Switzerland moves to ban Hamas and supports Israel’s self-defence rights. Switzerland has increasingly taken the EU policy side particularly on foreign matters as seen recently with Russia.

The Hang and the Sang is THE WORST performing major stock index in the world in 2023; while others have had tremendous performance. The iShares Hong Kong ETF index ($EWH) hasn’t been this low since May 28, 2012. It was noticeably lower only during the 2008 Financial Crash.

This comes as China is amid a full banking system collapse. Local government debts exceed $13 Trillion USD equivalents (90% are in default) and $4 trillion in real estate losses. China only has $2trillion in bank equity around the world.

Brazil officially deploys troops to their border with Venezuela in preparation of a Venezuelan invasion of the Guyana Essequibo region which they now claim is their territory. It’s worth noting that significant oil and natural gas resources in this region have been found a few years ago.

Researchers have found and dated a fortress in lower Siberia that dates all the way back to 8000 years ago. It’s usage remains unknown however the position sits above a marshy river and it was thought to be a location for fishing. Ten “house pits” have been excavated thus far. The fortress inland deep in Siberia is a novel find that differs from other defensive structures throughout Eurasia.

US natural gas futures fell by more than 10% to $2.3/MMBtu hitting the lowest level in over 6 months (Mon Dec 11th). Record-high domestic natural gas production in the US has allowed utilities to build reserves, despite a larger-than-expected withdrawal of 117 billion cubic feet reported in EIA data. Stockpiles are 7.3% higher than last years numbers. Predictions are that Europe are going to be net buyers of US Gas in the upcoming winter.

In an amazing sight, tons of mostly sardines and mackerel were discovered on more than a kilometre of sand stretching across the shores of Hakodate, Japan. The cause is announced to be unknown. We recommend you check out our Japan article

Pfizer stock falls 8% (Dec 13th) after poorer than expected profit guidance for 2024 and reduced revenue outlook. This now takes the share price to a level not seen in 10 years

Shipping giant Maersk has made the decision to halt all Red Sea journeys over recent attacks and seizures that have occurred. About 17,000 ships, or 10% of global trade passes through every year since any ship passing to or from the Suez canal must travel this route. This comes after a Bulgarian ship was seized by Yemeni Houthis–an Iran-backed rebel movement. This could escalate the Hamas-Israel conflict outside of the Gaza strip given that it has direct impact on global markets.

As of Friday, December 15th, the S&P 500 ETF with the ticker $SPY saw its largest single-day inflow on record (since 1993) at just under $21B USD. Total inflows for the week showed $24B USD becoming a weekly record as well. A week later has already seen $10B USD which over the last 6 trading days (to date) amounts to nearly $35B USD.

A Russian “Special Flight Squadron” (often used by Kremlin officials) plane from St. Petersburg landed in Washington DC at a time when the news headlines, segments and interviews discuss the Ukraine war less and less–some suspect it is coming to an end as the USA has been the single largest funder of the conflicts in Ukraine.

A new facility at the Federal Reserve known as the Bank Term Funding Program (BTFP); which is yet another bailout regime at the Federal Reserve has reached an all time high since it’s initiative in March of this year ($131.8B USD). Banks with access to this facility can draw upon it and deposit at the Federal Reserve in Repo markets for a yield at-or-near debt market yield rates. More here: Reverse Repo

Apple is no longer selling the newest Apple Watch in America after the White House declines to overturn ban

Claims made from Western media sources claim Iran is responsible for the attack by indirectly funding Houthi-militants who commonly demonstrate such attacks. The tensions in the Middle East continue to rise.

With US and EU funding delayed, Kyiv said the money would stabilise its economy as it continues to repel Russian attacks. It’s becoming increasingly obvious that the Ukraine war charade is approaching an end.

At least 160 villagers killed by armed bandits in central Nigeria.

These attacks are not uncommon since it’s a region plagued for several years by religious and ethnic tensions; however the magnitude of this is notably high

The attacks were coordinated & timely with torched houses as an intimidation tactic in not fewer than 20 different communities.

A new study reveals that 35-44 year-olds in the United States are buried under $140,400 median debt – a record high. This is closely tied to aged respondents 45-54 too.

Taylor Swift’s hardcore dedicated fans show their utmost commitment to her by paying top-dollar just to gaze a live glimpse at her–this time, in Singapore. South East Asians are now willing to pay top dollar to travel and attend such shows. “We saw over half a million fans in the queue spending more than $1,200 on bundles, including a pair of tickets and a hotel stay,” said a general manager to a large Singapore hotel.

