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US dollar’s dominance in oil markets may face challenge as Saudis reportedly eye yuan-based sales deal with China

March 16, 2022

US dollar’s dominance in oil markets may face challenge as Saudis reportedly eye yuan-based sales deal with China

HANGZHOU, CHINA - SEPTEMBER 04: Chinese President Xi Jinping (right) shakes hands with Saudi Arabian Deputy Crown Prince and Minister of Defense Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to the G20 Summit on September 4, 2016 in Hangzhou, China. World leaders are gathering in Hangzhou for the 11th G20 Leaders Summit from September 4 to 5. (Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images) — Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Saudi Arabia is in talks to sell oil to China and be paid in yuan, according to the Wall Street Journal.
For nearly 50 years, the world’s top oil exporter has traded crude exclusively in US dollars.
Relations between Saudi Arabia and the US have deteriorated under the Biden administration.

Saudi Arabia is in talks to sell oil to China and be paid in yuan instead of dollars, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

About 80% of global oil sales are done in dollars, and Saudi Arabia has conducted its deals exclusively in the greenback since 1974. So if a Saudi-yuan deal were to be made, it would bolster China’s currency at the expense of the dollar as Beijing looks to challenge US leadership in financial markets.

The likelihood of a potential deal between Saudi Arabia and China has picked up recently, according to the Journal. The longtime Mideast ally has grown unhappy with the US due to the Biden administration’s reluctance to do more in the Yemen civil war and its push to revive the Iran nuclear deal.

In 2020, Biden also promised to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” over the murder of a journalist. And since becoming president, he has made it clear that he doesn’t consider Saudi Arabia as an ally, but rather as a partner.

What’s more, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salam reportedly rejected a request for a call with Biden to discuss Ukraine and boost oil production amid the West’s sanctions against Russia.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The world’s biggest carbon-removal plant just opened. In a year, it’ll negate just 3 seconds’ worth of global emissions.

December 22, 2021

The world’s biggest carbon-removal plant just opened. In a year, it’ll negate just 3 seconds’ worth of global emissions.

Climeworks carbon capture plant orca iceland — ‘Orca,’ Climeworks’ new facility in Iceland, can capture 4,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year. Business Wire via AP

The world’s biggest carbon-capture plant – which sucks carbon dioxide out of the air – just opened.
A UN report says carbon capture technology is necessary if the world wants to be carbon neutral by 2050.
But many experts think the tech is too expensive and not scalable in the next few decades.
See more stories on Insider’s business page.

Framed by a backdrop of volcanoes, a semi-circle of gigantic fans in Iceland are sucking in air, super-heating it, then filtering out the carbon dioxide.

This carbon capture and storage facility, named Orca, turned on two weeks ago after more than 18 months of construction. The fans are embedded in shipping container-sized boxes, and once the carbon dioxide is separated, it gets mixed with water then travels through snaking, fat tubes deep underground, where the carbon cools and solidifies.

Through this process, Orca can trap and sequester 4,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year – making it the largest facility of its kind in the world (though there are currently only two running).

“Think of it like a vacuum cleaner for the atmosphere,” Julio Friedmann, an energy policy researcher at Columbia University who attended the plant’s ribbon-cutting ceremony, told Insider. “Nothing else can do what this tech does.”

According to the latest report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), carbon capture and storage is a necessary part of our best-case climate scenarios. But currently, facilities like Orca only negate a sliver of global emissions.

Climate scientist Peter Kalmus has done the math: “If it works, in one year it will capture three seconds worth of humanity’s CO2 emissions,” he wrote on Twitter.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Leaked Covid-19 Documents: Hospitals Prep For 96 Million Infections & 480K Deaths

March 10, 2020

LEAKED COVID-19 DOCUMENTS: HOSPITALS PREP FOR 96 MILLION INFECTIONS & 480K DEATHS

Leaked medical conference documents have warned that hospitals across the United States are preparing for 96 million coronavirus infections. Not only that, but the same document wants hospitals to make preparations for 480,000 deaths from this outbreak.

the American Hospital Association (AHA) conference in February reveal that US hospitals are preparing for:

– 96 million coronavirus infections
– 4.8 million hospitalizations from the infection
– 480,000 deaths in the United States

According to Business Insider, these leaked documents are telling. Dr. James Lawler, a professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, presented the harrowing “best guess” estimates of the extent of the outbreak to hospitals and health professionals as part of the AHA webinar called What Healthcare Leaders Need to Know: Preparing for the COVID-19 on February 26.

