Authored by Daniel Lacalle,

Why is the price of gold rising if the global economy is not in recession and inflation is allegedly under control? This is a question often heard in investment circles, and I will try to answer it.

We must begin by clarifying the question. It is true that inflation is slowly decreasing, but we cannot say that it is under control. Let us remember that the latest CPI data in the United States was 3% annualised and that in the Eurozone it is 2.6%, with eight countries publishing data above 3%, including Spain.

This is why central banks need to give the impression of hawkishness and maintain rates or lower them very cautiously. However, monetary policy is far from being restrictive. Money supply growth is picking up, the ECB maintains its “anti-fragmentation mechanism,” and the Federal Reserve continues to inject money through the liquidity window. We can say, without a doubt, that monetary policy is beyond accommodative.

At the end of this article, the price of gold is above $2,400 an ounce, up 16.5% between January and July 19, 2024. In the same period, gold has performed better than the S&P 500, the Stoxx 600 in Europe, and the MSCI Global. In fact, over the past five years, gold has outperformed not only the European and global stock markets, but also the S&P 500, with only the Nasdaq surpassing the precious metal. This is a period of alleged recovery and strong expansion of the stock markets. On the one hand, the market is discounting the central banks’ continued accommodative and expansionary policies, even possible high debt monetization, given the unsustainable deficits in the United States and developed countries. That is, the market assumes that the Federal Reserve and the ECB will not be able to maintain the reduction of their balance sheets in the face of rising debt and public spending in many economies. As a result, gold protects many investors against the erosion of the currency’s purchasing power, i.e., inflation, without the extreme volatility of Bitcoin. If the market discounts further monetary expansion to cover the accumulated deficits, it is normal for the investor to seek protection with gold, which has centuries of history as an alternative to fiduciary money and offers a low-volatility hedge against currency debasement.

Another important factor is the central bank’s purchase of gold. JP Morgan is credited with the phrase “gold is money and everything else is credit.” All the world’s central banks include treasury bonds from countries that serve as global reserve currencies in their asset base. This allows central banks around the world to try to stabilize their currencies. When we read that a central bank buys or sells dollars or euros, it is not making transactions with physical currency but with government bonds. Hence, as the market price of government bonds has fallen 7% between 2019 and 2024, many of these central banks are facing latent losses from a slump in the value of their assets. What is the best way to strengthen a central bank’s balance sheet, thereby diversifying and reducing exposure to fiat currencies? Purchase gold.

The rising purchases of gold by central banks are an essential factor justifying the recent increase in demand for the precious metal. Central banks, especially in China and India, are trying to reduce their dependence on the dollar or the euro to diversify their reserves. However, this does not mean full de-dollarization. Far from it.

According to the World Gold Council, central banks have accelerated their gold purchases to more than 1,000 tonnes per year in 2022 and 2023. This means that monetary authorities account for almost a quarter of the annual demand for gold during a period when supply and production have not grown significantly. The ratio of output to demand stands at 0.9 in June 2024, according to Morgan Stanley.

Global official gold reserves have increased by 290 net tonnes in the first quarter of 2024, the highest since 2000, according to the World Gold Council, 69% higher than the five-year quarterly average (171 metric tonnes).

The People’s Bank of China and the Central Bank of India are the biggest buyers as they aim to balance their reserves, adding more gold to reduce loss-making exposure to government securities. According to Metals Focus, Refinitiv GFMS, and the World Gold Council, China has been increasing its gold purchases for seventeen months, and since 2022, it has shot up its reserves by 16%, coinciding with the increase in global polarization and the trade wars.

That does not mean full de-dollarization, as the People’s Bank of China has 4.6% of its total reserves in gold. US Treasury bonds are the most important asset, accounting for more than 50% of the Chinese central bank’s assets. However, its goal is to raise gold reserves to at least 14%, according to local media. Thus, it would imply a significant annual purchase of gold for years.

India’s central bank increased its gold reserves by 19 metric tonnes during the first quarter. Other central banks that are diversifying and buying more gold than ever are the National Bank of Kazakhstan, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the Central Bank of Qatar, the Central Bank of Turkey, and the Central Bank of Oman, according to the sources cited above. During this period, both the Czech National Bank and the National Bank of Poland increased their gold reserves in Europe, reaching the highest level since 2021. In these cases, the aim is to balance the exposure in the asset base with more gold and less eurozone government bonds.

