Assessment: March cotton futures in New York rose as much as 2% to $1.26 per pound, the highest since June 2011. Prices are up for the seventh straight quarter, the longest streak since 1959 …
The global fashion industry is on the rebound as BMO Capital boosted Under Armour’s rating to Outperform from Sector Perform. Fashion retailers breathe a sigh of relief as demand picks up but comes at a high price for consumers.
This year, about two-thirds of fashion executives expect to increase costs due to snarled supply chains. Average prices are expected to rise about 3% across all clothing and apparel, according to the State of Fashion 2022 report by the Business of Fashion and McKinsey & Co.
About 15% of respondents said clothing and apparel prices could jump by more than 10%.
“You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.” Haggai 1:6
Inflation in fashion hasn’t just been due to transportation bottlenecks and rising shipping costs but also rocketing commodity prices. Bloomberg reports cotton futures have soared to a decade high on Monday due to a “global deficit of the fiber squeezing mills holding huge short positions.”
March cotton futures in New York rose as much as 2% to $1.26 per pound, the highest since June 2011. Prices are up for the seventh straight quarter, the longest streak since 1959.
“Supply disruptions and soaring costs pushed the industry to draw on stockpiles, which have practically vanished at ICE Futures U.S., with higher prices unable to lure supplies into the exchange-tracked warehouses,” Bloomberg said.
High prices for the fiber indicate inflation is coming to shirts, blue jeans, dresses, sweats, and so much more.
Demand for cotton worldwide “is simply not being met’ …
Read More @ Zero Hedge HERE
Dozens of phony high-tech firms have sprung up across Israel to serve China’s latest campaign to winkle out advanced military knowhow from Israel’s defense industries. Washington recently handed a list of those straw companies to Israel’s Shin Bet domestic security service which is responsible for blocking alien penetration of Israel’s top secret defense technologies. Beijing has long sought access to those technologies. Its latest stunt for getting around the Shin Bet has been to gain partnerships in Israeli high-tech companies.
Having picked up on this stratagem, all local defense firms were issued instructions in recent weeks to notify the Defense Ministry’s Security Department of any offers of investment or partnership coming from foreign quarters. Those offers could then be screened to weed out Chinese associations.
But some did get through, nonetheless, and achieved their goal.
“Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared. Rev. 16:12
On Dec. 21, ten Israeli drone experts and three companies were indicted in an alleged conspiracy for the unlicensed sale of armed drones to China. Their trial opens next month. According to the indictments, this group is charged with “manufacturing cruise missiles and actions capable of threatening human life.” Its leader is Efraim Menashe, director of the Solar Sky group which leased the services of Innocon, an Israeli manufacturer of intelligence-gathering UAVs. Dozens of these drones have already been shipped to the Chinese army. Some of the accused have opted for silence on the affair but claim that, when they speak, they will reveal a different picture to the charges brought against them.
America has repeatedly intervened when Israeli arms and intelligence technology transfers to China were at stake.
Read More @ Debka HERE
7 dispensations, authoritarian government, Church age, Covid vaccine, Pretribulation, Rapture, repentance, unvaccinated
My family immigrated to Canada over 40 years ago to escape the Lebanese civil war. This vast and cold country turned out to be a wonderful place of welcome and opportunity which allowed everyone to flourish and prosper. I was born and raised in Canada and I’ve always been proud and appreciative of this fact. In fact, every time I hear the national anthem, I get slight chills when I hear this one specific line:
God keep our land glorious and free!
But then COVID hit. And it did not take long before Canada lost some of its glory. And most of its freedom. This is especially true in one specific province: Quebec.
While most of the world had to deal with harsh COVID restrictions, Quebec consistently lead the world in the extreme severity of its measures. Despite an abundantly funded universal healthcare system that is “the envy of the world”, Quebec spent 13 out of the last 22 months in a strict lockdown where most businesses were closed and most social interactions banned.
In 2022, although 90% of the population is vaccinated, things are only getting worse and dangerous precedents are being set. Here’s a look at life in Quebec right now.
“For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.”Matthew24;21
When COVID hit Quebec in 2020, it responded (like most of the world) with a massive and total lockdown. Schools and businesses were closed for two weeks to “flatten the curve”. These weeks turned into months. During that time, a slew of measures was imposed on the public by a government that suspended democracy and began ruling by decree. This is is still true today.
Rule by decree is a style of governance allowing quick, unchallenged promulgation of law by a single person or group, and is used primarily by dictators, absolute monarchs and military leaders.
In January 2021, the entire population of Quebec was subjected to a curfew that lasted FIVE months. During that time, people who were caught outside of their homes after 8 PM were stopped by police and given fines. As days got longer, people had to live with the absurdity of hiding inside their homes while the sun was still up.
Meanwhile, vaccines were made available. People were told that these shots would lead to freedom and normality. People were also told that a 70% vaccination rate would be enough to build solid herd immunity in the province. Quebecers, who were sick and tired of the insane measures, rolled up their sleeves. The province quickly neared a 90% vaccination rate – one of the highest in the world.