These documents paint a bleaker picture for those who are over the age of 60. According to the leaked documents:

People aged 80 and over have a 14.8% chance of dying if they contract the infection, the slides revealed. The risk declines with youth, though those aged 70-79 and 60-69 are still placed at a significant risk, with 8% and 3.6% mortality rates respectively. –Business Insider

Additionally, it’s worth noting that Dr. Lawler’s estimate of 480,000 deaths would indicate a death rate of just half a percent (0.5%), which is significantly lower than death rates being reported by the WHO (3.4%) and the nation of Italy (5%). If the death rate in the United States reached just 2% while 96 million Americans are infected, that would result in 1.92 million deaths.

The United States has fewer than one million hospital beds, and they are typically around 75% occupied by existing patients, unrelated to the coronavirus. Natural Newshas calculated that U.S. hospital beds will be overrun by May 30th if nothing is done to stop the exponential spread of the coronavirus.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

THE TRUCKING “BLOODBATH” CONTINUES AS 4,500 TRUCKERS LOSE THEIR JOBS

September 16, 2019

THE TRUCKING “BLOODBATH” CONTINUES AS 4,500 TRUCKERS LOSE THEIR JOBS

The federal government’s jobs report has confirmed that truckers are losing their jobs by the thousands. According to preliminary payroll numbers reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics last week, around 4,500 trucking jobs were eliminated in the month of August alone.

The worst part is that we can expect that number to get worse in the coming months. According to Business Insider, this is the first time the agency reported a slash in trucking payrolls since March, when 1,200 truckers lost their jobs. That’s also the biggest drop since April of 2018 when approximately 5,500 trucking jobs were lost.

Indicators from the trucking industry have been sour in 2019. In the first half of the year, around 640 trucking companies went bankrupt, according to industry data from Broughton Capital LLC. That’s more than triple the number of bankruptcies from the same period last year — about 175. –Business Insider

One trucking company’s profits plunged recently adding more fuel to the recession fires. USA Truck reported $2.5 million in net income in the second quarter of 2018. In Q2 2019, it reported $1,000 in profit, according to a separate report from Business Insider. The trucking industry is indeed going through a “bloodbath.”

✔

Not a number you see very much in quarterly earnings: USA Truck’s 2q profit fell to … $1,000.

https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2019/jul/26/freight-carrier-s-net-falls-to-1-000-20/#.XT2j3bcyRE8.twitter …Arkansas-based freight carrier’s profit plummets to $1,000 from $2.5 millionUSA Truck Inc. on Thursday reported a second-quarter profit of $1,000, a fraction of the trucking company’s reported profit from a year ago. arkansasonline.com

Of course, the news gets even bleaker the further you look. New truck orders sank to a nine-year low in July, according to ACT Research. But that number rebounded slightly in August, with a 6% month-over-month bump.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Here’s what happens when two hurricanes collide

September 7, 2019

Here’s what happens when two hurricanes collide

When two hurricanes collide, the phenomenon is called the Fujiwhara effect.
If two cyclones pass within 900 miles of each other, they can start to orbit.
If the two storms get to within 190 miles of each other, they’ll collide or merge. This can turn two smaller storms into one giant one.
In rare instances, close proximity can throw a storm off course, as was the case with hurricanes Hilary and Irwin in July 2017.

Following is a transcript of the video.

What happens when two hurricanes collide?

The phenomenon is called the Fujiwhara effect.

Named for Japanese meteorologist Sakuhei Fujiwhara, who originally described it in 1921.

