Baker tweeted that he and other MPs had attended a “cordial and constructive meeting” with Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg. Fellow rebel Dehenna Davison said “all sides are working together to reach an agreement that works, allowing proper scrutiny alongside timely action.”

The rebels estimate they have about 80 Conservative MPs ready to vote against the government, according to a person familiar with the matter. That would be twice the number needed to defeat Johnson in a vote in the House of Commons.

Faced with such a big revolt, ministers agreed to work on the details of a plan to meet the rebels’ key demand for a vote on any coronavirus restrictions before they become law, the person said.

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard new rules introduced only for them to be “clarified” within hours. The lack of clarity and the seemingly ad hoc manner in which rules are being introduced is debilitating to consumer sentiment. The spotty manner in which rules are being enforced is also creating a great deal of resistance. The tide does appear to be turning however because people see in their daily lives that the restrictions are irrational.

Dear Eoin, many thanks for the excellent commentary on these "interesting times"! is there a reason why Palladium seems to be trading better than Gold or Silver at the moment? Many thanks, A

Thank you for this question which may be of interest to the Collective. Palladium is mostly produced as a byproduct of nickel and platinum mining. That means Russia and South Africa are the primary producers.

A link to today's video commentary is posted in the Subscriber's Area. 

Some of the topics discussed include: COVID-19 hysteria and its behavioural cues, gold and precious metals rebound, Stocks rally, bonds quiet, dollar eases. 

I think your analysis of the current situation regarding Covid is spot on. There is now undoubtedly a degree of hysteria infecting the public psyche, though I have to say here in Northern England people are calm regarding social distancing! A great deal of fuss is made of the daily positive test result while the average daily death toll due to Covid is around the 30 mark. In a population of 65 million I would have thought this was bearable. Increasingly strident restrictions are now being applied to University students. The overall effect on the economy is likely to be dire, not to mention the mental health of the population. Ultimately, there is a limit to what folk will put up with.

And

I read that the USA has had 6m cases and 200k deaths. 'Generally,' this is put out as 'terrible'. But if the population is 330m, that means cases are 1.82% and deaths (thought to be exaggerated count??) are 0.06%. Nobody wants to catch this thing 'just in case' but your remarks about hysteria seem justified.

What we are seeing play out in the response to the pandemic is very similar to the kind of emotional response we see both ahead of a market peak and following a significant decline. Let’s review:

Thanks for another good Friday’s audio and comment. I too have been watching XXX. But did not buy yet. Your purchase will be an incentive for me. I am also watching Airbus. Considering their main rival Boeing is in bigger trouble, I thought it would be a good company to own for the post pandemic era. I would love to read any reasons for not investing in Airbus and your/collective’s view on Airbus. Thanks in advance. And THANK YOU for the excellent service.

Airbus’s market cap is about half that of Boeing but their revenue figures are broadly in line. The primary reason for that divergence has been because Boeing was so aggressive in buying back its shares and has long been seen as the leader in the aerospace sector.

Thanks for your comments on Reserve Currencies on Friday. I remember David mentioning many years ago that to be a reserve currency a country must have democracy and military might. If this is true China would not have a chance in the foreseeable future. I would love to learn your views on this. Please advise and thanks again.

Thank you for this question which may be of interest to subscribers. The question of reserve currency status has become quite popular this year because of the massive monetary and fiscal response to the pandemic and the rebound in gold.

Popley Eternal, a jewellery megastore in a busy neighbourhood of India’s financial capital Mumbai that has traded for nearly 100 years, typically caters to the bustle of customers shopping for gold necklaces and earrings ahead of weddings and festivals. Items start at around Rs50,000 ($680).

But footfall has not recovered to pre-pandemic levels since the shop reopened in June after the country’s strict coronavirus lockdown was lifted. The three-month lockdown brought virtually all economic activity to a halt. Suraj Popley, the owner, says the company has cut its staff by around a quarter to 20, with sales so low that any item sold in the current environment is considered a “bonus”.

Indian consumers hurt by the economic fallout are opting instead to sell their family jewels or borrowing against the precious metal to make the most of high global prices. “People are coming to sell gold, in case they require cash, in case they require liquidity,” he says. “Very few people are coming to buy.”

The number of weddings that were delayed because of the coronavirus is likely to have been substantial and that represents a loss of significant source of demand for the global gold market. Rather than focus on the loss of consumer demand in the short-term, it probably suggests there will be a glut of marriages next year. After all, once people decide to marry, they are more likely than not to follow through, albeit with a delay.

A link to this week's Big Picture Long-Term video commentary is posted in the Subscriber's Area. 

Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc jumped on optimism about potential investments from two sovereign wealth funds in the British aircraft engine maker.

Singapore’s GIC is considering an investment in the engine maker, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified. The Asian fund and Kuwait Investment Office and GIC would each contribute about 250 million pounds ($318 million), Sky News reported earlier.

Rolls-Royce said this month that it aims to raise 2.5 billion pounds through a rights issue, other forms of equity, or debt to brace against a drought in demand. The company continues to review all funding options, it said Friday.

“No final decisions have been taken as to whether or when to proceed with any such options, the precise amount that may be raised, or any allotment of shares to any investor including any sovereign wealth fund,” the company said.

Rolls-Royce shares advanced 3.1%, after rising as much as 14% in London. The company has a market value of 3 billion pounds, after dropping by 77% this year.

Rolls-Royce has been hard hit by broad industry downturn triggered by the coronavirus pandemic. A drop in long-distance travel has sharply curtailed demand for the wide-body airplanes its engines power. The London-based company, with a manufacturing outpost in Singapore, has also seen airlines ground their biggest planes, depriving it of vital maintenance revenue it collects when they fly.

While a share issue would dilute existing investors at the lowest prices since 2003, Rolls-Royce has also seen its debt downgraded to junk this year, meaning borrowing would come at a higher cost than before the pandemic.

Rolls Royce is unlikely to have difficulty raising whatever funding its needs. There is no way the UK government is going to let the firm fail and it is a world leader in aircraft engines. The airline industry is currently in a major process of rationalisation. That represents a challenge but the company also has a significant footprint in developing the technologies for the sector’s big push into efficiency gains and speed gains.

In your opinion, will the introduction of a vaccine(s) be a headwind for the precious metals?

Thank you for this question which may be of interest to the Collective. The global economy has experienced a significant shock and millions of people are out of work. The primary way I view the effect of the coronavirus on the economy is as an accelerant. It took trends that have been in evidence for a while and exaggerated them. At the same time, it introduced new challenges which require new solutions.

One of the most commonly asked questions by subscribers is how to find details of my open traders. In an effort to make it easier I will simply repost the latest summary daily until there is a change.

As far as a big hot war between the United States and China is concerned, it would include all the previously mentioned types of wars plus more pursued at their maximums because, in a fight for survival, each would throw all they have at the other, the way other countries in history have, so it would be World War III, and World War III would likely be much more deadly than World War II, which was much more deadly than World War I because of the technological advances that have been made in the ways we can hurt each other.  

In thinking about the timing of a war, I keep in mind the principle that when countries have big internal disorder, it is an opportune moment for opposing countries to aggressively exploit their vulnerabilities.  For example, the Japanese made their moves to take control of European colonies in Southeast Asia in the 1930s when the European countries were challenged by their depressions and their conflicts.  History has also taught us that when there are leadership transitions and/or weak leadership, at the same time that there is big internal conflict, the risk of the enemy making an offensive move should be considered elevated.  For example, those conditions could exist in the upcoming US presidential election.  However, because time is on China’s side (because of the trends of improvements and weakenings shown in prior charts), if there is to be a war, it is in the interest of the Chinese to have it later (e.g., 5-10 years from now when it will likely be more self-sufficient and stronger) and in the interest of the US to have it sooner.   

I’m now going to add two other types of war—1) the culture war, which will drive how each side will approach these circumstances, including what they would rather die for than give up, and 2) the war with ourselves, which will determine how effective we are, which will lead us to be strong or weak in the critical ways that we previously explored. 

Governance is Everything has been a mantra at this service for decades. It is becoming increasingly relevant because standards of governance are in flux all over the world. Governance is never static, it’s the relative trend that determines the risk factor for investors. 

I am interested to know more about The Chart Seminar. Have you any plans to conduct these virtually or online? Can you also please advise when and where the most recent seminar was held and the cost? Thank you

Thank you for this email. The most recent event was in October last year and coincided with David’s memorial concert at the London Philharmonic. The rate for The Chart Seminar is £1799 but subscribers are offered the discounted rate of $850. Anyone booking more than one place can also avail of the £850 rate for the second and subsequent delegates.

That rate plan is designed to encourage anyone who wants to attend to become a subscriber. It also offers a cushion for anyone who wants to help market the seminar to a wider audience.

I have been thinking about how to offer the course online. In the past I have conducted private seminars online using the GoToMeeting screen sharing app. However, that was for delegates in a single location and the course material was tailored to their specific interests.

The course was run over three days instead of two and each day contained four hours of programming material. The challenge with offering a Chart Seminar to a global audience is the difficulty of syncing up UK, USA, Middle Eastern, Asia and Australian time. I just don’t have confidence it is possible. If subscribers would let me know whether they would be interested in attending an online course I can see about working out the logistics.

As partial solution it may be easier to hold an online version of the Markets Now events David and Iain Little used to hold in London. That was a monthly couple of hour affair which was less about education and more about sifting through the relevant issues at the time.   

A link to today's video commentary is posted in the Subcsriber's Area. 

Some of the topics discussed include: Wall Street pauses on stimulus hopes, gold stable, oiil quiet, India and China weak, Dollar steady, 

“We are ready for a negotiation,” she said. “I am talking with my caucus and my leadership and we will see what we are going to do,” Pelosi said.

The prospect of talks helped push stocks higher briefly, with the S&P 500 extending gains after the Pelosi and Mnuchin remarks. But that optimism was tempered by reports showing a resurgence in coronavirus cases in Europe and investors pulled stocks back off session highs.

