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Futures Slide Dragged Lower By Amazon And Apple

Futures Slide Dragged Lower By Amazon And Apple

US equity futures fell along with European and Asian stocks on Friday after tech giants Amazon and Apple and Starbucks sank in premarket trading after their earnings missed expectations, signali

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Futures Slide Dragged Lower By Amazon And Apple

US equity futures fell along with European and Asian stocks on Friday after tech giants Amazon and Apple and Starbucks sank in premarket trading after their earnings missed expectations, signaling a possible drop of around $180 billion in combined market value when the U.S. reopens, while dizzying bond-market gyrations sparked by surprise central bank announcements amid concerns over inflation and monetary tightening left investors scrambling to guess what happens next. A failure by Biden and the Democrats to pass their massive Build Back Better stimulus package added to the bearish sentiment. At 7:15 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 45 points, or 0.12%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 22 points, or 0.5%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 138 points, or 0.88%. 10Y yields rose 3bps to 1.61%; the dollar rose while bitcoin was flat at $61,000.

“Disappointment on Apple and Amazon results will likely weigh on the market sentiment,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote. “And there is little to improve the mood, as Joe Biden is still struggling to pass his mega spending bill, the Covid delta-plus cases are surging and the U.S. growth fell short of expectations in the latest read.” There was some relief out of China, where some Evergrande Group bondholders were said to receive an overdue interest payment shortly before the expiry of a grace period, buying more time for the debt-stricken property developer as it tries to raise cash through asset sales.

Separately, Joe Biden was dealt a setback on Thursday as the House of Representatives abandoned plans for a vote on an infrastructure bill with progressives seeking more time to consider his call for a separate $1.75 trillion plan for social initiatives.

Here are some of the biggest U.S. movers today:

  • Apple slides 3.6% in U.S. premarket trading after the iPhone maker reported disappointing fourth-quarter results and warned about the impact of chip shortages, rekindling worries about the key holiday quarter
  • Amazon slumps 5% in premarket trading after its forecast for holiday sales fell short of analysts’ estimates, signaling the pandemic’s boost to online shopping continues to fade
  • Meta Materials up 2.9% in premarket trading after soaring as much as 32% Thursday postmarket as investors mistook it for Facebook Inc. following the Internet giant’s rebrand
  • Western Digital shares drop 10% in premarket trading after its earnings forecast missed estimates
  • U.S. Steel surges 8% in premarket trading as investors cheer a stock buyback and a hike in dividends
  • Starbucks shares decline as much as 4.9% in U.S. premarket trading as the $20b in new payouts to shareholders failed to offset quarterly results that fell short of expectations
  • B. Riley Financial gained in Thursday late trading after announcing a $4 dividend, composed of a $3 special one-time payout and a doubling of its regular quarterly dividend to $1
  • DaVita Inc.fell 6.7% in after-hours trading after cutting the top end of its forecast for 2021 adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations
  • Plantronics tumbled 12% postmarket after the headset maker reported second- quarter revenue that missed its own guidance, as well as analyst estimates
  • A10 Networks shares rose 7.5% in extended trading on Thursday after the computer networking products company said it is confident in accelerating growth beyond the previous targets of 6-8%
  • Tailwind Two shares rose 4.9% Thursday postmarket after Terran Orbital Corp., a builder of small satellites, said it is merging with the SPAC and plans to go public in the first quarter of 2022

Focus now turns to the latest readings on U.S. consumer spending and the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, the core PCE price index, due at 8:30 a.m. ET, for clues on the health of the economy ahead of the central bank’s policy meeting next week.

“(The data) will carry rather more weight with markets. High prints may see the Fed taper trade priced into the end of the week, with stocks lower, especially above the one-two punch from Apple and Amazon,” said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst, Asia Pacific, OANDA. “Some actual concrete progress on the U.S. spending bills instead of empty rhetoric could give a pleasant boost to markets in the end of the week as well.”

In Europe, the Stoxx 600 index extends losses to hit session low, with most sectors declining, as data showing accelerating euro-area inflation stoked concern of faster rate hikes. The Index was -0.8% as of 11:28 am in London, trims best monthly gain since March
Real estate, technology sectors are worst performers, while insurance and energy outperform. BBVA jumped 6.1% in Madrid after it announced the start of a planned stock buyback and reported earnings that beat estimates.

Asian equities headed for their third day of declines as disappointing results weighed on big technology stocks, and financials fell as bond-yield curves continued to flatten. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index slid as much as 0.6%, with TSMC, Tencent, AIA and Ping An among the biggest drags. The regional benchmark was set for a weekly loss of 1.1%, its worst in four weeks. The U.S. Treasury yield curve inverted between 20 and 30 years on Thursday, a sign that investors expect central-bank policy tightening to lead to slower economic growth and inflation. Meanwhile, Apple and Amazon.com slid in late trading after reporting weak sales, hurt by the global supply-chain crisis.  “U.S. stock futures and South Korean stocks fell following the drop in Apple,” said Hiroshi Namioka, chief strategist at T&D Asset Management Co. “Investor sentiment deteriorated on concerns about the impact of supply constraints on stocks beyond firms related to Apple.” Benchmarks in Hong Kong, the Philippines, India and Australia were also among the worst performers. The biggest gains were in Indonesia, China and New Zealand

In rates, the 10-year US Treasury yield climbed to 1.61% before easing 1 basis point. The curve between 20- and 30-years has inverted for the first time since the U.S. government reintroduced a two-decade maturity in 2020 as inflation pressures and the prospect of interest-rate hikes are whipsawing bond markets.