Taylor Swift has become uber wealthy and famous in recent years conjuring up extreme dedication to not only her music but her personal life, her media content, her tours, her fashion and virtually every movement she takes.

Real Gross Domestic Income (GDI) has only been negative once without the USA being in a recession (it was temporarily in 2020). This last time was just before the Great Financial Crisis of 2007-2009. Now, it’s negative again.

Hong Kong has become the poster child for the failures of communism–once being the most successful thriving business centre to now an absolute nightmare. Foreign investing is down 70% year over year to accompany a plethora of other poor economic figures. Evidence of weakeness?

Hibor.

Hibor spikes to 5.5%, not seen since the Great Financial Crisis of 2007, showing the lack of trust in counterparties in Hong Kong institutions

Venezuela seem to be taking overt military action over a land dispute they hold with Guyana. This has received international attention as the Brazilian Armed Forces have reportedly been placed into a heightened state of readiness due to a significant movement of military equipment and personnel in eastern Venezuela on the Border of Guyana. Officials believing that Venezuela may soon invade the Small South American Country in order to Annex the “Guayana Esequiba” Region which accounts for over 60% of the Nation’s Territory and has been Claimed by the Venezuelan Government. This area is extremely resource rich.

The ongoing saga of the largest unresolved land dispute in South America

Domestic prices for apples in China reach a record price as imports decline approximately 19% more than increased production. Furthermore, a perform storm of weather conditions has reduced apple production in some of the largest apple provinces in China

Apple size & quality is expected to drop dramatically. Tightening farmland use policies and the replacement of less productive trees are driving a gradual reduction in apple acreage across China, which is projected to fall from 1.96 million to 1.94 million hectares this season and continue to decline thereafter. The China Fruit Marketing Association reports a record average price of 8.8 Chinese yuan ($1.24) per kilogram for only second-grade apples, an 18% increase YoY.


China is responsible for a significant production of the world’s apples.

2022 data:

• China – 44,447,793 (Of these, Fuji apples account for 80% of market share)
• United States – 4,649,323
• Poland – 3,604,271
• Turkey – 2,925,828
• India – 2,872,000
• Iran – 2,799,197
• Italy – 2,455,616
• Russia – 1,843,544
• France – 1,819,762
• Chile – 1,759,421

A proposal in South Korea to totally remove South Korea’s dog meat market by 2027 has been met with stern opposition. Korea Dog Meat Farmers’ Association said that it was mulling the release of 2 million dogs (currently kept in cages for meat) near government landmarks in Seoul as well as the homes of lawmakers.

The cost of electricity in Italy jumped nearly 30% in the week from August 21 to August 27, reaching €138 per megawatt hour (MWh). Europe has increased purchases from Russia (the country it is sanctioning I should note) by 40% compared to before the war. The extra orders are for more expensive Russian LNG gas (by purchasing from a third party), to replace the prior cheap pipeline gas.

Similar to the operation of the Soviet Union, A Texas bill seeks to expand the utilization prisoners’ who demonstrate good conduct behaviour through “programs” that offer tutoring in a literacy program, as well as work, agricultural or industrial programs. This addition effectively provides more methods by which prisoners (of all sentences) can receive good conduct and reduce their sentence with banked good conduct.

The implications of this bill suggest that A) the prisons are being overrun and packed and therefore there’s a precedent to loosen the jail cells, B) That this is the beginning of a society/culture that views to cherish prisoners as being subjects of society and as a result, normalize criminal behaviour and/or C) There is such a ‘true’ employment crisis in the United States that they require all the hands they can possible have just to keep the economy afloat.

https://legiscan.com/TX/text/HB1064/id/2619558

More information here

The Canadian government has issued the most number of bonds in its history, with a significant percentage of them rolling over in the next 2-3 years. They now have 1,285T dollars in outstanding bonds.

The Federal government borrowed $500B in the 3 months between April and July 2020, more than was borrowed from 1980 to 2009 (after the great financial crisis).

