cash-for-electricity-runs-out-idUSL1N2MT16X

Suu Kyi's Myanmar legal team struggles to gain client's rights

Weeks have gone by since the trial of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi was supposed to have begun, but the process, as well as lawsuits filed by her legal team, remain in a state of limbo, members of the team told Nikkei Asia. Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and other politicians were arrested on Feb. 1, the day lawmakers who had won elections in November were to be seated in parliament. Instead, the military apparently miffed that Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won a wide majority of the seats up for grabs staged a coup.

Since then, Suu Kyi's legal team has grown frustrated as authorities remain mum or appear not to take action when the lawyers press for their client's rights, such as private client-attorney meetings. The eight-person team has also dwindled as two of the lawyers have gone incognito after running afoul of police for offering their services to the pro-democracy movement. "In the first place," Min Min Soe, one of Suu Kyi's lawyers, told Nikkei, "we didn't know who the case inspector or prosecutor were. We only came to know after the first trial hearing on Feb. 15. Then we came to know that we had to meet with [a] police officer" to submit some forms. The legal team also has been unable to meet with Suu Kyi, who was detained on Feb 1. Team members first went to the district police station in Naypyitaw but were told by police she was not there. "I had the first meeting with Amay Suu [Suu Kyi] via video conferencing on Mar 31," Min Min Soe said. "Then [we] met with her during the trial" via videoconference.

The lawyer went on: "When we had a conversation [at the first meeting], we couldn't talk a lot, [since] police officers were next to both of us. This teleconference took place on a mobile phone from the Zabu Thiri Township police station. The internet connection was not good and went down sometimes."

The legal team also struggled to meet with other clients and to receive signatures on power of attorney letters. Suu Kyi faces six charges, with legal proceedings meant to take place in the capital of Naypyitaw and the commercial hub of Yangon. Min Min Soe also expressed irritation at not receiving concrete answers from police regarding a power of attorney arrangement and on meeting with Suu Kyi. Eventually, in March, two of Suu Kyi's lawyers received signed power of attorney letters. On April 26, more than two months after the first hearing, the rest of Suu Kyi's lawyers received them. But none of the lawyers have been able to hold a private meeting with Suu Kyi. "The legal process is slow and delayed for sure," Min Min Soe said. "They explained to us why the process was delayed as they said they have to report to their superior." Suu Kyi, who is in her mid-70s, appeared healthy during the court appearances, according to the legal team. Khin Maung Zaw, another senior legal team member, said the team is unlikely to receive direct instructions from their client any time soon.

"We don't even have the basic fair trial rights of our client," Khin Maung Zaw said in a recent interaction with Nikkei. "The approval to meet with our client Aung San Suu Kyi has been postponed week after week. "The police at the court told us they have already sent the report to the superiors. So, I told the court on April 26 that it is the fundamental right of an accused to meet her lawyer and give instructions privately. We already applied for that meeting in the early stages of the case and haven't got that meeting until now." Khin Maung Zaw said Suu Kyi during a recent trial hearing in Naypyitaw repeatedly demanded her right to meet with her lawyers and to ask for their opinions. Her demands have not been accepted.

Nikkei has also contacted Naypyitaw police to ask why Suu Kyi and her lawyers are being kept apart. Myint Naing is the chief officer at the Zabu Thiri Township police station and is in charge of power-of-attorney and lawyer-client meetings. He told Nikkei that he has completed the necessary paperwork for a meeting. "We have already sent the report to our superior," Myint Naing said. "That's what we can say since we don't know more." He refused to give a hint of whether a meeting might take place soon. "As you know I am a police officer from a station. [I] wouldn't be able to do much," he said, adding that he has no authority to make a decision on the matter.

moar

https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Myanmar-Coup/Suu-Kyi-s-Myanmar-legal-team-struggles-to-gain-client-s-rights

82-8000 USAF 747 departed JBA for Lake Charles, LA-Chennault Airport

Long runway here, 2 miles and was once a backup landing site for the Space Shuttle

N22PP Nat Park Police Bell 412 out over JBA and environs and returning to Eagle's Nest

Biden making stops in Lake Charles, New Orleans

https://www.kplctv.com/2021/05/06/pres-biden-making-stops-lake-charles-new-orleans/

>>51237

09-0017 USAF C-32A also departed from JBA sw

and will prolly go to Barksdale AFB or Alexandria, LA

Iron Ore, Steel Hit All Time High As Monster Commodity Rally Breaks Records

While most of the attention in recent days has focused on copper, overnight both Iron ore and steel climbed to records as Chinese investors returned from a three-day holiday and sparked a furious rally.

Spot iron ore prices topped $200 a ton for the first time ever, as futures in Singapore and China climbed. Iron ore with 62% content hit $201.15 a ton on Thursday, according to Mysteel. Futures in Singapore jumped as much as 5.1% to $196.40 a ton, the highest since contracts were launched in 2013. In Dalian, prices closed 8.8% higher.

The story is familiar: steel demand is soaring as economies emerge from covid lockdowns just as the world’s biggest miners have been hampered by operational issues, curbing ore supply.

The boom as Bloomberg notes, comes even as China’s steelmakers keep output rates above 1 billion tons a year, despite a swath of production curbs aimed at reducing carbon emissions and reining in supply. Instead, those measures have boosted steel prices and profitability at mills, allowing them to better accommodate higher iron ore costs. "China’s plan to cut steel output is not showing any success,” wrote RBC analyst Kaan Peker. While steel production outside China has been slow to ramp up, output should start to recover from late in the second quarter, he wrote.

Meanwhile, according to Fitch, the rally has more room to run, though prices will likely grind lower during the second half of 2021 as supply improves and demand growth slows. There’s also a risk that China could engage in policies that may stymie the rise in iron ore prices abruptly, it said. As a reminder, a similar surge in copper prices which pushed them above $10,000 last week and set to make a new all time high, has unleashed havoc on China's copper-reliant economy, as "some Chinese manufacturers of electric wire have idled units and delayed deliveries or even defaulted on bank loans, according to a survey by the Shanghai Metals Market." Meanwhile, end-users such as power grids and property developers have also been pushing back delivery times, unable to pay for the metal, while producers of copper rods and pipes saw orders slump this week, said the researcher."

Indeed, it's all fun and games as long as leveraged speculators can keep piling on even more leverage to push the price higher, but to buyers of the end product, the price surge is nothing short of catastrophic. The Thursday surge in iron ore came after Beijing said that it was suspending a ministerial economic dialog with Australia. While a largely symbolic move, ties have worsened in recent years and China has hit Australian barley and wine with crippling tariffs and told traders to stop buying commodities including copper, sugar, timber and lobster. So far iron ore has been spared in the spat, as the Asian nation relies on Australia for about 60% of its imports. Should iron be swept up in the growing trade war, there is no telling how high its price will rise.

Meanwhile, on the steel front, rebar closed at the highest since futures started trading in 2009..... and hot-rolled coil was at the highest since contracts were launched in 2014.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/iron-ore-steel-hit-all-time-high-monster-commodity-rally-breaks-records

>>51243

seen't

o7