Treasury futures remain near lows of the day into early U.S. session, after trading heavy during Asia session, when Australian bond yields surged as the central bank’s decision not to defend its yield target on Friday fueled bets that policy makers may soon scrap the program.

In Treasury futures, multiple block trades shortly after 6am ET were consistent with a curve-steepening wager. Yields were cheaper by 2bp-3bp across the curve, keeping spreads broadly within 1bp of Thursday’s close; 10-year yields around 1.605% are around 1bp richer vs bunds and gilts. Aussie 10-year yields closed 21.8bp cheaper vs U.S. amid speculation that policy makers may soon scrap the yield-curve control program. In the US, 2s10s and 5s30s curves remain flatter on week after reaching most compressed levels in months on Thursday; month-end flows may support long-end Friday, with Bloomberg Treasury index set to extend by an estimated 0.08yr in 4pm rebalancing

European bonds extended Thursday’s retreat as data on Eurozone economic growth and inflation topped analysts’ estimates, reinforcing conviction that interest-rate increases are on the horizon after European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde offered only mild pushback against traders’ bets on a hike as soon as October next year. The euro slipped after jumping 0.7% on Thursday, but remains on track for a third week of gains.

“In the very near term, because many global central banks are just dipping their feet into taper, not even into quantitative tightening, the aggregate liquidity could remain very supportive,” Vishnu Varathan, head of economics and strategy at Mizuho Bank Ltd. in Singapore, said on Bloomberg Television. “Although I think you get very much more discriminatory moves and much more selective moves in the equity markets.”

In FX, the U.S. dollar ticked up from a one-month low and crude oil fluctuated and the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index advanced as much as 0.2% as the greenback rose versus all its Group-of-10 peers apart from the Swiss franc; the Kiwi and Scandinavian currencies were the worst performers. The euro pared about half of Thursday’s advance against the dollar and European bond yields rose. Italian bonds led peripheral underperformance vs. euro-area peers and ECB policy-tightening bets gained momentum as markets continued to digest Lagarde’s lack of reassurance in her comments on Thursday. The pound inched lower in the European session. Gilts’ aggressive flattening moves in previous sessions paused as yield increases were most pronounced in the long end. Australian bond yields surged as the central bank’s decision not to defend its yield target on Friday fueled bets that policy makers may soon scrap the program. The currency hovered under its 200-day moving average.

In commodities, Brent and WTI both rose about 0.3%. Spot gold flat on the day, trades just below $1,800/oz. Base metals fall on the LME, with zinc, nickel and aluminum declining the most. Ethereum finally hit a new all-time-high, rising briefly above $4400. Chinese coal futures extended a dramatic decline as China’s government said there’s further room for prices to fall, ratcheting up interventions in the market aimed at easing an energy crisis.

Looking at today's data we get preliminary September industrial production, preliminary Q3 GDP from Euro Area, Germany, France and Italy, preliminary October CPI from Euro Area, France and Italy, UK September mortgage approvals, Canada August GDP, US September personal spending, personal income, October MNI Chicago PMI and final October University of Michigan consumer sentiment index are due. In corporate earnings, ExxonMobil, Chevron, AbbVie, Charter Communications, Daimler, BNP Paribas, Aon and NatWest Group are among companies reporting.

Market Snapshot

  • S&P 500 futures down 0.4% to 4,567.00
  • STOXX Europe 600 down 0.5% to 472.83
  • German 10Y yield up 3.3 bps to -0.103%
  • Euro down 0.2% to $1.1663
  • Brent Futures up 0.2% to $84.49/bbl
  • Gold spot down 0.3% to $1,793.54
  • U.S. Dollar Index up 0.14% to 93.48
  • MXAP down 0.5% to 197.77
  • MXAPJ down 0.7% to 649.27
  • Nikkei up 0.3% to 28,892.69
  • Topix little changed at 2,001.18
  • Hang Seng Index down 0.7% to 25,377.24
  • Shanghai Composite up 0.8% to 3,547.34
  • Sensex down 0.9% to 59,417.39
  • Australia S&P/ASX 200 down 1.4% to 7,323.74
  • Kospi down 1.3% to 2,970.68

Top Overnight News from Bloomberg

  • The returns on carry trades are roaring back in the currency markets of the world’s major developed countries, thanks to surging commodity prices, low volatility and the growing ranks of central banks that are tightening monetary policy
  • U.K. households are under increasing financial stress just as the Bank of England contemplates weaning the nation off near-zero interest rates, according to debt-collection firm Lowell
  • China’s junk dollar bonds had their steepest two-month decline in a decade as stress builds in the battered real estate sector and defaults mount to a record
  • France and Italy drove economic growth in the 19-nation euro area in the third quarter following the suspension of most Covid-19 curbs. A surge in consumer spending propelled French output to 3% in the three months through September, exceeding all but one estimate in a Bloomberg survey. Italy reported an expansion of 2.6% that was bolstered by industry and services
  • As the prospect of interest-rate hikes whipsaws bond markets, bears can be forgiven for betting the recent 10-year Treasury selloff will resume in earnest given the inflationary pressures building everywhere. But with a key section of the U.S. yield curve inverting on growth fears, the likes of AXA Investment Managers to HSBC Holdings Plc can find a receptive audience to make a case that the 40-year bull market is alive and well