Coupled with extreme spending, the end result is much higher inflation or larger deficit spending to compensate for higher interest rates.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing Pfizer, Inc. for misrepresenting Covid-19 vaccine efficacy and conspiring to censor public discourse. The suit goes on to say “Pfizer engaged in false, deceptive and misleading acts and practices by making unsupported claims regarding the company’s Covid-19 vaccine in violation of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act…Pfizer’s widespread representation that its vaccine possessed 95% efficacy against infection was highly misleading and their product had lead to more deaths than those without” It was at this point they pivoted to censor facts regarding their vaccine efficacy & knowingly push false and misleading information.

Rumble, the video-sharing platform & cloud services provider filed a lawsuit today in federal court in Florida against two co-founders of a purported watchdog organization. Rumble sued Nandini Jammi and Claire Atkin, co-founders of Check My Ads, who routinely targets news outlets and platforms that do not adhere to their political worldview.

Jammi has a track record of launching pressure campaigns against advertisers on many other outlets and have a history of coercing advertisers against utilizing select platforms. The lawsuit alleges that Jammi and Atkin cannot tolerate Rumble’s content-neutral philosophy and want competing points of view to be silenced.

Rumble is seeking actual, presumed, and punitive damages for their forecasted ad revenue, in addition to all costs and fees associated with the case. Additionally, they have asked the court to prohibit the defendants from repeating their false statements and for any other remedies deemed appropriate.

Rumble are representation by a tier-1 lawyer firm in defamation and First Amendment litigations in the United States

The highest price gold ever reached was $2,080.72 on May 4, 2023. One notable recent high includes the yellow metal’s high of $1,971.17 per troy ounce in August 2020–until today. Gold, for the first time, ended up at a high of 2,091.72 USD per troy ounce as more fear uncertainty ahead for the economies & demand [for gold] remains strong.

The Venezuelan government have been seen moving military equipment on the border with Guyana to reclaim an area known as Guyana Essequibo, which encompasses a huge portion of the country of Guyana. On Sunday, 95% of the Venezuelan government voted in favour of the territorially claim on Guyana territory. This has large implications for commodity markets as Guyana provides a great deal of oil and gold resource as well as potential actions taken by Brazil & Colombia against Venezuela. Military escalation is to be expected.

President of Russia Vladimir Putin receives an extravagant royal welcome to Abu Dhabi featuring many well-groomed military personnel, music, cannons, fighter jets spraying the Russian flag, Russian/UAE flag posts & cheers. Moreover, Vladimir Putin and the accompanying delegation also arrived in Saudi Arabia in a state visit. They were joyfully received and welcomed by the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman & his ministers. Interestingly on the visit, Chechnya’s Kadyrov, head of its republic (a major urban warfare arm of Russia) was also present.

Apple Faces Renewed Risk Over $15 Billion EU Tax Bill After New High Court Opinion–Giovanni Pitruzzella, advocate general for the EU Court of Justice, said the EU’s second-highest court’s previous ruling (removing the EU’s order for Apple to pay $14 billion in taxes to Ireland), “should be set aside.” Now a new assessment of Apple’s finances are being reviewed again after a “committed a series of errors in law” and “failed to assess correctly the substance and consequences of certain methodological errors” are claimed. These taxes total 61% of their entire net income last quarter.

The National Debt for the United States sits at 1,695,148,300,531 dollars as of today (November 9th). This is up 23% or 320 Billion dollars this time 1 year ago.

According to Goldman Sachs, Hedge Funds have now increased their short stock positions again for the 14th consecutive week. This is the longest streak in history. (Nov 11th)

Burger King has seen 3 large-scale franchise partners declare bankruptcy this year. Meridian Restaurants Unlimited, the operator of 115 Burger Kings and 90 Tom Kings filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. This move accompanies Premier Kings, the owner of 172 Burger Kings and Premier Cajun Kings who operated 19 Popeyes Chicken who also filed for Chapter 11 this year. The parent company took over about a sixth and are aggressively looking for buyers.

In Medellín, a wealthier city in Colombia, 5 foreigners have been found dead in hotels in the last two weeks (Nov 13th) as well as 2 other foreigners a week later. The once expat haven city is now becoming dangerous for foreigner groups who let their guard down. This comes after a number of reports of crimes targeting non-locals such as robbery, murder, fraud, a number of scopalamine cases and an overall change in sentiment

Popocatépetl volcano demonstrating an eruption in Mexico this morning (Nov 14th)

Anarcho-capitalist economist Javier Milei officially wins the presidency for Argentina by a majority vote on Sunday, November 19th. He has long-stated his goal to drastically reduce the size of the government, spending and cut taxes. The world watches carefully…

To reduce reliance on Russia, Armenia has turned to Iran to receive oil imports. Even so, the cooperation faces challenges due to differing views on regional issues and the presence of external actors in the South Caucasus. Armenia and Iran’s trade is expected to rise to $1 billion by next year, enhancing their economic relationship.