The risk of a slowdown in the recovery is rising with the lack of movement on fiscal stimulus. Initial claims for unemployment insurance remained at a level above the peak during the Great Recession of 2007-09, the latest weekly data showed on Thursday.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell reiterated his conclusion that “it’s likely that additional fiscal support will be needed,” speaking at the same Senate panel where Mnuchin was testifying.

The recovery has been faster than anticipated so far, Powell said, thanks to income support to those affected by the pandemic.

“The risk is that they’ll go through that money, ultimately, and have to cut back on spending and maybe lose their home,” the Fed chief said. “That’s the downside risk of no further action.”

The big question for investors is to determine how credible this news story is. The Fed has been very clear that it sees a need for additional stimulus and that the path out of the recession is dependent on support mechanisms remaining open ended.

Hello Eoin, I suggest that in today’s video you specify how close in terms of price and timing you believe we are away from the optimal opportunity to buy (again) gold, silver and miners. Thank you! All the best.

And

Eoin, is there any particular reason why your most recent trades have fallen off of the daily commentary? Until very recently we were able to keep track of your last trades, even if some were a little dated. This has stopped now, and don't know whether it's an error or change in tack.

On precious metals, you exited Gold and Silver but stuck with the underlying stocks which are being heavily sold off today after an already bruising month (I am involved in them too). What is the rationale for that knowing the stocks are leveraged plays on the metals? Finally, at which point do you intend to step back into Gold and Silver with Silver already having sold off by nearly 30% from the peak at 30 dollars.

One of the most important attributes to understand about trading gold is its volatility. It tends to overshoot on both the upside and downside. That leads to a very emotional response from traders and investors. As prices rise, they become conditioned to expect the trend to continue and accelerate purchases. However, when prices decline, faith is tested and the overly aggressive purchase program is demonstrated to have been incorrect. That leads to a lot of questioning and doubt creeping in.

Foreign investors sold a net $241 million worth of Indian stocks so far this week, contributing to a 0.46% decline in the rupee to 73.90 against the U.S. dollar. Meanwhile the yield on the benchmark 10-year government bond was little changed at 5.99%.

While the slump in stocks dragged down every industry, the S&P BSE Bankex, a gauge of bank stocks, fell further than the benchmark index to a three-month low.

“Banks will continue to under-perform in the next couple quarters,” said Amit Khurana, head of research at Dolat Capital Market Pvt. in Mumbai, “Bad loans will go up and they will be more retail and granular, which will be far more difficult to address than corporate loans.”

Emerging markets are not immune to what happens on Wall Street because the rebound in the Dollar retracts support from international assets. Additionally, the move by the Modi administration to liberalise how farmers are allowed to sell their produce represents an inflationary uncertainty.

One of the most commonly asked questions by subscribers is how to find details of my open traders. In an effort to make it easier I will simply repost the latest summary daily until there is a change. I'll change the title to the date of publication of new details so you will know when the information was provided.

A link to today's video commentary is posted in the Subscriber's Area. 

Some of the topics discussed include: Dollar rebounds on lower likelihood of additional supply, gold, silver and stocks pull back. Bonds are still inert and many overbought conditions look likely to be unwound. 

Federal Reserve policy makers on Wednesday highlighted the importance of fiscal stimulus for an economic recovery that recently has outperformed forecasts. Chairman Jerome Powell continued to wave the fiscal flag carefully at a congressional hearing -- amid a political stalemate over a new package -- saying that more support was likely to be necessary. Others were more full-throated, with Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester saying it was very much needed given the “deep hole” the economy is climbing out of.

Chicago Fed President Charles Evans expressed concern the stimulus he penciled in won’t be forthcoming, while Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren suggested it’ll take another wave of infections to prompt action, and likely not until next year.

Declines in the stock market, until recently attributed to a reversal of excessive tech-share gains, have increasingly been attributed in part to worries about the recovery and the need for more stimulus. The S&P 500 Index was down 1.7% as of 2:22 p.m. in New York, the fifth drop in six days.

“The most difficult part of the recovery is still ahead of us,” Rosengren said in remarks Wednesday, saying he was more pessimistic than his colleagues over how many Americans will return to work over the next 15 months.

The impending bitter dispute between the Democrats and Republicans about the latter’s determination to approve a new supreme court justice before the election has pretty much shelved any hope of additional stimulus before the election. Add to that the real potential that an election result may not be immediately available and the timeline for when an additional fiscal stimulus will be agreed gets pushed further out.

“Over the last few years, Tesla has been making a lot of moves related to batteries.

We are talking about buying companies like Maxwell and Hibar, and applying for patents on new technology, like a tabless battery cell and a cell to pack design.

While all these moves were mostly evaluated on their own merits, it wasn’t clear how all those things would fit together.

That’s exactly what Tesla demonstrated at its Battery Day.

Tesla explained how they have made major improvements in five key aspects of batteries:

Cell design, specifically form factor.
Battery cell factory design with manufacturing innovations
New anode materials
New cathode materials
New battery pack design

And then, by combining all these things together, Tesla achieves a battery cost breakthrough with a 56% reduction in cost per kWh:

What is most impressive is how all those innovations work together. Each result in an incremental improvement to battery technology, but if you combine them together, you get breakthrough-level performance and cost:

Tesla has the ambition to become a truly globally significant car company. The much-hyped battery day supplied a long list of potential solutions to achieve that goal. The challenge is what is being suggested is complicated to begin with and that is before the manufacturing headaches have been fully appreciated. Above all else building out cell manufacturing capacity to the scale suggested is going to be expensive.

I may be mistaken but I thought in one of your commentaries you listed some betting stocks.

Assuming the continue pandemic mode, sport fans may be eager to bet, same for the elections, Point bets PBH .au and Penn gaming PENN may be good idea.

DraftKings is the name that has been recognized DNKG

 Pls. confirm you had mentioned in one of your commentaries, alternatively, any ideas / opinion on the space

Best keep safe

Thank you for this question. I have spoken about the airline and tourist sectors generally but not about pure gambling plays. However, I agree that speculative fervour is a significant factor in the market today. The lack of sports events to bet on has been a factor in the surge in online stock market trading among retail investors. The buzz people get from punting is addictive so demand will likely persist for at least as long as their money lasts. The online venues are likely to benefit at the expense of physical locations.

A link to today's video commentary is posted in the Subscriber's Area. 

Some of the topics covered include: stocks firm, precious metals pause, perception of risk versus reality of risk, vaccine cover for easing restrictions, 

Hi Eoin - hope you are keeping safe & well. It is sad to see the fires causing so much devastation in your state once again, and you are also dealing with the "new norm" and the unsettling Covid world. With this in mind your readers may find this article of interest. Stay safe 

Thank you for your well wishes. The headlines about California are terrifying and I can see why people question the decision to live here. The place is either jammed with cars, choking on smog, shaking with earthquakes, burning to the ground or dying en masse from the coronavirus. On top of that the occasional surfer is munched on by a Great White Shark and we are all about to be inundated with rising sea levels.  

Any loss of life is a tragedy and I know this is not going to sound politically correct but we’re fine. We knew the shelter in place orders were coming so we stocked up early. As soon as the tennis courts opened up, we started playing again. Over the course of the last few months my resting heart rate has fallen to 43 and I’m fitter than I have been in years.

Eating lots of fruit and veg, drinking plenty of water, getting enough sleep, moderating one’s consumption of alcohol and practicing as much physical activity as you can, without injuring yourself, should be everyone’s prescription for life. The fact it helps keep illness at bay is a bonus.

Dear Eoin, I suppose you are doing well since I’ve been following your research through all these months. Pandemic changed a lot of things, but we had the crisis of our own. We built the leading Russian business daily but this year, after more than 20 years of our efforts, it was effectively taken from us through machinations brought about by forces close to Kremlin. You can have a look, this is the early July statement by Reporters Without Borders 

By now, almost all members of the newsroom have left, Vedomosti degraded very quickly and stopped being independent, honest and objective. But a group of journalists and editors including myself have launched the new online publication VTimes - https://vtimes.io . The full-fledged launch including new web-site is scheduled for October but we’ve been active with our articles and podcasts on social platforms, such as Telegram, Facebook etc., since August and feel tremendous support from readers many of whom switched from Vedomosti to VTimes. Last week we began crowdfunding campaign that can be supported from anywhere. I have already used your most valuable comments in my stories for VTimes and will continue to do so.

I am writing now about rather quick rebound of the global trade. In particular, according to calculations by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, the trade volumes recovered about half of this year’s historic loss in four months while it took 13 months after 2008 crisis had begun. Some other information on the issue can be found in the WSJ story - 

And major exporters of goods, such as China, Korea, Germany, now recover quicker than economies more depending on services. You several times wrote about US-China trade from your personal point of view, or rather your wife’s business. I also remember you describing situation in Los Angeles port. Can you tell, what is the situation now, for me to get first-hand experience?

Thank you for this update and please accept my condolences in seeing your work disappear into the hands of an interloper. I also wish you the best of luck with your new venture. Journalistic independence is under threat all over the world, not just in Russia. The price for holding a contrary opinion is rising all the time. That’s a clear sign of deteriorating standards of governance globally which suggests the risk premium is rising.

I have a couple of questions for Mr. Treacy which I would be most grateful if he could answer:

1) Traditional portfolios have managed risk by allocating % to stocks and bonds. The closer to retirement someone is and presumably more risk averse one allocated proportionally more to bonds. Given that interest rates are at historical lows is this formula still appropriate? Should we look at allocation to gold instead of bonds? Thank you

2) Earlier this year Mr. Treacy shared the performance, dividend yields and length of time these dividend yields have been awarded for key Investment Trusts. I would be grateful (and perhaps other investors as well) if he could share growth performance, dividends and chargers of key ETFs. Thank you.