The goal of this central bank trend is to increase the weight of an asset that does not fluctuate with the price of government bonds. It is not about de-dollarization but about balancing the balance sheet from the volatility created by their own misguided expansionary policies. For years, the policy of central banks has been to reduce their gold holdings, and now they must come back to logic and rebalance after suffering years of latent losses on their government bond holdings. In fact, one could say that the world’s central banks anticipate their own widespread erosion of the purchasing power of reserve currencies due to the saturation of fiscal and monetary policies, and for that reason, they need more gold.

After years of thinking that money can be printed without limits and without creating inflation, monetary authorities are trying to return to logic and have more gold on their balance sheets. At the same time, many expected that the trade war between China and the United States and global polarisation would be reversed in the Biden years, and the opposite has happened. It has accelerated. Now, the latent losses in the sovereign bond asset portfolio are leading all these central banks to buy more gold and try to protect themselves from new bursts of inflationary pressures.

In an era of high correlation between assets and perpetual monetary destruction, gold serves as a low volatility, low correlation, and strong long-term return addition to any prudent portfolio.

Just days after Beijing concluded its Third plenum with no major announcements, disappointing markets, early on Monday China unexpectedly cut its key short-term policy rate and the mortgage reference rates, its first such broad move since  August last year. Analysts said the move just days after the conclusion of a high-level meeting that had focused on reviving the national economy represented “reactive easing.”

PBOC said it would cut the seven-day reverse repo rate to 1.7%  from 1.8%, and would also improve the mechanism of open market  operations. That is the first cut to the rate since August 2023.

The PBOC lowered the seven-day reverse repo rate – a widely used liquidity injection tool – by 10 basis points to 1.7% in a move to increase financial support for the real economy. In total, the Chinese central bank sold 58.2 billion yuan (US$8 billion) of seven-day reverse repos. Minutes  later, China cut benchmark lending rates by the same margin at the  monthly fixing: The one-year loan prime rate (LPR) was lowered to 3.35%  from 3.45% previously, while the five-year LPR was reduced to 3.85% from  3.95%. The change to the seven-day reverse repo rate would affect short-term market rates, while the change to the LPR reflects actual lending rates to the real economy.

And while analysts expect more rate cuts, they also urged future fiscal measures and policy support to do the “heavy lifting” to help accomplish this year’s economic growth target amid growing external challenges, the SCMP reported.

“[The] moves mark the first change in rates since February, and also the first major move since announcing a shift in the monetary policy framework in June,” said Lynn Song, chief economist for Greater China at ING.

“We will need to see if the other policy rates, such as the medium-term lending facility, follow [Monday’s] rate cuts in the coming weeks.

“Rate cuts will likely add to the pressure on Chinese banks. These pressures could increase further if the medium-term lending facility is not soon lowered.”

Louise Loo, lead economist at Oxford Economics, said that the moves on Monday were “originally anticipated” to come in by the fourth quarter following a rate-cutting cycle by the US Federal Reserve.

“We continue to expect a further 10 basis points in benchmark rate cuts in quarter four, alongside 25 basis points cuts in the reserve ratio requirement in quarter three and quarter four each to facilitate liquidity support, given the steady ramp-up in stimulus-related government bond issuances,” she said.

And Zhang Zhiwei, president and chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management, said that more rate cuts are expected after the US Federal Reserve enters a rate cut cycle. “The rate cut [by the PBOC] is one step in the right direction,” he said.

China’s recently concluded third plenum – which failed to spark any excitement about a Chinese rebound – placed an emphasis on boosting economic capabilities to tackle growth, with the full text of the decisions from a key party conclave revealed on Sunday.

Under the section covering “healthy assurance and improvement of the social system” in the 22,000-word resolution document released on Sunday following the conclusion of the third plenum on Thursday, it stated that there is a need to speed up the formation of a new property development model to increase the supply of affordable housing.

The document added that local governments would be given ample space to regulate the property market with a series of policy modifications, such as the reduction and cancellation of housing purchase limits, the cancellation of buying thresholds for ordinary and non-ordinary housing and the reformation of housing financing and the property tax system.

“While [Monday’s] rate cuts offer some reassurance that policymakers are being responsive to the recent loss of economic momentum, the heavy lifting will need to come from fiscal, not monetary, policy,” said Julian Evans-Pritchard, head of China economics at Capital Economics. “Fortunately, the signs on that front are encouraging too.”

And Morgan Stanley said that “these moves post-plenum reaffirms reactive easing”.

“We see additional policy rate cuts in September-December,” said Robin Xing, chief China economist at Morgan Stanley.

“That said, the reactive nature of easing means our 2024 growth and inflation forecasts are facing 10-20 basis points of downside risk.”