At least 21 have been pronounced dead following the collapse of a cement tunnel in Dominican Republic amid record levels of rainfall in the area. This adds to the 18 deceased already, with thousands displaced for the time being. It’s estimated that just under 3000 homes have been impacted. “The Emergency Operations Center (COE) of the Dominican Republic has issued a red alert for 14 provinces and a yellow alert for 11 provinces related to heavy rainfall and flooding from a tropical depression that began November 18 and is expected to continue across portions of the Dominican Republic”

Panama Canal Says Will Slash Booking Slots Over Coming Months Due To Lack Of Rain; Will Slash Booking Slots To 25 in early November. This may put a slight ripple into recovering supply chains

Taiwan has recently stated they detected 43 Chinese aircraft and 7 warships in proximity to their island nation. Taiwan had scrambled these Chinese fighters who crossed the Taiwan strait–China’s position remains to be military exercises

Spirit Airlines have announced that commencing March 28th, 2024 it will offer international flights to Tulum’s new Felipe Carrillo Puerto International Airport. One way fares are set to start at $149 USD

State owned energy company Staatsolie on Tuesday launched a competitive bidding round for 11 offshore areas in the country, with bids to be submitted through May. The blocks are located in near-shore or shallow areas but aim to receive investment and generate offshore oil production by 2028.

The Brazilian Health Ministry has now forced mRNA gene therapies into the National Immunization Program (PNI), making injections mandatory for youngsters aged 6 months to 5 years, beginning in 2024. Families not complying face hefty fines, loss of social aids like ‘Bolsa Família’, or even having their children taken away.

As previously feared amid Lula’s election victory, a recent government notice now threatens legal action against anyone daring to question the National ‘Immunization’ Program. The authoritarian streak from the Brazilian Supreme Court knows no bounds, revealing a threatening path towards silencing opposition and suppressing freedom of thought.

Around 300 people came onto the streets of Kyrgyzstan’s capital over the weekend in a public show of support for Palestine. However, this support was suppressed by authorities as well as any pro-israel sentiments that are announced. Approximately 90% of Kyrgyzstan is muslim.

MOODY’S has estimated that Big Banks are currently sitting on $650 Billion of Unrealized losses. This amount is $30 Billion larger than when the stock market crashed in March 2020.

Patrol boats, radar and drone technologies are set to make their way to the country of 7,641 islands. Japan says it “will provide equipment and supplies as well as assistance for the development of infrastructures to like-minded countries.” in response to China’s aggressive maritime nature in the East and South China Seas. This will be the first external funding under the “Official Security Assistance” Framework. They’ve added Malaysia, Fiji and Bangladesh to this group of like-minded individuals.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been accused of a conflict of interest by sending state funds to Ukraine by the billions while at the same time his wife, a co-founder and large shareholder of Infosys, indirectly benefits from this transaction. Infosys is a IT business consultancy company and outsourcing business. Infosys is “a very large user” of the U.K.’s visa system for skilled workers, a system utilized handling new Ukrainian migrants.

Explosion hits Jehovah’s Witnesses prayer meeting in India’s Kerala

The blast takes place as hundreds gather for Sunday prayer in the southern town of Kalamassery in Kerala state. Three are pronounced dead and 36 are injured with hundreds in attendance. Authorities confirmed it was a planted Improvised Explosive Device (IED).

As hurricane season comes to an end, a Caribbean tropical storm could form late this week (Nov 2nd). An area of low pressure with some showers is in the central Caribbean Sea, bringing soaking rain to parts of Hispaniola, Jamaica and eastern Cuba.This heavy rain is expected to touch Central America and raise the possibility of floods

Spain’s Canary Islands, a famous holiday destination for Europeans ,have just hit an all-time high of African migrants landing on this paradise archipelago by boat. More than 15,000 (recorded numbers) have reached since October 2023 alone (1 month ago). 32,000 have made the boat ride so far in 2023, doubling the number of new migrants the year prior and exceeding the previous peak in 2006 (31,678)