A more detailed look at global markets courtesy of Newsquawk

Asia-Pac equities initially traded lower but later painted a mixed picture as the tailwinds from Wall Street dissipated. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed at record highs, whilst the DJIA and R2K posted solid gains. Aftermarket earnings saw reports from Apple (-3.5% AM) and Amazon (-4.7% AM), who both fell over 5% at one point, in turn hitting the NQ, with both firms citing supply chain issues. US equity futures overnight resumed trade modestly firmer but then drifted lower as APAC sentiment seeped into the Western futures. The ASX 200 (-1.5%) was dragged lower by its Telecoms and Financials sectors, whilst the KOSPI (-1.3%) conformed to the risk tone. The Nikkei 225 (+0.3%) was initially hampered with some of the export-heavy sectors towards the bottom of the bunch, although later recovered as the JPY eased, and with Japan also looking ahead to the lower house election on Sunday. The Shanghai Comp (+0.8%) saw its opening losses cushioned after another daily net CNY 100bln injection by the PBoC, for a net weekly injection of CNY 680bln – the largest in 21 months. Hang Seng (-0.7%) failed to recover amid post-earnings losses from BYD, Ping An Insurance, and Petrochina, whilst Alibaba and Tencent are also in the red. Finally, the RBA once again refrained from defending the April 2024 yield, with the bond extending its rise to 0.77% vs the RBA's 0.10% target range.

Top Asian News

  • Taiwan Growth Slows in Third Quarter Despite Record Exports
  • Asia Stocks Set for Third Day of Losses as Tech, Financials Fall
  • Taiwan 3Q GDP Expands 3.80% Y/Y; Survey Est. 4.3%
  • Malaysia Unveils Biggest Budget to Spur Post-Lockdown Recovery

European bourses commenced the session on the back foot, Euro Stoxx 50 -0.9%, though performance throughout the morning has been choppy with indices having been unchanged and lower by as much as 1.0% on the session thus far. The morning’s busy docket hasn’t changed the dial too much, with the action perhaps more a factor of participant’s digesting the US/APAC leads and earnings updates. APAC was subdued with pressure Stateside most pronounced in the NQ (-0.8%) after earnings from Apple (AMZN) and Amazon (AAPL), which both fell around 5.0% in after hours trading, with attention being placed on supply chain issues impacting performance. In Europe, all sectors started in the red, though banking names have picked up given the ongoing drive higher in yields offsetting poorly received updates from the likes of NatWest (-4.5%); attention is on the company’s money laundering provisions of some GBP 300mln. Elsewhere, real estate names are hampered amid reports that UK banks/building societies are to begin increasing mortgage rate given inflation. Auto’s are towards the top of the pile driven by updates from Daimler (+1.7%) and the CFO remarking that market demand is high, could expect an increase in 2022 passenger car sales. Finally, the energy sector is in-focus amid OPEC+ JTC sourced reports (see commodities) and as we have a number of key names due to report stateside, including Exxon (XOM) following Chevron beating on top and bottom lines, +2.1% pre-market.

Top European News

  • NatWest Shares Fall as Margin Pressures Overshadow Profit Surge
  • Agnellis Agree to Sell PartnerRe to Covea for $9 Billion
  • Euro-Area Economy Bolstered by France, Italy Growth: GDP Update
  • Telenet Falls as HSBC Cuts to Hold on ‘Drastic’ Strategy

In FX, the Dollar has regained some poise following yesterday’s sell-off, largely on the back of a post-ECB rebound in the Euro that knocked the index down to a new w-t-d base and gave other Greenback rivals a lift indirectly. However, the index remains toppy towards the bottom of 94.024-93.277 extremes within a narrow 93.592-320 range, wary about residual or final rebalancing flows that a German bank model suggests is more prominent vs the Pound and Yen. From a tech perspective, the 50 DMA could be pivotal and comes in at 93.415 today after the DXY tested, but respected the 100 DMA circa 94.000 on several occasions, while fundamental drivers may come via a raft of data and survey releases, including PCE price metrics and the Chicago PMI. Aside from all this, yields remain elevated and curves are re-steepening irrespective of a downturn in broad risk sentiment, or perhaps in response to the ongoing bond rout, with safe-haven benefits for the Buck.

  • NZD/AUD - Yet another change in fortunes for the Kiwi and Aussie, as the Antipodean cross rebounds amidst several positive factors for the latter, like much stronger than forecast final retail sales and a pick-up in ppi, while ramp higher in 3 year cash continues unchecked. Hence, Aud/Nzd is eyeing 1.0500 again and Aud/Usd is consolidating near 0.7550, but Nzd/Usd has slipped back below 0.7200.
  • EUR - Some consolidation and a partial loss of the aforementioned ECB-inspired recovery momentum has pushed the Euro back down, with Eur/Usd now testing support and underlying bids around 1.1650 even though flash Eurozone inflation came in well above expectations and most preliminary Q3 GDP prints beat consensus (Germany the exception). Nevertheless, the headline pair looks less inclined to be drawn to the latest option expiries close to 1.1600 (1.5 bn in a band ending at 1.1590) and adjacent to similar size between the half round number and 1.1660 (1.4 bn to be precise).
  • CHF/CAD/GBP/JPY - The Franc is marginally outpacing the Buck and extending its outperformance against the Euro to the brink of 0.9100 and not much further away from 1.0600 respectively in wake of an upbeat Swiss KOF leading indicator, but the SNB could be on edge amidst a sharp ratchet up in implied interest rates via the 3 month strip. Elsewhere, the Loonie is idling either side of 1.2350 vs its US peer in line with crude prices ahead of Canadian monthly GDP and ppi that might provide tangible justification for the BoC’s hawkish shift on QE and rate guidance, Sterling continues encounter resistance circa 1.3800 and 0.8450 against the Euro awaiting developments on the UK-French fishing row front rather than reacting to stronger than forecast BoE mortgage lending and approvals. Similarly, the Yen has taken a raft of Japanese data in stride as it straddles 113.50 in lock-step with its US counterpart and UST/JGB yield differentials

