tyb
Market Report
Global Stocks Erase 2020 Losses Amid U.S. Rally-Nasdaq closes above 11,000 for the first time ever as Big Tech rallies
S&P 500 (^GSPC): +21.39 (+0.64%) to 3,349.16
Dow (^DJI): +185.46 (+0.68%) to 27,386.98
Nasdaq (^IXIC): +109.67 (+1.00%) to 11,108.07
Crude (CL=F): -$0.16 (-0.38%) to $42.03 a barrel
Gold (GC=F): +$24.50 (+1.20%) to $2,073.80 per ounce
10-year Treasury (^TNX): -0.7 bps to yield 0.5360%
A gauge of global equities erased its losses for the year as U.S. stocks climbed on optimism that officials will come to terms on fresh economic stimulus. Gold extended gains amid speculation interest rates will stay low for longer. The MSCI All-Country World Index advanced for a fourth straight day as the S&P 500 rose, with Apple Inc. leading the charge as it reached a record high. Stocks got a lift in the afternoon as lawmakers pledged to keep working toward a coronavirus relief package and President Donald Trump said he could act unilaterally on some measures. The dollar slipped. Equity gains have mounted in the past week amid better-than-forecast earnings and optimism on a coronavirus vaccine, but any hint that negotiators won’t be able to resolve differences over a new U.S. relief package has sparked jitters. The White House and congressional Democrats are up against a self-imposed Friday deadline to strike a deal as data Thursday showed almost 1.2 million unemployment claims. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell 249,000 to a seasonally adjusted 1.186 million for the week ended Aug. 1, the U.S. Labor Department said, the lowest reading since mid-March-revised data for June showing payrolls jumped by 4.314 million jobs instead of adding 2.369 million.
The Treasury yield curve flattened slightly on Thursday afternoon as government bond investors, who have expressed doubt about the stability of the U.S. labor market’s recovery this past week, held off from making major moves ahead of Friday’s federal jobs report. The benchmark 10-year yield (see Cap#3 for 6 month 10 yr T-Note with the two highs in red) was last down 0.3 basis point on the day to 0.540%. The two-year yield was last up 0.2 basis point to 0.119% and the long bond was down 1.7 basis points to 1.202%.
Elsewhere, mining and energy producers were among the laggards as European stocks slumped. Turkey’s lira tumbled to a record against the dollar as interventions by state banks failed to reassure markets-hello JP Morgan!. Gold climbed above $2,050 an ounce in a fifth straight day of gains. '''Silver added +2.00 +7.44% and pushing on/over $29 on the ask on the spot market-as already mentioned they NEVER talk about it openly…you'd think anything that added almost 7% in one day would be spoken of…NOPE, never do-and it remians pegged to the HOD-just off by a little on spot-tick, tock Jamie!
Both Ag and Au are RIPE for a COMEX hit job-the last one did nothing to it on Silver-60m oz's and it dropped like .12 or so. Keep an eye out for that.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-05/dollar-drops-u-s-stocks-rise-asia-to-start-flat-markets-wrap
https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-bonds/treasuries-yield-curve-flattens-ahead-of-u-s-jobs-data-idUSL1N2F81KJ
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/%5EIXIC
https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/bond/tmubmusd10y
https://www.kitco.com/charts/livesilver.html
U.S. equity funds post $6.1 billion weekly outflow -Lipper
U.S.-based stock funds in the week ended Wednesday posted a $6.1 billion outflow, according to Lipper.
U.S. taxable bond funds attracted $9.2 billion, the seventeenth straight weekly inflow, and money market funds shed $216 million in the latest week, Lipper data showed on Thursday.
https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-investments-mutualfunds/u-s-equity-funds-post-6-1-billion-weekly-outflow-lipper-idUSL1N2F82A2
Russia-China "Dedollarization" Reaches "Breakthrough Moment" As Countries Ditch Greenback For Bilateral Trade
Late last year, data released by the PBOC and the Russian Central Bank shone a light on a disturbing - at least, for the US - trend: As the Trump Administration ratcheted up sanctions pressure on Russia and China, both countries and their central banks have substantially "diversified" their foreign-currency reserves, dumping dollars and buying up gold and each other's currencies.