Thank you for these questions which may be of interest to the Collective. The rationale for investing in bonds as a stabilising force in a portfolio is a lot more difficult to justify when interest rates are zero. One comforting factor is the inverse correlation between the assets has been sustained over the last few months.

 A link to today's video commentary is posted in the Subscriber's Area. 

Some of the topics discussed include: Wall Street closes off its lows at a 10% decline from the peak, gold steadies around $1900, IPOs continue to outperform, oil weak, banks breaking downwards amid uncertainty about regulation and interest rates.

A link to the full report is posted in the Subscriber's Area. 

The death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has injected an additional element of contention into the US Presidential Election competition. It therefore further reduces the potential for an additional stimulus in the short term. Meanwhile, central banks have appeared reticent to boost liquidity. The partial rebound in economic activity has improved the velocity of money reading but it is raw liquidity measures that stoke leveraged bets.

BuzzFeed also reported that a team from Deutsche Bank’s audit division conducted a review of the Moscow operation in 2014 and gave the office a “green” rating. Christian Sewing, now the bank’s chief executive officer, was global head of audit at the time, though he had no “direct or indirect involvement” in that probe, a Deutsche Bank spokesperson told BuzzFeed.

Sewing oversaw an internal investigation of the mirror trades the following year, which led to the lender shuttering its securities unit in the country. Achleitner appointed him CEO three years later.

BuzzFeed wrote that the volume of Russian money flowing into the U.S. financial system was so big that a team of experts at Bank of America raised the issue at a meeting with Deutsche Bank in London in early 2016. The issue was eventually escalated within Bank of America and one of its senior managers raised the issue with Achleitner himself. Bank of America in February of that year filed a suspicious activity report with the U.S. Treasury Department.

Deutsche Bank in a statement cast doubt over some element of that report, saying in Germany’s two-tier board system, it wouldn’t have been the role of the supervisory board chairman to get involved in the matter. Instead, it was the chairman of the management board -- John Cryan at the time -- who had a meeting with a Bank of America executive.

There is a lot of money to be made in laundering money and there is a lot of money to be laundered. That pretty much ensures it is going to be a pervasive practice across the global financial system. In many respects it is akin to the drug trade. No matter how much money is spent on stamping it out, it always finds a way through.

All 12 companies have increased in value since they started trading. The largest increase was Schrodinger Inc. (229.7%), followed by BigCommerce Holdings Inc. (212.3%) and nCino Inc. (143.7%). Shares in Snowflake, the year’s largest U.S. technology IPO, has doubled from its offer price of $120 per share.

The number dollar value of IPOs hit a new all-time high this year. That tells us a lot about the ability of low interest rates and abundant liquidity to boost asset prices. That’s particularly true for private assets since there is no mark to market value. Profitability is habitually somewhere out in the future for many new companies so the early investors are taking the opportunity to sell in IPOs before that issue becomes pressing.

A link to this week's Big Picture Long-Term video is posted in the Subscriber's Area. 

As a result of their longer history and their more intensive studying of it, the Chinese are much more interested in evolving well over much longer time frames than Americans, who are much more interested in making quick hits—i.e., the Chinese are more strategic than Americans, who are more tactical.  The arc that Chinese leaders pay the most attention to is well over a hundred years long (because that’s how long good dynasties last) and they understand that the typical arc of development has different multidecade phases in it, and they plan for them.  For example, the first phase, which occurred under Mao, was when the revolution took place, control of the country was won, and power and institutions were solidified.  The second phase of building wealth, power, and cohesiveness without threatening the leading world power (i.e., the United States) occurred under Deng and his successors up to Xi.  The third phase of building on these accomplishments and moving China toward where it has set out to be on the 100th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 2049—which is to be “a modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, and harmonious,” which would make the Chinese economy about twice the size of the US economy[4]—is occurring under Xi and his successors.  Nearer-term goals and ways for getting toward these goals are set out in nearer-term plans like the Made in China 2025 plan,[5] Xi’s new China Standards 2035 plan, and the usual five-year plans.[6] 

There is a quote from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean which is doing the rounds on the social media. It’s “part of the ship, part of the crew” The Communist Party equates itself with the country. That means that if you are Chinese you owe fealty to the Party. That belief is at the essence of the ruling ideology.

Hancock said the country faces a “big moment” but emphasized a second lockdown “is not the proposal that’s on the table.” Asked if scientists are saying schools and business don’t need to be closed, he replied: “that’s right.”

“The strategy is to keep the virus down as much as is possible, whilst protecting education and the economy and doing everything we possibly can for the cavalry that’s on the horizon,” he said, referring to efforts to develop Covid-19 vaccines, new testing technologies and treatments.

Much is riding on the government’s test-and-trace program, which officials regard as vital to keep infection rates down and to give people confidence to return to work. But the system is failing to meet key targets, including on the rapid turnaround of tests and the number of people deemed at risk of contracting the virus who are contacted.

The rising number of cases is a concern. However, it has not transferred into a higher death rate. Some would argue that a rising death toll is inevitable but that is not necessarily the case.

You can’t die twice. Many of the deaths were among the most susceptible groups. Lessons have finally been learned. Older, sicker people are now better protected. At the same time methods for treating the virus have improved. The situation today is not comparable to what prevailed in February.

“It’s really a unique mechanism for investors themselves and California to be able to at the very least understand and price the risk and potentially hedge the risk of water price volatility,” said Carter Malloy, founder and chief executive officer of AcreTrader, a farmland investing platform.

“The crucial thing is right now we have very little visibility” on what water prices will look like in the future, he said.

Water preservation and distribution could become increasingly attractive as investors like Jeff Ubben, who recently launched Inclusive Capital Partners, look to tackle problems ranging from environmental damage to food scarcity through their funds.

Climate advocates have warned in recent years for the potential of water wars as competition increases between needs from agriculture, energy and growing cities. Food production in particular could be vulnerable as drought makes it increasingly difficult to grow crops in many parts of the world and farmers balance water and land needs with protecting forest in places like Brazil’s Amazon.

“Food is going to be a flash point” in the world going forward as climate change makes production more challenging, Carter Roberts, chief executive officer of World Wildlife Fund, said in an interview at the Bloomberg Green Festival this week.

A couple of the other directors at the Nevada Trust Company sit on the board of Ducks Unlimited. It’s a conservancy group run by hunters and aims to protect as much wetland habitat has possible. Water rights and abeyance agreements are the bread and butter of the organisation.

Is my impression that you are not a big investor or trader for you report little change or positions. Is this right? How big is your organization? The impression is you do everything yourself, if so, that is quite remarkable, you are a renaissance man indeed!

Thank you for your kind words and this question which may be of interest to subscribers. I write the daily commentary and record the daily audio/video.It’s a labour of love but I also consult for a number of funds, family offices and sit on the board of a trust company. Sarah handles subscriptions. We rely on third party programmers to manage the Chart Library.. There is no way I would be able to compile the service without the aid of the Collective of subscribers. It is the constant input and sharing of experience throughout the community that allows us to gain insight into how the market tapestry is unfolding. For that shared education I am eternally grateful.

Intech (Janus Henderson) Diversification Potential: Untapped Alpha in Non-US Equities

A link to today's video commentary is posted in the Subscriber's Area. 

Some of the topics covered include: further evidence of rotation, Asian, commodity and emerging market currencies breaking out against the Dollar, 50-day MAs being tested but reflection trade gaining ground.

We view the congressional contests as nearly as important in shaping the Washington power balance as the vote for the top post. The House of Representatives seems safely Democratic. The required net gain of 18 seats for a GOP majority appears out of reach.5

However, increasingly rare split tickets culminated in a clean sweep of all 34 Senate races by the winning party in the presidential election of 2016.6 A similar correlation is shaping up again for 2020. Presidential polls have moved toward Biden, and a recent Cook Report estimates that  1) 6 of the 23 Republican seats up for election are toss-ups and 1 leans toward the Democrats; and 2) no Democratic seats are toss-ups and just one of the 12 exposed Democratic seats leans Republican.7 These numbers could shift if President Trump regains the upper hand.

We expect only a muted market reaction to any delays in reporting due to voting by mail, much like the market’s limited reaction to post-election limbo in November and December 2000.8 Turnout remains tough to predict. Since 1960, a turnout of 56% or more of the eligible voters has coincided with one-party government (see Chart 2 below). Biden must balance his outreach to progressives during the final weeks of the campaign, to energize his campaign and to boost voter turnout, against alienating moderates inside and outside his party.

One factor to watch in 2021 will be whether the Senate votes to end the filibuster, a 60-vote procedural hurdle. We acknowledge the risk that the Senate may abolish the filibuster but still expect divisions between moderates and progressives within the Democratic Party to prevent policy swings to ideological extremes. Consequently, the most divisive proposals from the campaign trail seem unlikely to become laws.

A link to the full report is posted in the Subscriber's Area.

Back in 2000 the world was mesmerized by the question of whether “hanging chads” should be counted as votes. In the end the Presidential election result hinged on only several hundred votes in Florida.

This year we are likely to see legal cases dominate races in a host of states. The question of mail-in voting is already topical. The US Postal Service is in no way prepared for the volume of mail it is going to be required to process over the coming seven weeks. Checking the identity and eligibility to vote of mail-in ballots is going to be time consuming at best. That is assuming most are valid and they arrive in time which is by no means guaranteed.

The data’s strength was surprising because the period spanned Melbourne’s shift to Stage 4 restrictions and a curfew to contain a rapidly spreading outbreak, as well as nervousness in neighboring New South Wales that it was headed down the same path. The labor market’s ability to absorb this weakness and maintain its recovery is testament to the government’s signature JobKeeper employment subsidy -- that will extend into 2021 -- and central bank stimulus.

Self-employed workers drove the monthly jobs increase. As part-time jobs returned at twice the pace of full-time, the ubiquitous food delivery services, with its riders pedaling the streets of Australia’s cities, are expected to be responsible for much of this rise.