In commodities, WTI and Brent are essentially unchanged on the session, and reside towards the mid-point of the week’s range thus far. Newsflow has been limited and we look to energy giant earnings later for further impetus; though, the benchmarks did come under modest pressure on JTC source reports ahead of next week’s OPEC+ gathering. Namely, sources said that the JTC had trimmed its 2021 oil demand forecast to 5.7mln BPD (prev. 5.8mln BPD), though explained that the downward revision was ‘nothing to worry about’ and was due to updated data and rounding effects. Elsewhere, spot gold and silver have been contained within narrow ranges in the European morning with spot gold not experiencing a meaningful move away from the USD 1800/oz handle. Base metals are a touch softer from the contained performance seen in APAC hours where attention was more on thermal coal, following China’s State Planner said there is room for continued adjustments of coal prices; initial investigation results show coal production costs are significantly below current coal spot prices. In wake of this, thermal coal futures once again hit 10% limit down.

US Event Calendar

  • 8:30am: Sept. Personal Income, est. -0.3%, prior 0.2%; Personal Spending, est. 0.6%, prior 0.8%
    • 8:30am: Sept. PCE Deflator YoY, est. 4.4%, prior 4.3%; PCE Deflator MoM, est. 0.3%, prior 0.4%
    • 8:30am: Sept. PCE Core Deflator YoY, est. 3.7%, prior 3.6%; Core Deflator MoM, est. 0.2%, prior 0.3%
  • 9:45am: Oct. MNI Chicago PMI, est. 63.5, prior 64.7
  • 10am: Oct. U. of Mich. Sentiment, est. 71.4, prior 71.4; Current Conditions, est. 77.9, prior 77.9; Expectations, est. 67.2, prior 67.2
    • 10am: Oct. U. of Mich. 5-10 Yr Inflation, prior 2.8%
    • 10am: Oct. U. of Mich. 1 Yr Inflation, est. 4.8%, prior 4.8%

DB's Jim Reid concludes the overnight wrap

The last 36-48 hours has seen a silent rate tantrum that has caused some remarkable volatility at the front end. Silent as equities don’t care for now as US bourses again hit fresh record highs again last night before weak results from Amazon after the bell slightly dented the mood.

Although there wasn’t much new in the ECB meeting, the event seemed to calm markets down (even if purely coincidental timing wise) after a pretty stressful Asian and London morning session. To give you a flavour of this 2yr Canadian yields opened (lunchtime London) another +12 bps higher (around +38bps in less than 24 hours) before rallying 25bps over the next 3 hours and then steadying to close -6.5bps on the session, ‘only’ +13.5bps above where they were before Wednesday’s shock BoC news. As another gauge, US 2s10s which on Wednesday morning was at +120bps, rallied another 6bps in Asia and London morning to a low of under +98bps. We closed back at +108.7bps though after a big re-steepening. As we highlighted in yesterday’s CoTD (link here) there was seemingly a big positioning shock that the Canadian and then Aussie news from 24 hours ago encouraged. The latest from the Australian market is that after a +29.7bps move yesterday, 2yr yields have climbed by another +27bps this morning and now sit at 0.8% having been at 0.15% on Wednesday. Remarkable moves and this could set the stage for another frantic London session.

The yield on 10yr (+26bps) also jumped as the RBA once again didn’t defend its yield target this morning, contrary to market expectations, leading to speculation that it may be abandoned altogether as early as at the meeting next Tuesday. So this is setting the stage for a seismic event for global markets as there is a huge gap between the 0.1% target and 0.8% where the April 24 note is now trading.

Overall government bonds have been all over the place over the last couple of days and the resteepening in the US meant that 10yr yields rose +3.9bps yesterday after rallying early in the session. We’re up another +2.3bps this morning. 20yrs inverted versus 30yrs yesterday for the first time since the issue was re-introduced last year, and this curve finished the session at -2.4bps. On the inflation compensation front, 10yr breakevens narrowed for the second day on the bounce, declining -8.4bps to 2.59% which means that real yields actually rose +12.0bps - their biggest climb since immediately after the June FOMC.

European yields rose as 10yr bunds (+4.3bps), OATs (+4.6bps) and BTPs (+10.7bps) and Gilts (+2.3bps) all marched higher, while 2yr yields were +2.5bps, +0.8bps, +9.4bps, and +8.9bps higher respectively. So a mixed bag of curve moves after the BoC/Australia/ECB developments. As in the US, 10yr breakevens narrowed across Europe as well; German, French, Italian, and UK breakevens declined -6.8bps, -4.9bps, -6.0bps, and -1.9bps, respectively.

The ECB meeting was the main macro event of the day. Our Europe team offers a more thorough breakdown here, but the three main takeaways are: 1) the ECB recognised that inflation is going to be higher for longer, dropping that it is ‘largely temporary’ from its statement; 2) President Lagarde offered some (but not total) pushback on market pricing, remarking liftoff in 2022 or anytime soon thereafter was inconsistent with the ECB’s forecast and forward guidance; and 3) President Lagarde gave the firmest guidance yet that PEPP would finish in March. Her press conference came hours after Spain reported a +2.0% jump in October inflation versus +1.2% expected, while the German CPI (+0.5%), released just shortly before the press conference, also beat forecasts (+0.5% vs +0.4%).