If two cyclones pass within 900 miles of each other, they can start to orbit.

What happens next depends on the size of each storm.

If one storm is much stronger than the other, the smaller storm usually rotates around the larger one.

But when bot storms are similar in strength, they tend to orbit a common center between the two.

If the two storms get to within 190 miles of each other, they’ll collide or merge.

The result is transformative.

It can turn two smaller storms into one giant one.

The interaction can also throw a cyclone off course.

That’s what happened in July 2017 with hurricanes Hilary and Irwin.

Hurricane Hilary changed Irwin’s course from west to north.

This example is more the exception than the norm.

Hurricane collisions and interactions are rare.

Yet, growing evidence suggests a warming climate could affect hurricane season.

What the effects will be is unclear, but who knows?

Perhaps more hurricane mergers are in our future.

The next recession could force the Fed to cut interest rates into negative territory. Here’s what that means, and how it could affect you.

February 8, 2019

The next recession could force the Fed to cut interest rates into negative territory. Here’s what that means, and how it could affect you.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell takes the oath of office administered by Federal Reserve Board member Randal Quarles at the Federal Reserve in Washington, U.S., February 5, 2018. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein/File Photo — Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell taking the oath of office.

The San Francisco Federal Reserve recently published a paper indicating that an unprecedented policy step, if adopted, would have helped the economy recover more quickly from the most recent financial crisis.
With the next recession looming, a prominent Wall Street strategist thinks the unpopular tool will be needed to combat it.

The Federal Reserve’s extraordinary efforts to combat the Great Recession more than a decade ago raised many concerns about what tools it would have left to fight the next crisis.

One measure that was floated, but largely passed off as improbable, was the use of negative interest rates. The Fed already did the unusual and held its Fed funds rate — the benchmark for all other borrowing costs — near zero from 2009 through 2015. This made it sufficiently cheaper for companies and consumers to access credit and rebuild the battered economy.

Anything below zero, however, was once considered unthinkable. After all, a negative interest rate means that, for example, savers actually pay banks to hold their money instead of earning interest.

The mainstream discussion on negative rates has quieted down for a while since Sweden became the first country to cut rates below zero in 2015. But a recent paper from the San Francisco Fed, coupled with widespread concerns about an economic slowdown, are returning the concept to the forefront.

Vasco Cúrdia, the research adviser who wrote the paper, examined what would have happened had the Fed adopted a negative-interest-rate policy during the most recent recession.

“Allowing the federal funds rate to drop below zero may have reduced the depth of the recession and enabled the economy to return more quickly to its full potential,” he said.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

US sanctions on Venezuela could lead to higher gas prices

February 5, 2019

US sanctions on Venezuela could lead to higher gas prices

john bolton steve mnuchin venezuela china map maduro

MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

The Trump administration announced last week it would impose sanctions on Venezuela’s state-run oil industry.
That could lead to higher energy prices, especially in wake of the US withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Together with Iran sanctions, analysts say the new move against Venezuela has threatened to cut global supply by two million barrels per day.

A US crackdown on foreign oil exports could lead to higher prices at the pump.

The Trump administration said last week it would impose sanctions against Venezuela’s state-owned oil industry in an attempt to cripple the government of President Nicolas Maduro, who is facing global pressure to cede power to opposition leader Juan Guaidó.

The sanctions ban most Americans from doing business with PDVSA, the parent company of Citgo, blocking $7 billion in assets and leading to $11 billion in export losses for Venezuela over the next year. Because funds would be diverted away from the government and into a separate account, analysts say that will likely halt most Venezuelan shipments to the US.