“The upshot is that the unemployment rate is now unlikely to climb to 8.5% over the coming months as we had anticipated, let alone the 10% predicted by the RBA and the Treasury,” said Marcel Thieliant, senior economist for Australia at Capital Economics. “Indeed, with restrictions in Victoria set to be loosened toward year-end, employment should continue to rise.”

The Reserve Bank of Australia, which has kept its benchmark interest rate near zero since March, when it began buying government bonds to ensure the yield on three-year remained around 0.25%, had predicted the jobless rate would climb to around 10% later this year.

Australia has successfully contained the coronavirus outbreak in Melbourne but the whole economy benefits from the monetary and fiscal stimulus to aid Victoria. With the RBA’s cash target rate at 0.25% Australia’s higher growth sectors that can benefit from access to abundant liquidity should continue to prosper.

Key markets are stabilizing and GE is making “good progress” in cutting costs by $2 billion and saving $3 billion in cash to contend with the coronavirus pandemic, Culp said. While the recovery will be gradual, results are improving and GE is poised for continued cash-flow gains through the end of the year, he
said.

“I sit here today feeling very confident about where we are and where we’re going despite all of the trials and tribulations that Covid has certainly thrown at us,” Culp said at a Morgan Stanley conference Wednesday.

The CEO’s optimistic tone marks a turnabout from late July, when he stopped short of saying GE would generate free cash flow in the second half. The pandemic has prompted an unprecedented collapse in air travel, gutting demand for the company’s jet engines and crimping sales of other products such as gas turbines and medical equipment.

Manufacturers of big pieces of equipment that require teams of people to operate were hit hard by COVID-19. However, a number had been trending lower for a long time before pandemic hit and rationalisation plans were already well underway. There is no doubt that the ill effects of the lockdown are non-trivial but valuations are much improved and a return to profitability is likely to be rewarded by investors.

A link to today's video commentary is posted in the Subscriber's Area. 

Some of the topics discussed include: Dollar looking susceptible to weakness to a wide number of currencies, particularly in Asia. oil steady, narrowing breadth on Nasdaq, rotation underway, 

A brighter economic outlook was not paired with any pulling-forward of rate-hike projections -- in fact the opposite. The FOMC is signaling via projections and upgraded forward guidance that it does not expect to raise rates even if the jobless rate hits 4%. When unemployment hit that mark during the last expansion, the funds rate was already above 1% and steadily rising.

The Fed updated policy guidance after adopting its new inflation-targeting framework. New guidance entails achieving both inflation and the full employment targets.

The Fed’s assessment of “considerable risks” surrounding the economic outlook over the medium term remained in the statement, signaling that officials have not taken much comfort from recent better-than-expected activity and labor market data.

The Summary of Economic Projections, which extended forecasts into 2023, included an upgrade to GDP growth in 2020 and a downgrade to the unemployment rate throughout the horizon. The lack of action on the fiscal-aid front likely led to less optimistic projections for 2021 and 2022. The fed funds rate central tendency forecast indicates rates remaining at the zero-lower bound in 2023.

Assuming the economy rebounds by 28% annualized in the second quarter, as we project, U.S. GDP will need to grow by 3.4% in the fourth quarter to achieve the Fed’s forecast of -3.7% for the full year. This is slightly above our projections for growth of 2.5% in the fourth quarter and -4.0% for the year.

The Fed is hell bent on ensuring deflation does not become entrenched. That means interest rates are going nowhere for years. Vaccines are likely to be permissioned in October and will be widely available early next year. As the economy opens up, cash-rich consumers are going to make up for lost time and will leap back into social activities. That will boost velocity of money reading from the incredibly depressed level it is at right now.

A link to the full report is posted in the Subscriber's Area. 

The long-term charts contained in this report are helpful from the perspective of an investor either looking to monitor the potential for a bubble to evolve in the tech sector or the potential for cycles to rebound from depressed levels as a global recovery takes hold.

Elsewhere, Shanghai is taking steps to promote hydrogen vehicles, with a plan to get 10,000 cars on the road by 2023. Just this week, Sinopec has flagged its intention to include hydrogen in retail fuel stations, while top vehicle-maker SAIC Motor said it’s accelerating its push into the alternative energy source.

And also in the news, Cargill has bought a new soy-processing plant in China as the nation’s pig herd recovers from the ravages of swine fever. Hog numbers expanded for the seventh consecutive month in August, signaling growing confidence among breeders, according to the farm ministry.

Hydrogen is the market which has long been promised but never really made it into commercial reality. The question today is whether all the good will in terms of investment in renewables and technological innovation can translate into reducing the cost of production to economic levels. The low price of natural gas is a big enabler but the green lobby won’t be happy until the process is fossil fuel free.

This report from Jeffries may be of interest. Here is a section:
 

A link to today's video commentary is posted in the Subscriber's Area. 

Some of the topics discussed include: disappointment at Apple's product event leads to some weakness on Wall Street, Renminbi surges, industrials resources firm, gold shares steady, biotech and renewables firm, 

“The PBOC is sending a signal that it will not tighten monetary policy quickly, but also it’s less likely to use broad easing measures such as a reserve ratio cut,” said Xia Le, chief economist at PingAn Digital Economic Research Center. “This will benefit government bonds in the short term. But in the longer run, the performance of the debt is more dependent on China’s economy and the U.S. election.”

The yield on 10-year government bonds dropped 4 basis points to 3.11% as of 4:15 p.m. in Shanghai. The yuan last traded at 6.7815.

The PBOC offered 600 billion yuan ($88.1 billion) of one-year funding with the medium-term lending facility, according to a statement. That will more than offset the 200 billion yuan in loans that come due on Thursday, implying a net injection of 400 billion yuan, the largest monthly addition since July 2018. It kept the interest rate on the funds unchanged at 2.95%.

Chinese lenders -- the main buyers of government debt -- are compelled to buy 1.13 trillion yuan of new debt this month and repay 1.7 trillion yuan of short-term interbank debt. Financial institutions are also hoarding funds for quarter-end regulatory checks. Adding to the liquidity strain is the authorities’ crackdown on high-yielding financial products, which has limited their ability to attract deposits.
 

Chinese stimulus has taken a slightly different path to that followed by the Fed or ECB but it is certainly present. China’s steel and aluminium production are hitting new highs and Chinese demand for copper is the primary factor behind recent strong pricing. The clear message here is that China is pulling on the traditional levers for growth which is spurring infrastructure and industrial development. They clearly intend to come out of the pandemic in a stronger position than before they went in.

A link to the full report is posted in the Subscriber's Area. 

Media commentary continues to focus on the number of new cases of COVID-19 but that is an irrelevant figure. The numbers of hospitalisations and deaths and the fear that healthcare systems would be overrun was the reason for locking down economies. The reality today is even in countries where the number of cases is increasing, the hospitalization rate has not increased because most newly infected people are younger. Obviously, there are risks that younger people will infect older people but that is a manageable risk compared to the financial stress of total cessation of economic activity.

The European Society for Medical Oncology meeting, which begins this week, will be headlined by results from Immunomedics Inc. -- which Gilead is buying for about $21 billion; and Seattle Genetics Inc., which drew more than $1 billion dollars in an investment and partnership from Merck.

The meeting will offer investors a peek into the blockbuster hopes for Immunomedics’ lead cancer drug and provide Merck holders added details on the effectiveness of a cancer drug the company has signed on to help bring it to patients.

Innovation in the healthcare sector has long been outsourced to biotechnology companies. Experimentation tends to be resource hungry and it is difficult to predict what will eventually become a commercial product. The answer has been to allow early stage investors take the start-up risk with the promise of the best solutions being eventually bought out at a substantial premium. That model ensures a robust pace of M&A activity work.

A link to today's video commentary has been posted in the Subscriber's Area. 

Some of the topics discussed include: momentum moves find support at the 50-day MA, Treasuries quiet but Chinese bond yield rise, gold rallies, negative real interest rates supporting momentum. 

A link to the full report is posted in the Subscriber's Area. 

The fall of the Iron Curtain and ensuing spread of liberalism greatly enhanced the argument for globalisation and offshoring. The process lifted billions out of abject poverty and into the middle classes. Unfortunately, it also had a levelising effect which robbed lower middle class, less educated people in developed markets of their likelihoods.

The low-end service jobs that replaced manufacturing and mining do not offer the same compensation. That has hollowed out the middle class in much of the developed world. More reliance on social services and debt accumulation papered over some of the cracks but the credit crisis, housing busts and austerity have contributed to the rise of populism. That is a global phenomenon and is at its root a rebellion against the status quo.

You have recently, on a couple of occasions, referred to 1969 as the summer of love. This is incorrect; it was actually 1967. (I remember it well) The confusion arises over the famous Woodstock Festival which did occur in the summer of 1969.

Thank you for pointing out this error. Based on data from Wikipedia, the summer of love in 1967 attracted 100,000 people while Woodstock in 1969 attracted 400,000. In between, we had some of the most disruptive protests any one had seen in years.

I trust this message finds you hale and hearty.

Your recent article on moving averages (50 MA, 200MA) showed these on daily charts.

As a rule, I was under the impression that these MAs applied only to weekly charts, especially the 200MA to indicate the trend mean.

Thank you for this email and thank you for the well wishes. I’ve long admired and followed your regime of overdosing on fruits and vegetables which I am convinced has played a role in my resilience to illness over the decades. I’ve never had to take a day off for personal illness.

Unfortunately, the air quality in Los Angeles at present leaves a lot to be desired. The Bobcat fire is about 30 miles away and there has been very little wind. The October fires were only three miles away and the smoke blanketed us. These ones are not as bad, for me, but the air justifies wearing a mask outside regardless of the additional risk of coronavirus contagion.

Turning to moving averages. We have always focused on weekly charts because historical perspective offers valuable insight into the overall trend that is easily lost with daily charts. However, I posted daily charts last week to highlight where the levels are relative to the current prices. On our charts the calculation of where the moving average resides will be the same on a daily, weekly or monthly chart.