US data was mixed, with a miss in advance Q3 GDP, which came at +2.0% versus +2.6% expected as well as surprising a slowdown in pending home sales (-2.3% vs +0.5% expected), boosted the narrative of slower growth. Meanwhile initial jobless claims (281k versus 288k expected) saw a fresh post pandemic low and personal consumption decelerated slower than expected (+0.9%), coming in at +1.6%.

In terms of equities, another string of positive earnings surprises lifted stocks, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 reaching their record highs by the close. Every sector in the two indices, plus the DJIA finished in the green, with the Nasdaq up +1.39%, the S&P 500 +0.98% higher and the DJIA closing up +0.68%. Strong results from Ford and Caterpillar also added to the bullish outlook. Ford reported that demand was strong and that the semiconductor shortages were easing, prompting them to revise higher profit estimates for the year. Caterpillar also noted end-user demand was strong, and expects it to be strong through next year, but supply chain difficulties will limit their ability to fill orders. After the close, earnings from Amazon and Apple weighed on sentiment. Amazon missed on revenue and earnings, and noted the near-term outlook wasn’t great, due to labour shortages and supply chain woes. Apple was also hit by supply chain issues, which caused them to miss revenue estimates. S&P futures are trading lower by -0.3% ahead of the open this morning. In total, of the 52 S&P companies that reported yesterday, 44 beat on earnings while 34 beat revenue estimates.

The dynamic was less optimistic on the other side of the Atlantic, where the STOXX 600 (+0.24%) rose moderately, as it was pulled down by a steep drop in energy (-1.85%) after Royal Dutch Shell missed on earnings as well as faced calls to break up its business from an activist hedge fund. Country-wise, we saw the CAC 40 (+0.75%) and the IBEX 35 (+0.60%) outperforming the DAX (-0.06%) and the FTSE 100 (-0.05%).

In Asia, equities are mixed after the late earnings misses in the US and disappointing regional economic data. The Nikkei 225 (+0.29%) and the Shanghai composite (+0.16%) are higher, while the KOSPI (-0.62%) and the Hang Seng (-0.47%) is down. In data releases, industrial production in Japan (-5.4% vs -2.7% expected) and South Korea (-1.8% vs +2.0% expected) declined, heavily missing consensus. Tokyo CPI (+0.1%) was also below projections (+0.4%). Meanwhile, China’s National Development and Reform Commission communicated that coal prices can continue to decrease further, extending the decline in coal futures (-8.68%), as the country faces an acute energy crisis.

Elsewhere the dollar is trading higher this morning (+0.05%), while gold (-0.15%) retreated from its gains during yesterday’s European session. In energy markets, oil futures are mixed, as WTI (-0.08%) is marginally lower and Brent (+0.23%) is advancing. Natural gas prices, however, continued to decline yesterday, falling in the US (-1.71%) and Europe (-11.75%).

President Biden addressed the nation to sell the public (and, ostensibly, his own party) on a $1.75 trillion social and climate spending framework after prolonged negotiations. Along with the big outlays, the proposal includes revenue raising measures via higher tax surcharges on those making more than $10 million, a 15% minimum corporate tax rate, a 1% excise tax on stock buybacks, and funding to improve IRS enforcement of the current tax code. If Congressional Democrats can agree on the new social bill, it should also enable a vote on the separate $550 billion bi-partisan infrastructure plan. Nothing was tabled for a vote yesterday as progressive Democrats were waiting to see the detailed proposal of the social spending bill before giving the bi-partisan infrastructure bill their imprimatur. Nevertheless, it appears that out of the flurry of headlines, yesterday saw some progress in DC negotiations.

In today’s data releases, Japan September jobless rate, preliminary September industrial production, preliminary Q3 GDP from Euro Area, Germany, France and Italy, preliminary October CPI from Euro Area, France and Italy, UK September mortgage approvals, Canada August GDP, US September personal spending, personal income, October MNI Chicago PMI and final October University of Michigan consumer sentiment index are due. In corporate earnings, ExxonMobil, Chevron, AbbVie, Charter Communications, Daimler, BNP Paribas, Aon and NatWest Group are among companies reporting.

Tyler Durden Fri, 10/29/2021 - 07:47

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Fauci Deputy Warned Him Against Vaccine Mandates: Email

Fauci Deputy Warned Him Against Vaccine Mandates: Email

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Mandating COVID-19…

Published

on

Fauci Deputy Warned Him Against Vaccine Mandates: Email

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Mandating COVID-19 vaccination was a mistake due to ethical and other concerns, a top government doctor warned Dr. Anthony Fauci after Dr. Fauci promoted mass vaccination.

Coercing or forcing people to take a vaccine can have negative consequences from a biological, sociological, psychological, economical, and ethical standpoint and is not worth the cost even if the vaccine is 100% safe,” Dr. Matthew Memoli, director of the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases clinical studies unit at the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), told Dr. Fauci in an email.

“A more prudent approach that considers these issues would be to focus our efforts on those at high risk of severe disease and death, such as the elderly and obese, and do not push vaccination on the young and healthy any further.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci, ex-director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID. in Washington on Jan. 8, 2024. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

Employing that strategy would help prevent loss of public trust and political capital, Dr. Memoli said.