While production levels there have dropped dramatically in recent years, American refiners will likely have a difficult time making up for imports compromised by sanctions. Shipping more than a half million barrels per day to the US, PDVSA has remained a major source of heavy crude supply.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he didn’t expect the sanctions to affect American fuel prices, suggesting Middle Eastern producers “will be happy to make up the supply.” But output has been falling in the countries that ship the US heavy crude, which differs from the shale that has helped send domestic stockpiles to record levels.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

China’s ‘zombie’ companies are a big threat to the economy — and JPMorgan says their debt pile means the country could be slowing faster than anyone thought

February 4, 2019

China’s ‘zombie’ companies are a big threat to the economy — and JPMorgan says their debt pile means the country could be slowing faster than anyone thought

china guard zombie monster — JPMorgan says China should get rid of its “zombie” state-owned companies.

China’s economy is beset by huge public and corporate debt problems which threaten to derail the country’s growth story, according to JPMorgan.
Economic growth in China has been steadily slowing and could get even lower meaning the world’s second largest economy won’t overtake the US any time soon.
The key risk — disposing of “zombie” state-owned companies — means the economy could be forced to adopt a zero interest policy, JPMorgan said.

The US-China trade war is in more of the headlines, but there’s an even greater problem for the world’s second largest economy.

“The biggest concern regarding financial stability and the sustainability of economic growth has been China’s ballooning debt problem, especially in the co rporate sector,” according to a note published by JPMorgan.

Chinese corporate debt is among the highest in the world — it’s a stunning 162% of GDP.

The country’s debt will take serious and prolonged policy changes to rectify, said the economists led by Chief China economist Haibin Zhu. China’s slowdown comes alongside other economic red flags — from its economy including poor PMI figures, lower exports, an aging workforce, and spiralling household debt.

JPMorgan pushes back on estimates that China will soon overtake the US as the world’s biggest economy, predicting that China’s growth potential will slow from the current 6.5% level to 5.5% in 2021 through 2025 and 4.5% in 2026 through 2030.

“This means that China will remain the second largest economy much longer than expected,” the economists said.

“The transition to slower potential growth could be volatile and requires balancing reforms,” they wrote. “This will reshape China’s role in the global economy.”

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Trump’s trade war isn’t about trade anymore — it’s plainly about beating China in the next great war

February 1, 2019

Trump’s trade war isn’t about trade anymore — it’s plainly about beating China in the next great war

Trump defense bill — President Donald Trump.

President Donald Trump’s trade war with China started with tariffs and talk of trade deficits but quickly moved to addressing deep US national-security concerns about Beijing spying and stealing technology.
In 2018, the US’s trade deficit with China ballooned to $344 billion, but China is thought to cost the US as much as $600 billion a year through intellectual-property theft.
In the next great war, the country that masters artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and the internet of things will essentially bring guided-missile destroyers to a sailboat fight.
For this reason, most insiders and China watchers agree that Beijing’s forced technology transfer must end, and Trump is actually having some success on that front.

President Donald Trump’s Thursday chat with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He at the White House revealed something that insiders have long known: Trade figures like the deficit are red herrings, and the real fight between China and the US is over the future of tech and, by extension, who will win the next world war.

While Trump drones on about the trade deficit, his trade war with China also seeks to fundamentally restructure the relationship between the world’s two economic superpowers.

And the key here isn’t trade stats or even economics broadly, but national security.

In the next great war, the country that masters artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and the internet of things will essentially bring guided-missile destroyers to a sailboat fight.

With that in mind, here’s what the White House said Trump and Liu talked about (emphasis added):

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Apple has disabled group FaceTime calls after it was humiliated on Data Privacy Day by a bug that lets people listen in on you

January 29, 2019

Apple has disabled group FaceTime calls after it was humiliated on Data Privacy Day by a bug that lets people listen in on you

Apple temporarily disabled group FaceTime calls after it was alerted to a major bug, which allows iPhone or iPad users to secretly hear what someone is saying before they answer the call.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey was among those advising people to disable FaceTime until Apple releases a fix, which it said could be as early as this week.
The bug is acutely embarrassing for Apple, which has long touted its privacy credentials. It also surfaced on Data Privacy Day, when CEO Tim Cook called for privacy reforms.

Apple has been carefully cultivating its image as the prince of privacy in Silicon Valley over recent months.

