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Last Update:
-The governors of Texas, Georgia, Arkansas, and North Carolina have declared states of emergency over the winter storm that is hitting their states.
-Speaking of natural disasters - while Western NC residents are being denied extensions to their temporary lodging post-Helene and reporting that FEMA isn’t answering their phones, Biden has announced full financial support for the California wildfires.
War/Military:
-The leader of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has asked Trump to keep US troops in Syria to prevent a resurgence of ISIS.
--Or…he could just shut down that Foggy Bottom funding stream.
-Taiwan is investigating the cutting of an undersea international communications cable that they believe a Chinese freighter is responsible for.
--They had redundancy built into the system so communications were rerouted quickly.
sofx.com/taiwan-investi…
-Some reports are coming out showing aerial surveillance that China may be building and preparing amphibious landing craft, but I don’t see them making the move after Trump comes into office.
--It’s gonna be a long 10 days.
-An attack on the Presidential palace in the nation of Chad has left 19 people dead - 18 of whom were the attackers.
--Some are calling it a Boko Haram or other terrorist attack, but the Chadian gov is saying they were intoxicated youth.
sofx.com/attack-on-chad…
-A Yakuza leader pled guilty in Manhattan this week to trafficking nuclear materials out of Myanmar.
sofx.com/yakuza-leader-…
-Acute and chronic leukemias and other types of cancers will now be recognized as presumptive conditions for toxic-exposed veterans of the wars of the Middle East for the past 25 years, especially those who spent time at K2 in Uzbekistan, under the PACT Act.
stripes.com/veterans/2025-…
-Turkish President Erdogan has signaled that he may take imminent action against the US-backed Kurdish YPG group, who makes up a significant portion of the SDF, if he believes that Syria’s “unity is threatened.”
sofx.com/turkey-signals…
-German Finance Minister Annalena Baerbock traveled to Damascus to cuddle up to the new leadership there. There’s a bit of a controversy because he refused to shake her hand.
--What a surprise - radical Islamists who overthrew a country are conforming to the strict interpretations of Islamist laws.
--Maybe, I don’t know…the German finance minister should focus on her own cratering economy? Just a thought?
newarab.com/news/syria-con…
Markets/economics:
-The markets all had a pretty rough day on Friday that is being blamed on the jobs numbers, but may have far more to do with the “long tail” treasury yields pushing higher.
--S&P 500 dropped 1.54% Friday, down 0.71% on the week
--NASDAQ dropped 1.63% Friday, down 0.62% on the week
--Russell 2000 dropped 2.22% Friday, down 1.90% on the week
--Crude oil is up 3.58% this week
--Gold is up to $2,717.40 as of Friday
--BTC is still bouncing up and down, at $94,412.98 as of this writing (Friday evening)
-We mentioned the “long tail” of treasuries above. The “long tail” means the longer-dated maturities, while the “short tail” would be the shorter-dated maturities. Here’s the numbers so you can see what I mean:
--13-week bond: 4.2130
--2-year yield futures: 4.3910
--5-year: 4.5930
--10-year: 4.7760
--30-year: 4.9650
--Some of the “tools” used by Treasury can be used to affect the “long tail” or “short tail” in accordance with policy objectives.
--Our Treasury is run by a disingenuous moron (Yellen), and the “long tail” is going haywire as investors are losing trust in the long-term stability of US debt.
--The 10-year above 4.75 is considered a huge “danger zone” for US markets
-Currency pairs to the USD are reasonably stable with regard to where they were on Monday.
Business:
-Department stores Macy’s and Kohl’s are closing 100 stores between them (66 are reported to be from Macy’s alone).
BY 1st Amendment Praetorian
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