But experts say one risk Nvidia faces is that the takeover could encourage ARM's wider client list to shift focus to a rival type of chip technology, which lags behind in terms of adoption but has the benefit of not being controlled by one company.

"ARM is facing growing competition from RISC-V, an open-source architecture," wrote CCS Insight's Geoff Blaber in a recent research note.

"If its partners believed that ARM's integrity and independence was compromised, it would accelerate the growth of RISC-V and in the process devalue ARM."

Mr Blaber also suggested regulators might block the deal.

"This process will take months if not years with a high chance of failure," he told the BBC.

Mr Huang has said that he expects it to take more than a year to "educate" regulators and answer all their questions, but said he had "every confidence" they would ultimately approve the investment.

The big question is just how much trouble is the Vision Fund in? ARM Holdings was deemed to be central to Softbank’s ambitions of carving out of a dominant position in future technological innovation. The sale of this key asset signals trouble.

A link to this week's Big Picture Long-Term video is posted in the Subscriber's Area. 

A number of subscribers have written in to report they have not received the free daily email since August 31st. We are aware of the issue and our IT people are working on the issue.

You can go read the latest abbreviated commentary on the website at any time. If you are a subscriber, please log in to access the full service at any time. The problem with the daily email does not affect your subscription.

I generally update the site around 10pm UK time except on Friday which generally takes longer to complete.

I do apologise for any inconvenience caused.
 

A moving average is a trend smoothing device that lags by definition. Two of the most commonly watched are the 200-day and the 50-day. The first is the rough average of a year of trading while the latter represents about a month of trading. Both represent potentially important psychological levels where investors reassess.

Nevertheless, markets tend to overshoot so looking at the region of the moving average is more fruitful than focusing on exact levels. That is particularly true since there are a number of different ways of calculating a moving average.

It’s an interesting time to think about the relevance of these moving averages. Generally, the 200-day is a useful barometer of the medium-term trend. However, during strong momentum moves, like we have seen since March, the 50-day is favoured. Part of the reason for that is because leveraged investors are incapable of tolerating deep pullbacks without liquidating positions.

Known for their love of risk, individual investors appear to be changing the contours of South Korea’s broader market. They are the force behind the benchmark Kospi index’s 64% rebound from its March low -- the strongest performance in Asia in that period -- having bought a net 25.6 trillion won ($21.6
billion) worth of stocks since then even as foreign funds and institutional investors sold. In the U.S., the Robinhood craze means that retail investors now account for roughly 20% of equity trading, up from 15% historically, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analysis.

“Retail investors appear to be seeking short-term profits after hearing their next-door neighbors earned lots of money from stocks after the March selloff,” said You Seung-Min, chief strategist at Samsung Securities Co.

The activity of Korean short-term traders in September hasn’t been limited to typical darlings like preferred stocks or shares of healthcare firms. They have also dominated trading in blue-chip companies like Samsung Electronic Co., about 81% of value traded this month through Sept. 8, and SK Hynix Inc.,
almost 76%.

“Unlike previously, they are trading large-cap stocks as well because they believe some large-size firms may be able to make a huge profit amid the spread of the Covid-19,” You said.

The South Korea and Taiwanese markets are heavily oriented towards technology companies which has made them a natural destination for traders playing the stay-at-home momentum trade. South Korean retail traders were also highly active in the cryptocurrency markets in 2017. That experience may have emboldened them to be more aggressive in pursuing gains during this momentum move.

The U.S. hog market had crashed in March, first as restaurants in the U.S. closed to slow the spread of the coronavirus and then as workers at meat plants started catching Covid-19. Absent employees and companies taking safety precautions forced pork plants to shut down, resulting in a nearly 40% reduction in output of the meat by early May.

Hog farmers left without a market euthanized animals and adjusted feed rations to slow the rate of weight gain in herds. While there is no official count of how many hogs were culled, CoBank estimated as many as 7 million. Now, months after plants reopened, pork plants were bidding up prices to buy hogs from farmers, even before the news out of Germany.

“We had all of that liquidation taking place and no one ever quantified that,” Dan Norcini, independent hog trader in Idaho, said by phone. “I’m starting to wonder if the impact of the liquidation is being felt and then the German news came, and it was like a one-two punch.”

2020 will probably be remembered as a year of plagues. Early this year there was the plague of locusts making its way across northeast Africa, India and China. Then we had the swine flu which ravaged herds in China, Next, the COVID-19 pandemic closed down the global economy for the first time ever. Fires have also been making headlines in Australia, Brazil and more recently in the USA. This year has lumped a decade’s worth of volatility inducing events into only a few months so it is reasonable to question whether this volatility will lead to short or long-term trend changes.

A link to today's video commentary is posted in the Subscriber's Area. 

Some of the topics discussed include: Pound breaks down, gold in Pounds rallies, Wall Street weak, a large number of assets testing their 50-day MAs, bonds yields very low but risk appetite hinges on central bank support. 

Private equity investment trusts are listed companies whose shares can be held in an ISA or SIPP, which is about as tax-efficient as you can get, in the UK at least.

Attached is a list of some of the largest - prices from the Association of Investment Companies as of yesterday morning. 

All bar a couple are trading at discounts, but note that they only publish NAVs at quarterly or six-monthly intervals, and often 2-3 months after the period end, so the estimated NAVs and the associated discount/premium to market price are always out of date and will not necessarily reflect recent market movements. Because of the virus the current published NAVs may be even more unreliable than usual, though a number have now published their Q2 valuations. There are industry valuation guidelines, which are generally widely followed and conservative, but different trusts do adopt somewhat different methods. Some are fund of funds, others invest directly. The basic approach is to apply public market multiples and/or realisation comparables.

Returns have mostly been good however over the last 10 years; until the Covid crisis, discounts have generally been coming in from the very wide discounts experienced during the global financial crisis, when many private equity trusts were heavily geared and suffered disproportionately (they are less so today). The current disparity in discounts partly also reflects the sectors that PE funds happen to favour: ones that focus on tech (such as HG Capital, the only PE trust I have owned) have naturally done better than some others. 

While ten year returns have been higher because of the big initial discounts, returns over five years have been broadly in line with the MSCI World index, so you have to decide whether that kind of return profile is worth paying for, given the higher fees, liquidity issues, gearing, discount volatility and relative lack of transparency compared to listed equity funds. Sometimes yes, sometimes not.

However, they are a diverse bunch and difficult to analyse/compare, so you really need to do your homework or take some specialist advice on which ones might be worth investing in today. Note that currencies in which they are traded are not uniform.

Does this help? Can provide some more granular detail if it helps. I do see some of the best brokers' research, but for regulatory reasons cannot unfortunately share it, least of all to the US market! Will be writing something about PE trusts and other alternative asset sectors in the next edition of the Investment Trusts Handbook out in December. 

All the best - keep up the good work.

Thanks very much to Jonathan Davis for sharing his expertise on this topic. Here is a link to the Investment Trust Handbook on Amazon but waiting for the 2021 version may be advisable if additional content will be included to reflect interest in private equity firms.

The EU may have a case to seek legal remedies under the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement even before controversial provisions in the U.K. internal-market bill are passed by Parliament, and would have a clear justification once the bill becomes law, according to the bloc’s preliminary analysis of the U.K. legislation.

Johnson is facing a backlash from the EU and from within his own ruling Conservative Party after his government said it is ready to break its commitments to the EU over the Irish border. With negotiations over a trade deal already deadlocked over state aid rules and fishing quotas, the controversy is fueling concern there may be no agreement by the year-end deadline, triggering tariffs between the U.K. and the world’s biggest single market.

“A no-deal is becoming more likely every day,” Manfred Weber, head of the main center-right group in the European Parliament, said Thursday in an interview with Germany’s DLF radio. “We have the feeling that Britain wants a hard Brexit for ideological reasons and as Europeans we need to prepare for the worst.”

There are three treaties or laws that are now in question and the UK looks like it is going to have to break one. The Act of Union created the UK. The Good Friday Agreement settled the Northern Ireland question and the Brexit agreement created a framework for the UK to trade with the EU post Brexit.

Based on normal accepted industry operation procedures, the company at this time and prior to further engineering and flow testing, would entertain a possible daily flow rate of between 4,100 and 5,600 MCFGPD based on aggregated production from both wells. The Company has compared these wells to the closest established and documented helium production located approximately 35 miles NE in the Pinta Dome Field.  Note: Desert Mountain Energy’s wells have been completed in members of the Pennsylvanian-aged Formations which are lower in depth than the helium productive Permian-aged Coconino Formation found at Pinta Dome (AZOGCC archives).  Production comparisons with a number of wells from the prolific Pinta Dome Field, specifically the Kerr-McGee Barfoot State#1, clearly shows that large artificial formation stimulation was not required to exceed the original projected calculated reserves by over 500%, over a 13-year production life (Olukoga 2016, AZOGCC Barfoot #1 well files).

There have been a number of articles over the last couple of years about the lack of new supply for helium, against a background of continued strong demand growth. Here is a link to an article from Forbes, dated April 2019, making a number of points about supply inelasticity meets rising demand. 

A link to today's video commentary is posted in the Subcsriber's Area. 

Some of the topics discussed include: Dollar eases, ASEAN at important area of potential support, gold and oil steady, Nasdaq and biotech bounce. 

It's not clear how big a deal this particular pause is. Trial halts aren’t uncommon or a sure sign of a significant problem. Health care news publication Stat reported Wednesday that the participant received the vaccine and not a placebo, but it's possible that the volunteer’s illness — reported to be a spine condition called transverse myelitis — is unrelated to the shot. They may have already had the condition, or this could simply prove to be a singular outlier. The range of possible outcomes includes everything from a quick restart to a longer delay that could create concern about vaccines that use similar technology, including an effort from Johnson & Johnson and Russia's already approved shot. With just one event, the former seems more likely than the latter, especially given the latest news from the FT on the trial’s possible quick resumption.