The iPhone maker has tried to cement its reputation has the defender of its users’ data through speeches, thinly disguised attacks on rivals like Facebook, and giant Las Vegas billboards at CES. But on Monday, the shine of Apple’s rhetoric was smudged by an embarrassing FaceTime bug.

The bug allows an iPhone or iPad user to secretly hear what someone is saying before they answer the call. Apple has now temporarily shut down group FaceTime calls, which trigger the bug.

The issue surfaced on Twitter and Snapchat and quickly went viral, even making its way up to the Twitter CEO himself, Jack Dorsey, who advised his followers to disable FaceTime while Apple figures out a fix.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

What will happen when Earth’s north and south poles flip

January 17, 2019

What will happen when Earth’s north and south poles flip

Earth’s magnetic field is what protects our planet from harmful space radiation.
But our protective shield might soon go into a transformation that could threaten the lives on Earth.
This video shows what will happen when Earth’s magnetic poles flip.

Did you know that Earth has two North Poles? There’s the geographic North Pole, which never changes. And there’s the magnetic North Pole, which is always on the move. And right now it’s moving faster than usual.

Over the past 150 years, the magnetic North Pole has casually wandered 685 miles across northern Canada. But right now it’s racing 25 miles a year to the northwest.

This could be a sign that we’re about to experience something humans have never seen before: a magnetic polar flip. And when this happens, it could affect much more than just your compass.

Alanna Mitchell: Right now on the surface of the planet, it looks like it’s just a bar magnet. Our compasses are just pointing to one pole at a time because there’s a dominant two-pole system.

But sometimes, Earth doesn’t always just have a single magnetic North and South Pole. Evidence suggests that, for hundreds to thousands of years at a time, our planet has had four, six, and even eight poles at a time. This is what has happened when the magnetic poles flipped in the past. And when it happens again, it won’t be good news for humans.

Now you might think, eight poles must be better than two. But the reality is that: Multiple magnetic fields would fight each other. This could weaken Earth’s protective magnetic field by up to 90% during a polar flip.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The founder of the World Economic Forum shares what he sees as the biggest threat to the global economy

January 15, 2019

The founder of the World Economic Forum shares what he sees as the biggest threat to the global economy

Economist Klaus Schwab is the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum which will be holding it’s Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland January 22-25, 2019.
Schwab explains the theme of this year’s meeting, “Globalization 4.0: Shaping a New Architecture in the Age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.”
When asked if we were currently in a trend of deglobalization he said no, “we have to make a differentiation between globalization, which is a fact, and globalism.”
He says the biggest threat to economic stability is the imbalances in the world.
Schwab says he believes trade imbalances are a problem. He is not an unconditional advocate for free trade, which he says is great but only if there is equality.

Sara Silverstein: This year’s theme for 2019 for the meeting is Globalization 4.0 and shaping the architecture of the Next Wave of Globalization which is the industrial revolution, the fourth industrial revolution, which you’ve literally wrote a book on. Can you tell me what makes up the fourth industrial revolution?

Klaus Schwab: We are living in a time of multiple technological innovations. I just mentioned artificial intelligence, blockchain, you could add and add, and all those technologies together will fundamentally transform the world, not just business models but economies, society, politics and so on. So when we speak about globalization 4.0, we want to address the global architecture which is needed in this new context of the fourth industrial revolution.

Silverstein: And what was the issue with the last wave of globalization?

Schwab: We see it already now so so many issues like inequality, trade wars, and I could go on and on. The danger is that we deal with those issues, we address those issues with patchwork policies.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Stocks are falling after a fresh set of horrible data out of China reignited worries about the global economy

January 14, 2019

Stocks are falling after a fresh set of horrible data out of China reignited worries about the global economy

china shanghai stock exchange — Another day, another weak set of Chinese data.