Back in September, we wrote about the PBOC and RCB building their reserves of gold bullion to levels not seen in years. The Russian Central Bank became one of the world's largest buyers of bullion last year (at least among the world's central banks). At the time, we also introduced this chart-cap#2) We've been writing about the impending demise of the greenback for years now, and of course we're not alone. Some well-regarded economists have theorized that the fall of the greenback could be a good thing for humanity - it could open the door to a multi-currency basket, or better yet, a global current (bitcoin perhaps?) - by allowing us to transition to a global monetary system with with less endemic instability.
Though, to be sure, the greenback is hardly the first "global currency". Falling confidence in the greenback has been masked by the Fed's aggressive buying, as central bankers in the Eccles Building now fear that the asset bubbles they've blown are big enough to harm the real economy, so we must wait for exactly the right time to let the air out of these bubbles so they don't ruin people's lives and upset the global economic apple cart. As the coronavirus outbreak has taught us, that time may never come.
But all the while, Russia and China have been quietly weening off of the dollar, and instead using rubles and yuan to settle transnational trade.
Since we live in a world where commerce is directed by the whims of the free market (at least, in theory), the Kremlin can just make Russian and Chinese companies substitute yuan and rubles for dollars with the flip of a switch:as Russian President Vladimir Putin once exclaimed, the US's aggressive sanctions policy risks destroying the dollar's reserve status by forcing more companies from Russia and China to search for alternatives to transacting in dollars, if for no other reason than to keep costs down (international economic sanctions can make moving money abroad difficult).
In 2019, Putin gleefully revealed that Russia had reduced the dollar holdings of its central bank by $101 billion, cutting the total in half.
Cap#3 is why Russia is positioned better than most
And according to new data from the Russian Central Bank and Federal Customs Service, the dollar's share of bilateral trade between Russia and China fell below 50% for the first time in modern history
Businesses only used the greenback for roughly 46% of settlements between the two countries. Over the same period, the euro constituted an all-time high of 30%. While other national currencies accounted for 24%, also a new high. At times, Russia has prioritized use of the yuan over its own currency in the hopes that his would push Beijing to become more "assertive" in establishing the yuan as an internationalized currency. While the yuan was added to a IMF basket of reserve currencies a few years back, Beijing's unwillingness to take its hand off the wheel when it comes to managing the currency has stymied its internationalization. Russia's push to accumulate yuan is not just about diversifying its foreign exchange reserves, Maslov explained. Moscow also wants to encourage Beijing to become more assertive in challenging Washington's global economic leadership.
"Russia has a considerably more decisive position toward the United States [than China does]," Maslov said. "Russia is used to fighting, it does not hold negotiations. One way for Russia to make China's position more decisive, more willing to fight is to show that it supports Beijing in the financial sphere."
Six years have passed between Russia and China opened FX swap lines between their central banks in 2014. That three year deal was expanded in 2017. While trying to assess the long-term risk, remember: Ray Dalio has apparently assigned a whole team of publicists to help spread his concerns about the potential fallout from a US-China "capital war". It's worth remembering that China has far more financial firepower with which to vex the US than many pundits are willing to acknowledge.
https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/russia-china-dedollarization-reaches-breakthrough-moment-countries-ditch-greenback
SAM307 USAF G5 departed Salt Lake City Int'l after an overnight east out of the Utah National Guard portion of the Airport-east side. 0804 went east from Seattle Sea-Tac Airport as SAM008 to JBA and out to SLC on 0805
not for a few hours.
https://factba.se/topic/calendar
They used 09-0015 C-32A in to Burke Lakefront Airport today.
No 747