The pause may slow enrollment in AstraZeneca's trial if it restarts, and may affect other efforts. It may also incline companies and regulators to wait for a bit more safety data before approval. That's not such a bad thing if it builds confidence in the eventual result. Still, halting to track down an answer is the responsible move for volunteers, the company, and the vaccine race.

It’s clear that the world must proceed carefully in developing shots intended for millions. While approved vaccines are very safe and companies working on Covid-19 candidates have reported few red flags in small early tests, the human immune system is complicated and unusual reactions do occur. Only large-scale trials on a diverse population can determine whether a particular shot is safe for general use and differentiate outliers from deal-breakers. Big tests are especially crucial in a pandemic scenario with less time for early research.

There are over 150 candidates for COVID-19 vaccines and we only need one to work. This is a massive proof of concept exercise for genetic solutions. The reason it usually takes years to come up with a vaccine is because of the process of using dead virus or growing weakened samples.

A link to the full report is posted in the Subscriber's Area. 

One of the greatest advantages emerging markets have over developed markets is they get to skip stages of development. The rollout of remote working, more online services like shopping, entertainment and relocating business activities to the cloud is likely to have a much bigger impact on growth in developing countries because the leap in productivity gained is so much greater. That is likely to set up continued outsized growth for years to come.

 

In a detailed statement, the Army said on Tuesday that the Chinese troops were "attempting to close-in with one of our forward positions along the LAC and when dissuaded by own troops, PLA troops fired a few rounds in the air in an attempt to intimidate."

"It is the PLA that has been blatantly violating agreements and carrying out aggressive maneuvers, while engagement at the military, diplomatic and political level is in progress," the Indian Army said.

The Army's statement came after China claimed that Indian troops "illegally crossed" the LAC near Pangong Tso on Monday and accordingly Chinese troops were forced to take "countermeasures" to stabilise the situation.

It added that despite this provocation, the Indian troops exercised great restraint and behaved in a responsible manner.

"Indian Army is committed to maintaining peace and tranquility, however, it is also determined to protect national integrity and sovereignty at all costs," it further said and refuted the statement by the Western Theatre Command (one of the five commands of China's PLA) as an "attempt to mislead their domestic and international audience."

India recently outflanked China by taking control of strategic height near Pangong lake's southern bank. It thwarted an attempt by the Chinese army to transgress into Indian areas near the southern bank of Pangong Tso near Chushul in Ladakh.

India and China have been engaged in a standoff since April-May over the transgressions by the Chinese Army in multiple areas including the Finger area, Galwan Valley, Hot springs, and Kongrung Nala.

With the world focused on the chances of delivering a vaccine in the near term, it is worth remembering that the world keeps turning. For military planners the pandemic represents an opportunity to probe defences and the commitment of adversaries to continue with active resistance.

I don't know if it would help your subscriber who asked about private equity, but I wondered if he was aware that some investment trusts in the UK offer some exposure. For example, Scottish Mortgage has about 20% of its assets in unlisted companies. 

There are probably others. Consult the Investment Trust handbook.

(I should say I own shares in Scottish Mortgage)

Thank you for this suggestion which I’m sure will be appreciated by other subscribers. I have also reached out to Jonathan Davis, one of the authors of the Investment Trust Handbook, and I will revert with whatever response he provides.

A link to today's video commentary is posted in the Subscriber's Area. 

Some of the topics discussed include: Wall Street extends pullback but rotation between stay at home and recovery sectors clearly evident. gold steady, oil weak, Pound weak, Dollar rebounds, bonds steady, 

So the federal reserve by cutting interest rates to zero, pulling the 10-year treasury yield down to 0.5%, 0.6%, 0.7% that really boosts the value of a dollar's worth of earnings, and it allows PE ratios to be a lot higher. Now you can get to a place where the market is overvalued. People have worried for a very long time about quantitative easing, and they've called the market a sugar high, as a result of that, I've never, for the last 10 years, I did not buy into that because if you did that model, you take earnings and then discount them with the ten-year treasury, and then compare what you find to all of history. We kept seeing a market that was actually undervalued. it, it wasn't fully pricing in that low interest rate.

It wasn't ahead of itself on earnings. And that's still true today. my view is that the market as a whole, and I'm really talking about the U.S., but I bet this is the case, around the world, is not over-valued today. How could the market be at a record high with the economy hurting this bad, but it doesn't appear to me that we are overvalued today.

Partly because interest rates are as low as they are, but even if we use a higher interest rate, the market's still undervalued because profits just didn't get hit as hard as a lot of people feared early on. In fact, if you go back to the bottom. Of the market in March, April is really when we bottomed, the U S market was predicting an 80% decline in corporate profits. That's what we determined, back using that model, but then going backwards. and figuring out what the market was expecting, and that was way over done. They're going to end up falling maybe 20%, probably a little less than that this year, so the market was way oversold, in April, and that's one of the reasons why it bounced back so hard.

The discount rate is effectively zero so that means positive earnings have much greater value than when interest rates are high. In just the same way that low interest rates allow debt loads to increase, they also allow stock prices to increase. That puts a premium on growth because potential for higher earnings in future are more attractive than steady earnings today when interest rates are low.

The prime minister could walk away this year and seek to re-open negotiations at a later date. “Our door will never be closed,” Johnson said. “We will of, course, always be ready to talk to our EU friends even in these circumstances.”

Crucially, though, Johnson is a politician who has shown himself to be flexible and often keeps people guessing until the last moment. He says he wants a deal. His officials insist he does, too, and there are still almost four months to go before the real deadline at the end of the year.

The leak of government plans to dilute parts of the Brexit withdrawal agreement sparked muted warnings from Brussels on Monday and private dismay from EU officials. There cannot be a trade deal if Johnson breaks his promises on the earlier divorce accord, the EU said.

In London, the premier’s team worked to contain the damage and play down any threat to the carefully crafted exit agreement.

After all, Johnson is a politician who loves to be loved. During a summer in which public pressure forced him to reverse plans repeatedly -- on issues including exam grading, wearing face masks, and local lockdowns -- Johnson has shown how much he cares about staying popular.

Opinion polls are studied closely in his Downing Street office. Currently they show only limited backing for leaving without a deal. Only a quarter of voters think that would be, as Johnson says, a “good outcome,” according to YouGov. Half say such a result would be “bad” or “very bad.”

How that sentiment shifts, or not, over the next four months may give the strongest clue to whether Johnson will change his mind.

It is very likely that the ambition of having an agreement in place by October was overly optimistic. As with most things in the EU, the negotiations are likely to come down to the wire in late December. Boris Johnson understands that you have to willing to walk away if you are to have any negotiating leverage. Holding out the prospect that the UK is willing to renege on treaties is part of the wider tapestry of brinksmanship.

Recently Mr. Treacy mentioned that most of the growth and yield opportunities are currently in the Private Equity. I would appreciate Mr Treacy's view on UK tax efficient Venture Capital Trusts. I am considering them as they provide exposure to early stage companies and provide tax efficient investment. Does Mr. Treacy deem this a good vehicle or would he suggest any other investment instruments?

- Thank you for this email which may be of interest to subscribers. There are plenty of growth opportunities in the regular stock market. The success of the recent IPO market is a testament to that phenomenon.

However, there is a clear trend among institutional investors towards stuffing portfolios with “alternatives”. It’s an incredibly broad sector including everything from seed capital for new companies to timberland, real estate and gold.

 A link to this week's Big Picture Long-Term video is posted in the Subscriber's Area. 

A link to the full report is posted in the Subscriber's Area. 

Value propositions have not been popular among investors who have had the pleasure of instant gratification in growth stocks for much of the last decade. A catalyst is required to spur interest and that is being delivered in the form of anxiety about the ramifications of the response to the coronavirus.

We expect some of the “base” decline from existing shale wells to be replaced by new wells; the harder question is by how much. Operating and development costs have declined, well productivity has improved and there are large sunk costs in Appalachia (i.e., lease agreement options) that may compel many producers to keep drilling irrespective of lifecycle economics. Furthermore, if the onshore shale boom fades, we might see a revival of US offshore oil & gas production in the Gulf of Mexico. US oil production is also very sensitive to price: $55-$65 oil prices could add 1-3 mm bpd to US production when compared with JP Morgan’s $40 base case WTI price forecast. Even so, the US may now be close to peak oil and natural gas production and peak energy independence given financial pressures on the shale industry, and environmental pressures discussed next.

A link to the full report is posted in the Subscriber's Area. 

This report is laden with interesting graphics and statistics which highlight the challenges of developing renewable as well conventional and unconventional energy solutions. The correlation between renewable stocks and oil prices broke down late last year. That was a meaningful event and suggested the market has moved on from thinking of renewables solely in terms of cost competition with oil. That implies an alternative set of metrics is now be used to value the sector.

A link to the full report is posted in the Subscriber's Area.

Considering the depth of the pullback on Wall Street yesterday and in the initial weakness today it would have been reasonable to expect a more pronounced impact on industrial resources today. In fact, the sector shrugged off tech sector volatility and a number of the industrial resources closed higher in a dynamic fashion.

‘Pandemics Come in Predictable Cycles. If I’m the Smartest Guy in the Room, We’re in Big Trouble’

 A link to today's video commentary is posted in the Subscriber's Area. 

Some of the topics discussed include: Options euphoria gives way to a pullback, VIX pops on the upside. oil steady, gold eases, commodities ease, possible rotation away from stay at home underway. 

Jan $180 Strike Calls costs $4
Jan $80 Strike Puts costs $1

*Both options are $50 out of the money, approx data, BUT it is nearly 3x more expensive to buy upside risk in AAPL equity. Downside protection normally costs more than upside risk participation, NOT today. What does this mean? One large buyer has made a colossal splash in the market and the scent of greed has drawn thousands of other market participants into the dangerous game. Several clients in our institutional chat on Bloomberg have cited SoftBank as the original size buyer. We have NO IDEA if this is true, just that highly credible clients have made this reference several times over the last week. It’s a high-stakes game of musical chairs, the ultimate greater fool theory moment. The colossal call buyer has thrown meat in the water and drawn in the sharks, but unfortunately thousands of Robinhood minnows at the same time. When the large players’ exit, the little guy and gal will be left holding the bag.