A fresh set of troublingly poor data out of China has investors running for cover on Monday, with all major stock indexes around the world losing ground on the week’s first trading day.
Trade data showed that the value of Chinese imports and exports fell heavily in the year to December.
The news has pushed stocks around the world lower, with futures pointing to losses of as much as 0.9% for the Nasdaq when US markets open later Monday.
European and Asian shares have also dropped, with the market further hindered by thin liquidity in Asia as Japanese traders enjoy a public holiday.
Follow the latest stock moves at Markets Insider.

A fresh set of troublingly poor data out of China has investors running for cover on Monday, with all major stock indexes around the world losing ground on the week’s first trading day.

The value of Chinese imports and exports fell heavily in the year to December, adding to a lengthening list of evidence that all is not well in the world’s second largest economy.

According to China’s General Administration of Customs, the value of exports tumbled 7.6% from a year earlier in US dollar terms, coming in well below the median economist forecast offered to Reuters for an increase of 5%.

The year-on-year drop in imports and exports was the largest since the second half of 2016.

“Weaker than expected trade figures are immediately weighing on commodity and equity markets and associated currency baskets,” Stephen Innes, head of trading in the Asia Pacific region for OANDA said in an email. “Sorry, no frontloading in this data to hang one’s hat on!”

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Grocery stores would run out of food in 3 days if long-haul truckers stopped working

January 14, 2019

Grocery stores would run out of food in 3 days if long-haul truckers stopped working

soda supermarket grocery store — Your favorite products wouldn’t be available for too long if truckers stopped working.

Trucking moves 71% of the freight in the United States.
Most of the basic functions of society wouldn’t be effective if truckers were to stop working.
And naturally, your Amazon Prime packages would be delayed.

Trucking moves 71% of the freight in the United States. And if it were to suddenly cease, the effects would be more drastic than you might expect.

In May 2018, truck drivers in Brazil went on strike for a week, and it “paralyzed” the country in unexpected ways. As gas stations ran out of fuel, for instance, public transit halted.

“Without trucking, we would be naked, starving, and homeless,” Mike Robbins, a longtime trucker and leader of trucker strike group Black Smoke Matters, told Business Insider.

A study by the American Trucking Associations outlined what would happen if truckers were to stop working. The effects would hit hospitals, gas stations, ATMs, grocery stores, and even your garbage can.

And, of course, your Amazon Prime packages would be delayed.

Within the first day

Basic medical supplies, like syringes and catheters, would be at risk of running out. Medication for cancer patients that use radiopharmacuticals, which only have a life span of a few hours, would expire.

During the 2018 truck strike in Brazil, a lack of medical supplies was a key choke point for the country. Government security forces escorted trucks with supplies to hospitals and doubled fines against striking truckers who were carrying medical cargo.

Mail and package delivery could stop if drivers in last-mile, as well as long-haul truck drivers, were to stop working.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The Trade War Is Getting Worse For U.S. Businesses

October 26, 2018

The Trade War Is Getting Worse For U.S. Businesses

President Donald Trump’s trade war is making things even worse than before for businesses in the United States. The trade war has been dragging on for four long months now, and the pain is being felt financially.

Companies’ earlier worries are starting to translate into actual financial pain as new orders coming in from China face the higher duties imposed by the Trump administration. According to Business Insider, many companies have retained their workforce but passed the skyrocketing costs of the tariffs on to the backs of the consumer.

While surveys in previous months fully exposed the worries about the soon-to-come cost increases from the tariffs, new data seems to show that businesses are now grappling with that reality. Surveys from the Federal Reserve and market-research firms released Wednesday outlined more widespread worries about the tariffs, while individual companies have started to tabulate the tens of millions of dollars in new costs they’re likely to incur from the tariffs.

The survey came down to a few points:

Businesses were concerned that goods coming into the US from other countries were more expensive. Many of those goods are used in products sold by American companies to consumers, so the increased import prices prompted a boost in costs for firms and an increase in prices for consumers.
The retaliatory tariffs made it harder for businesses to sell goods to markets like China and Canada.
The buildup in the United States of a supply for those goods subject to tariffs abroad (notably farm goods like pork and soybeans) caused prices to sink in the US and businesses to receive less for their products, putting their entire business at risk.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

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