The email was sent on July 30, 2021, after Dr. Fauci, director of the NIAID, claimed that communities would be safer if more people received one of the COVID-19 vaccines and that mass vaccination would lead to the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’re on a really good track now to really crush this outbreak, and the more people we get vaccinated, the more assuredness that we’re going to have that we’re going to be able to do that,” Dr. Fauci said on CNN the month prior.

Dr. Memoli, who has studied influenza vaccination for years, disagreed, telling Dr. Fauci that research in the field has indicated yearly shots sometimes drive the evolution of influenza.

Vaccinating people who have not been infected with COVID-19, he said, could potentially impact the evolution of the virus that causes COVID-19 in unexpected ways.

“At best what we are doing with mandated mass vaccination does nothing and the variants emerge evading immunity anyway as they would have without the vaccine,” Dr. Memoli wrote. “At worst it drives evolution of the virus in a way that is different from nature and possibly detrimental, prolonging the pandemic or causing more morbidity and mortality than it should.”

The vaccination strategy was flawed because it relied on a single antigen, introducing immunity that only lasted for a certain period of time, Dr. Memoli said. When the immunity weakened, the virus was given an opportunity to evolve.

Some other experts, including virologist Geert Vanden Bossche, have offered similar views. Others in the scientific community, such as U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scientists, say vaccination prevents virus evolution, though the agency has acknowledged it doesn’t have records supporting its position.

Other Messages

Dr. Memoli sent the email to Dr. Fauci and two other top NIAID officials, Drs. Hugh Auchincloss and Clifford Lane. The message was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, though the publication did not publish the message. The Epoch Times obtained the email and 199 other pages of Dr. Memoli’s emails through a Freedom of Information Act request. There were no indications that Dr. Fauci ever responded to Dr. Memoli.

Later in 2021, the NIAID’s parent agency, the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), and all other federal government agencies began requiring COVID-19 vaccination, under direction from President Joe Biden.

In other messages, Dr. Memoli said the mandates were unethical and that he was hopeful legal cases brought against the mandates would ultimately let people “make their own healthcare decisions.”

“I am certainly doing everything in my power to influence that,” he wrote on Nov. 2, 2021, to an unknown recipient. Dr. Memoli also disclosed that both he and his wife had applied for exemptions from the mandates imposed by the NIH and his wife’s employer. While her request had been granted, his had not as of yet, Dr. Memoli said. It’s not clear if it ever was.

According to Dr. Memoli, officials had not gone over the bioethics of the mandates. He wrote to the NIH’s Department of Bioethics, pointing out that the protection from the vaccines waned over time, that the shots can cause serious health issues such as myocarditis, or heart inflammation, and that vaccinated people were just as likely to spread COVID-19 as unvaccinated people.

He cited multiple studies in his emails, including one that found a resurgence of COVID-19 cases in a California health care system despite a high rate of vaccination and another that showed transmission rates were similar among the vaccinated and unvaccinated.

Dr. Memoli said he was “particularly interested in the bioethics of a mandate when the vaccine doesn’t have the ability to stop spread of the disease, which is the purpose of the mandate.”

The message led to Dr. Memoli speaking during an NIH event in December 2021, several weeks after he went public with his concerns about mandating vaccines.

“Vaccine mandates should be rare and considered only with a strong justification,” Dr. Memoli said in the debate. He suggested that the justification was not there for COVID-19 vaccines, given their fleeting effectiveness.

Julie Ledgerwood, another NIAID official who also spoke at the event, said that the vaccines were highly effective and that the side effects that had been detected were not significant. She did acknowledge that vaccinated people needed boosters after a period of time.

The NIH, and many other government agencies, removed their mandates in 2023 with the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency.

A request for comment from Dr. Fauci was not returned. Dr. Memoli told The Epoch Times in an email he was “happy to answer any questions you have” but that he needed clearance from the NIAID’s media office. That office then refused to give clearance.

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a professor of health policy at Stanford University, said that Dr. Memoli showed bravery when he warned Dr. Fauci against mandates.

“Those mandates have done more to demolish public trust in public health than any single action by public health officials in my professional career, including diminishing public trust in all vaccines.” Dr. Bhattacharya, a frequent critic of the U.S. response to COVID-19, told The Epoch Times via email. “It was risky for Dr. Memoli to speak publicly since he works at the NIH, and the culture of the NIH punishes those who cross powerful scientific bureaucrats like Dr. Fauci or his former boss, Dr. Francis Collins.”

Tyler Durden Mon, 03/11/2024 - 17:40

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Trump “Clearly Hasn’t Learned From His COVID-Era Mistakes”, RFK Jr. Says

Trump "Clearly Hasn’t Learned From His COVID-Era Mistakes", RFK Jr. Says

Authored by Jeff Louderback via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

President…

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Trump "Clearly Hasn't Learned From His COVID-Era Mistakes", RFK Jr. Says

Authored by Jeff Louderback via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

President Joe Biden claimed that COVID vaccines are now helping cancer patients during his State of the Union address on March 7, but it was a response on Truth Social from former President Donald Trump that drew the ire of independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. holds a voter rally in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Feb. 10, 2024. (Mitch Ranger for The Epoch Times)

During the address, President Biden said: “The pandemic no longer controls our lives. The vaccines that saved us from COVID are now being used to help beat cancer, turning setback into comeback. That’s what America does.”

President Trump wrote: “The Pandemic no longer controls our lives. The VACCINES that saved us from COVID are now being used to help beat cancer—turning setback into comeback. YOU’RE WELCOME JOE. NINE-MONTH APPROVAL TIME VS. 12 YEARS THAT IT WOULD HAVE TAKEN YOU.”