So did Quebec reap the rewards of its compliance? No. Delta arrived. And, despite the fact that 9 out of 10 people were vaccinated, the government imposed a vaccine passport in most “non-essential public places” such as bars, restaurants, gyms, and much more. The introduction of the passport was preceded by a massive media campaign where nearly all “news” outlets and journalists backed the measure. Those who were opposed to it were silenced and censored.
Read More @ Vigilant Citizen HERE
At last week’s FOMC press conference, Chair Powell was unequivocal about his discomfort with persistently high inflation. Had the January FOMC been a forecast meeting, he told us, he would have revised up his inflation forecast for 2022 by “a few tenths.” The Fed is set on tightening policy this year. Bringing down inflation through monetary policy means slower growth, but how much inflation and growth will decline is the question.
A dirty little secret about the economics profession is how imprecisely we understand the inflation-generating process. The Fed and most mainstream economists have in mind a version of an “expectations-augmented Phillips curve” to describe cyclical inflation. Inflation is driven by inflation expectations and whether the economy has slack and inflation falls or is overextended and inflation rises.
And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A [a]quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.” Rev. 6:5
That cyclical component ignores other short-term factors, like swings in oil prices or the current supply chain frictions, that can temporarily push inflation up or down. Framing inflation this way has some thorny implications for the next few years, particularly if most of current inflation is cyclical, not temporary.
Core PCE inflation just hit roughly 5%, or about 3 percentage points above the Fed’s target. If the extra inflation is cyclical, policy will have to slow the economy to create enough slack to bring it down. If it is mostly Covid driven and temporary, inflation will come down on its own. Our house view is that the majority of the extra inflation is Covid driven, not cyclical, but what if we are wrong?
Suppose two-thirds of the extra inflation (2 percentage points) is cyclical and only one-third is temporary. The Fed’s baseline estimate of the Phillips curve has a slope of about 0.1, that is, a 1-percentage-point increase in the unemployment rate lowers core PCE inflation by only one-tenth of a percentage point. Simple arithmetic says that a 20-percentage-point increase in unemployment is needed to bring inflation down by 2 percentage points. But even if the relationship is 5 times larger, as may have been the case decades ago, the Fed would need to orchestrate a 4-percentage-point increase in the unemployment rate to wring out those 2 percentage points of inflation. Any time unemployment has risen by 50bp, we have had a recession.
Of course, the Fed does not want to intentionally cause a recession, so something would have to give.
Read More @ Zero Hedge HERE
Assessment: The missile fire was reportedly aimed at Abu Dhabi International Airport. Air traffic was immediately suspended, temporarily …
The United Arab Emirates capital of Abu Dhabi was under attack late Sunday night, with air defense systems engaging at least one ballistic missile in the skies above the city, the UAE Ministry of Defense (MOD) announced in a tweet.
Israel’s President Isaac Herzog and his wife Michal are currently in the UAE for an official two-day visit, the first-ever such visit by an Israeli president. Both are safe. President Herzog said he will continue his visit to the UAE, as planned, regardless of the Houthi missile attack, his spokesperson said in a statement shortly after.
“Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.” Daniel 9:27
“The attack did not result in any losses, as the remnants of the ballistic missile fell outside the populated areas,” the ministry said. UAE air forces, together with the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen, subsequently destroyed the the missile launch site in Yemen’s Al-Jawf governorate, the statement said. The ministry affirmed its “full readiness to deal with any threats,” adding it will “take all necessary measures to protect the UAE from any attacks.”
The missile fire was reportedly aimed at Abu Dhabi International Airport. Air traffic was immediately suspended, temporarily.
Read More @ Arutz Sheva HERE
Assessment: But while Washington has been talking sanctions and even cutting Russia off from SWIFT (the best option), Ukraine’s President Zelensky himself has been busy attempting to reign in the loose canon and “dangerous” rhetoric coming out of Washington officials…
“He takes away the understanding of the chiefs of the people of the earth,
And makes them wander in a pathless wilderness.” Job 12:24
Bloomberg reports that the Biden administration has briefed Wall Street on possible new far-reaching sanctions on Russia, and ongoing efforts to ensure that they wouldn’t disrupt the global financial system. On the table is sanctions against Russian banks, companies, and imports in the scenario that Ukraine is attacked.
This included National Security Council officials this week holding discussions with executives from major banks including Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. – according to the Bloomberg report.
This similarly comes as the administration is said to be reaching out to energy firms in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa – in hopes of helping Western Europe tapping alternate supply sources should things escalate to the point of Russia drastically cutting off gas to Europe, which could be a likely retaliatory move by Russia.
But while Washington has been talking sanctions and even cutting Russia off from SWIFT, Ukraine’s President Zelensky himself has been busy attempting to reign in the loose canon and “dangerous” rhetoric coming out of Washington officials…
(SWIFT, Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, is a vast messaging network used by banks and other financial institutions to send and receive information, such as money transfer instructions quickly, accurately, and securely. More than 11,000 SWIFT member institutions sent over thirty-five million transactions per day through the SWIFT network in 2020)
Read More @ Zero Hedge HERE