Apple closed near $130, while the cost of speculative upside calls is weighted heavily against the buyer. Someone must have reached out to Buffett today because he can make a fortune in selling $AAPL upside calls.

Options volume has spiked higher over the last few months to hit multi-year highs. Options offer significant leverage to both the upside the downside and are among the primary vehicles for traders to take on outsized positions relative to their capital. The significant rebound in stay-at-home shares has resulted in an impressive momentum move which is not taking at least a breather. 

One trader in New York, who asked not to be named as he isn’t authorized to speak publicly, said the buying earlier this week was dominated by accounts taking off bets against long-maturity debt, as popular so-called steepener trades are pared down. A flurry of Treasury futures action on Thursday offers further evidence that investors are unwinding these wagers or calling it quits.

Positioning for a steeper yield curve, where rates on long-dated debt rise more than those on shorter Treasuries, has been a hot strategy in bond markets in recent months on the expectation the Federal Reserve would take a more relaxed approach on inflation -- something that came to fruition at a virtual Jackson Hole confab on Aug. 27. Yet even as Wall Street strategists reiterated their “steepener” recommendations, 30-year yields have fallen more than 15 basis points to 1.35% Thursday, having risen from 1.22% at the start of April.

The yield curve spreads, whether one looks at the difference between the 10-year and the 2-year or the 10-year and the 3-month both share a key similarity following inversions. They have both surged higher to approach wides of between 250 to 300 basis points during recessions. That has not been possible on this occasion because central banks have not had room to cut interest rates by that much and bond yields are too low to create that wide a spread.

Iron Ore
While the state-linked Global Times earlier this year raised the possibility that Australian iron ore supply could be targeted, it’s likely to be low on the list of possibilities. The country dominates China’s iron ore supply, accounting for more than 60% of its imports, with next-biggest supplier Brazil making up less than 20% so far this year.​
​
In fact, the trade is booming, with China importing a record amount of Australian iron ore in July. Still, investors will keep a close eye on any sign of tensions spilling over as even small moves to restrict the movement of Australia’s most valuable commodity -- worth about A$100 billion this fiscal year -- would send a powerful signal.

LNG
Australia has accounted for just less than half of China’s liquefied natural gas imports this year. The proportion has grown in recent years as new Australian projects came online, including two in Queensland in which Chinese oil majors are partners.

Those partnerships, along with long-term contracts that obligate Chinese buyers to purchase millions of tons of LNG a year from Australia well into the 2030s, make the trade flow a
more complicated candidate for disruption.

China’s demand for commodities is likely to remain robust for the foreseeable future but that will not deter the administration from using resources as a bargaining chip in trade talks. The reality, however, is rising living standards create demand growth for products and services. If China is going to succeed in its aims of creating a modestly wealthy society for its billion plus people that is going to entail continued imports. Obviously, it is more dependent on imports for some commodities than others.

A link to today's video commentary is posted in the Subscriber's Area. 

Some of the topics discussed include: sweet spot for equities with low interest rates and recovering economies. gold eases, platinum weak, lumber limit down, bonds steady, Dollar steady, 

“That does not mean that someone who has hypertension or diabetes who dies of Covid didn’t die of Covid-19. They did,” Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told the program. “So, the numbers you’ve been hearing -- there are 180,000-plus deaths -- are real deaths from Covid-19. Let (there) not be any confusion about that.” 

“It’s not 9,000 deaths from Covid-19, it’s 180-plus-thousand deaths,” Fauci said. 

The CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics told CNBC in a statement that death certificates list all possible causes or conditions that lead to a person’s death, and there may be more than one listed.

There were more than 161,300 death certificates that listed Covid-19 among the possible causes of death as of Aug. 22, according to NCHS. About 6% of the certificates that mention Covid-19 list it as the sole cause on the death certificate. The remaining 94% included other causes alongside Covid-19. 

According to this table from the CDC’s website there have been 164,280 recorded deaths from COVID-19.

150,737 of those have been people over the age of 55.

That means 91.7% of deaths are from people over the age of 55. Of those, 94% had pre-existing conditions. There are 59 million over the age of 55 out of a total population of 281 million. 

The people most at risk are those who are already sick or have chronic conditions and who are over the age of 55. If you are younger than that and generally healthy, you have a lot less to worry about.

“It is pretty obvious that with interest rates near zero and being held stable by central banks, bonds can provide neither returns nor risk reduction,” a team led by Co-Chief Investment Officer Bob Prince wrote in the July report.

Bridgewater’s famous All Weather portfolio has therefore been moving into gold and inflation-linked bonds, diversifying the countries it invests in and finding more stocks with stable cash flow.

The idea is to replicate the long-term positive returns typically generated by bonds while finding alternative ways to hedge a downturn in stocks, especially if higher inflation upends low-yielding nominal debt.

Risky Business
Bridgewater’s conviction that ultra-low yields are a game-changer for risk parity will resonate with many on Wall Street, who have also been fretting over the fate of traditional portfolios that allocate 60% to stocks and 40% to bonds.

According to the firm, about 80% of local-currency government bonds have been trading below 1%, which limits the room for such notes to rise in value during a bout of risk aversion since investors can simply hoard cash instead. That, combined with the potential for losses if yields jump from record lows, means that the world of government debt is potentially losing its function as a safety valve in portfolios.

Risk Parity is based on the correlation between rising stock prices and rising bond yields. The logic is that when investors are worried about stock market returns, they park excess cash in bonds. Over the years multiple strategies have evolved to size positions according to this correlation.

Your ticker UXA1 COMB Comdty has not refreshed for a few days. Could you please look into this? Thanks

Thank you for this question. Here is the response I received from Bloomberg because it was not updating on their system either.

“There is no open interest on the current active contract, UXAU0 Comdty. The exchange only provides a daily settle price if there is open interest. Once there is a trade for the September contract, it will have open interest, and it will receive a daily settlement price.”

Reliable uranium pricing data is difficult to find. The 4th month continuation contract traded two contracts in September so far. I’m not going to change the ticker to address this because it would mess with the back history. The original uranium price ticker from Metals Bulletin, which had history back to 1996, stopped updating in 2017. That’s when I introduced the futures traded price. No other measure is reliable or up to date either because it is an extremely illiquid market.

A link to today's video commentary is posted in the Subscribere's Area. 

Some of the topics discussed include: Dollar rebounds from intraday lows, gold and precious metals miners pause, stay at home stocks leap higher, Europe, UK ease, China firm, Indian rupee and Indian government bonds firm, lumber pauses. 

Demand was strong enough to push rates up, even with cancelled sailings restored and carriers adding temporary and even new permanent services on the lane,” said Freightos CMO Eytan Buchman.

“With reports of rolled shipments and container shortages out of China indicating the extent of the demand rush, carriers will likely introduce another China-US GRI for September, which would be the sixth in just three months,” said Mr Buchman.

In his weekly US import update report, Jon Monroe, president of Jon Monroe Consulting and a representative for Worldwide Logistics, said the big US retailers were “experiencing a major surge in online orders”, and were converting many of their stores to fulfilment centres.

He said, however, that the substantial freight price hikes were taking their toll.

“Importers’ budgets are ballooning and, in some cases, about to explode from having to pay the extremely high cost of transport,” said Mr Monroe. “The record high rates will undoubtedly cause bankruptcies in the worst case, and major budget excesses in the best case, scenarios,” he warned.

There a couple of complimentary trends that have resulted in a significant bump in container shipping rates over the last month. The first is the surge in demand for new furniture as people flee the confined environment of the city for the space of the suburbs. Bigger houses need more tables, chairs, sofas, desks and TVs. These are bulky items so demand for 40ft containers has surged.

Shipping inventory has also declined because of the cost of compliance with IMO2020 regulations. The hit to demand during the lockdowns was likely a significant negative catalyst for what was already a highly pressured sector.

Less than a month after making waves with news of a move into Barrick Gold Corp., Buffett is again rocking the world of commodities. This time, Berkshire Hathaway disclosed stakes in five Japanese trading companies that dominate the nation’s energy and raw materials industries. The quintet are Itochu Corp., Marubeni Corp., Mitsubishi Corp., Mitsui & Co. and Sumitomo Corp.

Berkshire’s stakes amount to a little more than 5%, but Buffett made clear that they could be increased. The trading houses are known as “sogo shosha” and have roots dating back hundreds of years. While they operate in areas like textiles and machinery, they derive much of their revenue from energy, metals and other commodities, supplying resource-poor Japan with essentials.
 

Following the commodity bust many investment banks closed trading desks. There were a number of leading commodity trading houses which went through very lean years and even today Noble Group is struggling to get out of bankruptcy. Many of the big commodity traders like Trafigura, Mercator, Cargill and Koch Industries are privately held. Picking up Japan’s big trading houses is a tangential way of playing in commodities for Berkshire Hathaway. It also speaks to the company’s familiarity with pricing the balance sheets of banks rather than commodity producers.

Rolls-Royce's GBP2 billion disposal announcement is materially more than what the market had in mind, and may imply a lower need for fresh equity to repair its balance sheet, Credit Suisse says. This raises questions as to whether the company was waiting for things to improve before a rights issue or taking the risk of seeing things get worse, the Swiss bank says. The lack of visibility on the balance sheet rebuild, persistent volatility in forecasts and the unattractiveness of the underlying investment case mean the stock remains unappealing for many investors, CS says. The bank has an underperform rating on the stock, and lowers the target price to 200 pence, from 210 pence. Shares are down 9% at 219.40 pence.   