An outspoken critic of President Trump’s COVID response, and the Operation Warp Speed program that escalated the availability of COVID vaccines, Mr. Kennedy said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that “Donald Trump clearly hasn’t learned from his COVID-era mistakes.”

“He fails to recognize how ineffective his warp speed vaccine is as the ninth shot is being recommended to seniors. Even more troubling is the documented harm being caused by the shot to so many innocent children and adults who are suffering myocarditis, pericarditis, and brain inflammation,” Mr. Kennedy remarked.

“This has been confirmed by a CDC-funded study of 99 million people. Instead of bragging about its speedy approval, we should be honestly and transparently debating the abundant evidence that this vaccine may have caused more harm than good.

“I look forward to debating both Trump and Biden on Sept. 16 in San Marcos, Texas.”

Mr. Kennedy announced in April 2023 that he would challenge President Biden for the 2024 Democratic Party presidential nomination before declaring his run as an independent last October, claiming that the Democrat National Committee was “rigging the primary.”

Since the early stages of his campaign, Mr. Kennedy has generated more support than pundits expected from conservatives, moderates, and independents resulting in speculation that he could take votes away from President Trump.

Many Republicans continue to seek a reckoning over the government-imposed pandemic lockdowns and vaccine mandates.

President Trump’s defense of Operation Warp Speed, the program he rolled out in May 2020 to spur the development and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines amid the pandemic, remains a sticking point for some of his supporters.

Vice President Mike Pence (L) and President Donald Trump deliver an update on Operation Warp Speed in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on Nov. 13, 2020. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

Operation Warp Speed featured a partnership between the government, the military, and the private sector, with the government paying for millions of vaccine doses to be produced.

President Trump released a statement in March 2021 saying: “I hope everyone remembers when they’re getting the COVID-19 Vaccine, that if I wasn’t President, you wouldn’t be getting that beautiful ‘shot’ for 5 years, at best, and probably wouldn’t be getting it at all. I hope everyone remembers!”

President Trump said about the COVID-19 vaccine in an interview on Fox News in March 2021: “It works incredibly well. Ninety-five percent, maybe even more than that. I would recommend it, and I would recommend it to a lot of people that don’t want to get it and a lot of those people voted for me, frankly.

“But again, we have our freedoms and we have to live by that and I agree with that also. But it’s a great vaccine, it’s a safe vaccine, and it’s something that works.”

On many occasions, President Trump has said that he is not in favor of vaccine mandates.

An environmental attorney, Mr. Kennedy founded Children’s Health Defense, a nonprofit that aims to end childhood health epidemics by promoting vaccine safeguards, among other initiatives.

Last year, Mr. Kennedy told podcaster Joe Rogan that ivermectin was suppressed by the FDA so that the COVID-19 vaccines could be granted emergency use authorization.

He has criticized Big Pharma, vaccine safety, and government mandates for years.

Since launching his presidential campaign, Mr. Kennedy has made his stances on the COVID-19 vaccines, and vaccines in general, a frequent talking point.

“I would argue that the science is very clear right now that they [vaccines] caused a lot more problems than they averted,” Mr. Kennedy said on Piers Morgan Uncensored last April.

“And if you look at the countries that did not vaccinate, they had the lowest death rates, they had the lowest COVID and infection rates.”

Additional data show a “direct correlation” between excess deaths and high vaccination rates in developed countries, he said.

President Trump and Mr. Kennedy have similar views on topics like protecting the U.S.-Mexico border and ending the Russia-Ukraine war.

COVID-19 is the topic where Mr. Kennedy and President Trump seem to differ the most.

Former President Donald Trump intended to “drain the swamp” when he took office in 2017, but he was “intimidated by bureaucrats” at federal agencies and did not accomplish that objective, Mr. Kennedy said on Feb. 5.

Speaking at a voter rally in Tucson, where he collected signatures to get on the Arizona ballot, the independent presidential candidate said President Trump was “earnest” when he vowed to “drain the swamp,” but it was “business as usual” during his term.

John Bolton, who President Trump appointed as a national security adviser, is “the template for a swamp creature,” Mr. Kennedy said.

Scott Gottlieb, who President Trump named to run the FDA, “was Pfizer’s business partner” and eventually returned to Pfizer, Mr. Kennedy said.

Mr. Kennedy said that President Trump had more lobbyists running federal agencies than any president in U.S. history.

“You can’t reform them when you’ve got the swamp creatures running them, and I’m not going to do that. I’m going to do something different,” Mr. Kennedy said.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, President Trump “did not ask the questions that he should have,” he believes.

President Trump “knew that lockdowns were wrong” and then “agreed to lockdowns,” Mr. Kennedy said.

He also “knew that hydroxychloroquine worked, he said it,” Mr. Kennedy explained, adding that he was eventually “rolled over” by Dr. Anthony Fauci and his advisers.

President Donald Trump greets the crowd before he leaves at the Operation Warp Speed Vaccine Summit in Washington on Dec. 8, 2020. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

MaryJo Perry, a longtime advocate for vaccine choice and a Trump supporter, thinks votes will be at a premium come Election Day, particularly because the independent and third-party field is becoming more competitive.

Ms. Perry, president of Mississippi Parents for Vaccine Rights, believes advocates for medical freedom could determine who is ultimately president.

She believes that Mr. Kennedy is “pulling votes from Trump” because of the former president’s stance on the vaccines.

“People care about medical freedom. It’s an important issue here in Mississippi, and across the country,” Ms. Perry told The Epoch Times.