Finland is set to hold a nationwide strike for public and welfare sector workers from November 7th to November 9th. The claimed reasoning is to protect the social security cuts and salary conditions. It’s estimated this will disrupt all transport and business

Corn Futures have fallen to their lowest point since December 2020. This is at a time when smaller commodities such as orange juice, cocoa and coffee are trading at highs. (Nov 7th)

More than 150 dead in an Earthquake that struck Western Nepal, an additionally 375 were injured. (Saturday Nov 4th)

Sardinia, an Italian island in the Mediterranean known for some of the most pristine views, is in crisis mode after the number of arriving migrant boats as overwhelmed islanders. A new shelter for unaccompanied minors and adult migrants in the city of Sassari on Sardinia has so far welcomed 60 people. Six-Hundred migrants now are housed on the island just from this year & more are to be expected.

According to Freedomhouse.org, This past year, Internet Freedom was most improved in Sri Lanka, Nigeria and Malawi (+4 and both +3 points) on measures of Obstacles to Access, Limit to Content and Violations of User Rights. Each of these countries are designated as “partly free”. On the other hand, the worst fall in scores were seen by Iran, Nicaragua and Costa Rica (-5 and both -3). Costa Rica however, ranked as a free country (with a very high score 91/100).

Mexico Government limit the number of hourly flights out of Mexico City Airport, forcing a 30% reduction in air traffic. The government claims the reduction is necessary to address saturation levels at MEX, which is expected to receive over 52 million passengers in 2023. As expected, this has received instant backlash from airlines, airports and surrounding industries. Mexican Airlines are adamant of the negative impacts on passengers, industry workers, and investment. ALTA predicts delays, cancellations, and increased ticket prices as a result.

Drought in Angola continues, requiring residents to walk long-distance in search for water. Last year, an estimated 1.58M were at risk of famine in Southern Angola, estimated by the World Bank.

Niger is seeking the small country of Togo (supported by the United States) to act as a guarantor to facilitate negotiations for the disengagement of french troops in Niger. This process has begun in Early October and is expected to be finished by 2024.

Furniture sales across the United States are down 8% this August relative to last year. Anecdotal reports are noticing a visible slow-down in sales relateive to the previous years. The reasons are suspected to be related to customers being more sensitive to prices as more are taking to secondary used-markets.

Thailand is seeing a surge in their tourism from Asian countries following their law change last year making marijuana de facto legal. There are no government figures on how many tourists come specifically to smoke marijuana, but Kueakarun Thongwilai, the manager of a weed shop in central Bangkok, estimates at least 70%-80% of his customers are foreigners, primarily from Asian countries like Japan, Malaysia, China and Philippines.

The president of the Guatemalan Congress, the ruling party Shirley Rivera, said yesterday that the United States revoked her visa, a sanction similar to that announced last week against two former ministers of the President. Ms. Rivera claimed that she was notified that was ineligible for a visa to the United States by email.

The Colombian government of President Gustavo Petro will reimpose an entry fee to all Canadian visitors starting November 14 to be paid during the immigration process at all airports, seaports, and overland entry points. The fee of COP$256,000 pesos (CDN$85) per-visitor can be paid, according the country’s immigration entity Migración Colombia with a debit/credit card.

A long with gas exports, Russian wheat continues to be sent to the European market by way of the Danube. This comes at a time when Argentina wheat supplies are predicted to take a hit. It also brings into the question of the aggressiveness from either side in the Russia/Ukraine war or its real purpose.

An Israeli ground invasion to destroy Hamas has occurred recently. Israel’s peace partners, Jordan and Egypt have both announced that they are unwilling to accept displaced Palestinians during Israel’s retaliation for the initial Hamas invasion. Civilian deaths and a humanitarian crises develops in the Gaza strip. This stance has been reiterated by more wealthy oil rich nations.

Numerous reports have surfaced regarding the failure of new Canadian passports. Cases found in Switzerland, UK, American border, Amsterdam, Italy, Ukraine, Germany all having problems recognizing the authenticity of the new documents and border officials have claimed the documents to be fake.

Anarcho-capitalist politician Javier Milei has won the initial preliminary round of voting. Following the general election, Javier Milei of La Avanza and Sergio Massa of Union por la Patria are set to undergo a runoff election on November 19th.

Costa Rica has declared a state of emergency over the number of economic migrants passing through their territory claimed to be headed to the United States. This announcement has been made with urgency as migrants have been “behaving badly” with “little respect for the authorities in the regions”.