As a major plane engine supplier Rolls Royce has been significantly negatively impacted by the Boeing 737 Max debacle. As if that were not enough the collapse in air traffic and cancellation of orders for new planes has been a double blow. The share is down more than 80% since early 2019 and made a new low today.

 A link to this week's Big Picture Long-Term video is posted in the Subscriber's Area. 

It could be a compelling model. Danish utility Orsted A/S is already exploring a number of hydrogen projects for its wind farms and Royal Dutch Shell Plc plans to produce the gas from a park it’s going to build off the Dutch coast. Making and selling hydrogen could provide a new source of revenue for wind projects that would offset the risk in the sometimes volatile electricity market.

No one before has used wind power alone, without a grid connection, to produce hydrogen, Nauen said. It’s a project that will provide insight that could be crucial to scaling up the technology to much larger turbines and wind farms both on land and at sea.

Earlier this year, Siemens Gamesa announced plans to build a 14-megawatt offshore turbine with a rotor diameter of 222 meters (728 feet), a few meters larger than the previous record.

The company expects to conduct testing at the hydrogen pilot from October to December and then start hydrogen production in January. A Danish hydrogen fuel company called Everfuel will distribute the gas for vehicles including taxis and buses to use in Copenhagen.

European governments aim to spend billions of dollars to help nurture domestic industries to produce hydrogen. The funding could help scale production and bring down costs.

Europe and Japan’s legacy automotive sector has been developing hydrogen fuel cells for decades with little to show for the investment. There was never a catalyst to spur the change from reliable internal combustion engines. The clean diesel scandal and competition from battery-driven alternatives has forced these companies to do something; anything. They don’t have experience with battery innovation but they have been developing hydrogen for a long time.

While the announcement of Abe’s resignation caused the yen to gain as much as 1% in the evening in Tokyo, the BOJ will continue to closely watch market developments, according to the people. The bank maintains its pledge that it will act without hesitation if necessary, the people said.

With the economy still healing from the biggest contraction in the post war era in the second quarter, an excessively strong yen will put pressure on the central bank to act if sustained. Abe came to power in 2012 pledging aggressive monetary easing and handpicked Kuroda to deliver it. Kuroda soon launched the “shock and awe” monetary bazooka, which increased asset purchases, leading the BOJ’s balance sheet to swell significantly larger than its global peers.

BOJ watchers will be closely monitoring who will replace Abe, because Kuroda is seen to have coordinated well with the government under the premier. The latest symbolic move was a joint statement between Kuroda and the government as the pandemic battered the economy.

Abe was driving force behind the global transition to simultaneous monetary and fiscal stimulus. His policies have been adopted at least in part by a host of countries as interest rates have trended towards zero.

Traders across major asset classes are sending the same message: Prepare for what could be the most-contentious U.S. presidential elections in decades.

One measure of hedging in the stock market is higher than at any point in the past three presidential elections. In the interest-rates market, implied volatility is well above levels reached in 2016 or 2012. And three-month implied volatility in the dollar-yen pair -- a classic haven trade -- has risen above the two-month tenor by the most in two decades, signaling demand for protection from turbulence near Election Day.

Trades protecting against election-induced volatility have been around all year, with “unprecedented” levels of hedging seen as early as January. Yet the potential for drama has only grown since then as the coronavirus leaves the U.S. mired in a recession and President Donald Trump rages against mail-in voting, raising concerns about a prolonged dispute over vote tallies. That uncertainty is complicating more conventional topics, such as how the results will affect tax policy and the trade war with China.

“You have a global pandemic as your backdrop, which speaks for itself, and then you have a president that’s in a term, volatile, and you have the things going on with the Postal Service,” said Zachary Griffiths, a rates strategist at Wells Fargo. “All these factors that don’t typically play into an election are impacting things now and that’s clearly got people concerned. And vol has bid up tremendously in rates and equities.”

Veteran election watchers will remember the hanging chads of 2000 which were key to deciding the outcome of the Florida count and the US election. George W. Bush’s victory came down to 500 votes and it was possibly helpful that his brother was the state’s governor.

It is looking likely that a large number of people are preparing to vote by mail in 2020. The US Postal Service is in no way prepared to handle that volume of mail. Right now, they are short staffed. Whether that is through absenteeism or not, there are already long lines at post offices.

“The lack of rain in August - plus extended heat - clipped the top end of soybean production for many areas,” Bob Linneman, broker at Kluis Commodity Advisors said in a research note. “There are many operations that watched a potentially record crop turn to a hopeful average crop.”

The agriculture sector has been plagued by uncertainty over the last few years. Record crops, trade wars, currency devaluations and weather events have conspired to create a great deal of uncertainty. None of that has succeeded in lifting prices for more than a few weeks at a time. I wonder if this time is different.

 A link to today's video commentary is posted in the Subscriber's Area. 

Some of the topics discused include: Fed is going to run the economy hot. Bonds suffer, gold eases, stocks form, Dollar volatile. 

The new strategy is being undertaken to tackle years of too-low inflation. It hands the central bank flexibility to let the job market run hotter and price pressures float higher before taking action as it may previously have done.

“They really, really, really are not going to be raising interest rates any time soon,” said James Knightley, chief international economist at ING Financial Markets. “The Fed is saying rates will be lower for longer, but don’t worry inflation is not going to be picking up.”

While it doesn’t target a specific rate of unemployment broadly or for certain demographic groups, the approach may help address other weaknesses in the economy.

During the longest U.S. economic expansion on record until the pandemic hit earlier this year, many groups benefited -- including minorities and women. With millions out of work and unrest flaring up across the U.S. over racial inequality, questions about how the Fed’s policy helps diverse communities have been raised.

The Fed is happy to run the economy hot. That begs the question what happens next? Will they attempt to support the Treasury market in what is already de facto yield curve control? As the economy responds to the trillions in new liquidity, how will the Fed react to the rise in the velocity of money? If they are willing to run the economy hot a somewhat steeper yield curve is desirable but stoking inflation can have many unintended consequences.

Shipowners are also lacking the finances to make purchases, according to Ralph Leszczynski, head of research at shipbroker Banchero Costa & Co.

“Most shipping markets are coming from a relatively poor decade, 2009 to 2019, in terms of earnings so most shipowners do not have that much cash in their pockets,” he said. “External finance is also in short supply as banks are now largely steering clear off shipping after the defaults they suffered after 2008.”

Still, fewer orders and slower fleet growth will likely bolster shipping rates. Lines are likely to continue to keep capacity in check into 2021 to minimize the impact from slowing global trade, said IHS Markit’s Kapoor.

That’s already translating to increasing costs for transporting goods by ocean liner, with one benchmark of trans-Pacific container rates more than doubling since late-May to a record. Bulk-carrier costs have also rebounded from a four-year low. Maersk, which idled about 20% of its capacity in April before gradually reinstating it in subsequent months, saw earnings beat estimates in part due to improved freight rates.

When new regulation imposes new costs that are greater than the value of the original asset it raises important questions about the sustainability of businesses. Installing new engines in new ships is an ideal solution but its expensive. Meanwhile the lesser of two evils are scrubbers to the emissions but these often exceed the value of older ships. This is a recipe for a loss of supply from the global shipping fleet.

The EC’s paradigm shift

By becoming the borrower through its issuance of €750 billion of debt, the EC sets a new precedent while becoming a major new force in the sovereign debt markets. It is also expected to demonstrate maximum flexibility in managing its debt to achieve the most favorable terms for the member states. The bonds are expected to be repaid through the EU budget through the end of 2058. New tax revenues have been proposed, such as a plastic levy, a digital tax, and a review of the EU Emissions Trading System.  

The recovery plan marks a significant moment in which EU Leaders recognized the need to create a new structure for raising funds under the auspices of the EC and funded by the EU budget. This structure has a strong likelihood of becoming a permanent funding mechanism at the EU level for emergency programs and other funding needs for the fiscally weak member states. They have also acted swiftly to stem the risks to the eurozone’s stability from alarmingly high fiscal deficits, and to front-load the raising of funds in order to plug the enormous fiscal gaps into the future. They have recognized the need to move away from the failed austerity approach of the past and to adopt a pro-growth policy through grants and loans on attractive terms with light conditionality – a major departure from the past.

‘Hamilton light’ plan is an auspicious beginning

The recovery plan could well become a permanent feature for the EU, serving to underpin the debt issued by the periphery member states. This has enormous significance for the EU banking industry, which has become reliant on the ECB’s QE programs for its stability and capital adequacy. If the fear of default is truly removed for any eurozone sovereign debt, without assuming intervention by the ECB, there could be broader implications for financial system integration within Europe, with cross-border mergers and acquisitions within the EU finally taking place. This is sorely needed to drive greater scale in a banking system that has poor profitability compared to that of the US.

The recovery fund may not be quite as far-reaching as Alexander Hamilton’s re-ordering of the financial system in the newly born United States. However, the progress made by EU leaders this summer points to a measured yet pivotal step toward very similar ends. 

Europe has just created Federal bonds which will be repaid from the bloc’s budget. New taxes are being proposed to increase the size of the budget and there are aspirations for the system to become permanent.

A link to today's video commentary may be of interest to Subscriber's Area. 

Some of the topics discussed include: technology shares surge on earnings, gold, silver and precious metal miners steady, China eases, Renminbi, Pound and Renminbi firm, bond yield rise. 

In his speech, Barnier also hinted that negotiations over the EU and U.K.’s future relationship may stretch beyond a meeting of the bloc’s leaders scheduled for mid-October as the two sides struggle to reach an agreement.

“If we want to ensure the ratification of this new treaty at the end of the year, we need an agreement around Oct. 31,” Barnier said. “The clock is ticking.”

Brexit appears to have lost its ability to move markets. Perhaps investors have made their peace with the idea that the UK will leave the EU without a trade deal. It’s more likely that investors have concluded the border with the EU will be down the middle of the Irish Sea rather on the island of Ireland. In other words that a deal is inevitable.