“Trump should admit he was wrong about Operation Warp Speed and that COVID vaccines have been dangerous. That would make a difference among people he has offended.”

President Trump won’t lose enough votes to Mr. Kennedy about Operation Warp Speed and COVID vaccines to have a significant impact on the election, Ohio Republican strategist Wes Farno told The Epoch Times.

President Trump won in Ohio by eight percentage points in both 2016 and 2020. The Ohio Republican Party endorsed President Trump for the nomination in 2024.

“The positives of a Trump presidency far outweigh the negatives,” Mr. Farno said. “People are more concerned about their wallet and the economy.

“They are asking themselves if they were better off during President Trump’s term compared to since President Biden took office. The answer to that question is obvious because many Americans are struggling to afford groceries, gas, mortgages, and rent payments.

“America needs President Trump.”

Multiple national polls back Mr. Farno’s view.

As of March 6, the RealClearPolitics average of polls indicates that President Trump has 41.8 percent support in a five-way race that includes President Biden (38.4 percent), Mr. Kennedy (12.7 percent), independent Cornel West (2.6 percent), and Green Party nominee Jill Stein (1.7 percent).

A Pew Research Center study conducted among 10,133 U.S. adults from Feb. 7 to Feb. 11 showed that Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents (42 percent) are more likely than Republicans and GOP-leaning independents (15 percent) to say they have received an updated COVID vaccine.

The poll also reported that just 28 percent of adults say they have received the updated COVID inoculation.

The peer-reviewed multinational study of more than 99 million vaccinated people that Mr. Kennedy referenced in his X post on March 7 was published in the Vaccine journal on Feb. 12.

It aimed to evaluate the risk of 13 adverse events of special interest (AESI) following COVID-19 vaccination. The AESIs spanned three categories—neurological, hematologic (blood), and cardiovascular.

The study reviewed data collected from more than 99 million vaccinated people from eight nations—Argentina, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, New Zealand, and Scotland—looking at risks up to 42 days after getting the shots.

Three vaccines—Pfizer and Moderna’s mRNA vaccines as well as AstraZeneca’s viral vector jab—were examined in the study.

Researchers found higher-than-expected cases that they deemed met the threshold to be potential safety signals for multiple AESIs, including for Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS), cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST), myocarditis, and pericarditis.

A safety signal refers to information that could suggest a potential risk or harm that may be associated with a medical product.

The study identified higher incidences of neurological, cardiovascular, and blood disorder complications than what the researchers expected.

President Trump’s role in Operation Warp Speed, and his continued praise of the COVID vaccine, remains a concern for some voters, including those who still support him.

Krista Cobb is a 40-year-old mother in western Ohio. She voted for President Trump in 2020 and said she would cast her vote for him this November, but she was stunned when she saw his response to President Biden about the COVID-19 vaccine during the State of the Union address.

I love President Trump and support his policies, but at this point, he has to know they [advisers and health officials] lied about the shot,” Ms. Cobb told The Epoch Times.

“If he continues to promote it, especially after all of the hearings they’ve had about it in Congress, the side effects, and cover-ups on Capitol Hill, at what point does he become the same as the people who have lied?” Ms. Cobb added.

“I think he should distance himself from talk about Operation Warp Speed and even admit that he was wrong—that the vaccines have not had the impact he was told they would have. If he did that, people would respect him even more.”

Tyler Durden Mon, 03/11/2024 - 17:00

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Aging at AACR Annual Meeting 2024

BUFFALO, NY- March 11, 2024 – Impact Journals publishes scholarly journals in the biomedical sciences with a focus on all areas of cancer and aging…

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BUFFALO, NY- March 11, 2024 – Impact Journals publishes scholarly journals in the biomedical sciences with a focus on all areas of cancer and aging research. Aging is one of the most prominent journals published by Impact Journals

Credit: Impact Journals

BUFFALO, NY- March 11, 2024 – Impact Journals publishes scholarly journals in the biomedical sciences with a focus on all areas of cancer and aging research. Aging is one of the most prominent journals published by Impact Journals

Impact Journals will be participating as an exhibitor at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2024 from April 5-10 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. This year, the AACR meeting theme is “Inspiring Science • Fueling Progress • Revolutionizing Care.”

Visit booth #4159 at the AACR Annual Meeting 2024 to connect with members of the Aging team.

About Aging-US:

Aging publishes research papers in all fields of aging research including but not limited, aging from yeast to mammals, cellular senescence, age-related diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s diseases and their prevention and treatment, anti-aging strategies and drug development and especially the role of signal transduction pathways such as mTOR in aging and potential approaches to modulate these signaling pathways to extend lifespan. The journal aims to promote treatment of age-related diseases by slowing down aging, validation of anti-aging drugs by treating age-related diseases, prevention of cancer by inhibiting aging. Cancer and COVID-19 are age-related diseases.

Aging is indexed and archived by PubMed/Medline (abbreviated as “Aging (Albany NY)”), PubMed CentralWeb of Science: Science Citation Index Expanded (abbreviated as “Aging‐US” and listed in the Cell Biology and Geriatrics & Gerontology categories), Scopus (abbreviated as “Aging” and listed in the Cell Biology and Aging categories), Biological Abstracts, BIOSIS Previews, EMBASE, META (Chan Zuckerberg Initiative) (2018-2022), and Dimensions (Digital Science).

Please visit our website at www.Aging-US.com​​ and connect with us:

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Click here to subscribe to Aging publication updates.

For media inquiries, please contact media@impactjournals.com.


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