Early Monday, Ukraine succeeded in its first successful drone attack on a major Russian refinery since mid-May. Dozens of drones were launched from Ukraine with the objective of crippling Russia’s energy infrastructure. 

Bloomberg reports Rosneft PJSC’s major Tuapse refinery in southern Russia was damaged in a drone attack overnight, which sparked a fire, Russian officials said. 

“Infrastructure of the oil refinery in Tuapse was damaged as a result of falling drone debris,” Russian authorities wrote in a Telegram statement, adding the fire has since been contained.

Some of the clearest video so far of this conflict shows one of the Ukrainian drones striking the Tuapse refinery. 

Ukrainian drones striking the Russian oil refinery in Tuapse in the Krasnodar region 2-3 hours ago

The oil refinery is on firepic.twitter.com/GbV0Tk00Qh

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) July 22, 2024

In a separate Telegram statement, the Russian Defense Ministry said 75 Ukrainian drones were intercepted. At least eight of those drones were shot down near the refinery. 

Ukraine has spent much of this year focusing on launching attacks on Russia’s energy complex (an attempt to paralyze Moscow’s war financing). The Tuapse refinery is Russia’s largest on the Black Sea, with an annual refining capacity of 12 million metric tons (or averaging 240,000 barrels per day). It supplies naphtha, fuel oil, vacuum gas oil, and high-sulfur diesel to mainly China, Turkey, Malaysia, and Singapore. 

“This is the first successful Ukrainian attack on a major Russian refinery since mid-May, and it comes just as Russia’s oil-processing industry is on track to raise its runs to a six-month high to meet growing domestic fuel demand,” Bloomberg noted. The last major attack on Tuapse was in mid-May. We penned a note covering the incident titled “Desperate Ukraine Launches Massive Kamikaze Drone Attack Against Russian Black Sea Coast, Sparking Fire At Major Refinery.” 

Despite Ukraine’s targeting of Russian energy infrastructure to slow crude product exports, energy analysts are still forecasting growth for Russia’s oil-processing volumes through the end of August.

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

While Joe Biden provided no reason, other than ‘the greater good’ for no longer being the Democratic nominee, his brother Frank Biden told CBS News that ailing health “absolutely” played a “considerable role” in the decision.

“I’m incredibly proud of my brother. Selfishly I will have him back to enjoy whatever time we have left,” Frank Biden told CBS, making it sound like Biden doesn’t have long left to live.

The CBS anchor was surprised that Frank Biden said this because the White House is still bluntly denying age or health has anything to do with it.

Biden’s brother released a weird statement saying that they are going to “enjoy whatever time we have left.” He also admitted that declining health played a “considerable role” in him stepping down. Yet the White House is STILL denying this. Full report: https://t.co/jRyUZVZ9Nc pic.twitter.com/aAwSuEHg55

— m o d e r n i t y (@ModernityNews) July 22, 2024

This entire debacle has some asking if Biden is even still alive.

Fox News host Dana Perino noted, “They didn’t even release a White House still photograph. Nothing! I hope he’s fine, but you can forgive people for wondering if we are really living Weekend at Bernie’s right now. Like, proof of life, please! Let’s see it!”

BAIER: Not physically seeing Biden – not addressing a camera in Delaware, let alone an Oval Office statement like LBJ did.

PERINO: They didn’t even release a WH still photograph. Nothing. I hope he’s fine, but you can forgive people for wondering if we are really living Weekend… pic.twitter.com/j549P87mIp

— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) July 21, 2024

He is supposedly isolating in Delaware while recovering from COVID. Could he not post a video announcing this monumental decision?

Biden dropped out over 4 hours ago, yet we literally have ZERO evidence that he knows about it. Not even a photo.

The paperwork has already been filed.
The campaign cash is being transferred.
Endorsements for Kamala are pouring in.

Yet, we have no clue who sent that post.

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) July 21, 2024

As we highlighted yesterday, Biden’s staff were still on TV the very same morning touting his capabilities to win the election, and were still tweeting that he was going to win.

It’s been known all week that Biden was officially out. Yet his entire campaign staff had no idea, were tweeting about him going to win the election yesterday and were on TV this morning still saying he was going to win. Really makes you think 🤔 https://t.co/2QRHawIFuG

— m o d e r n i t y (@ModernityNews) July 21, 2024

This Biden post from 20 hours ago aged about as well as milk left in a sauna for 20 hours. Yesterday he was still convinced he would win the election. Really makes you think 🤔 pic.twitter.com/XHcsm1JB08

— m o d e r n i t y (@ModernityNews) July 21, 2024

It was common knowledge that Biden was dropping out for days before it happened.

I heard last week that he would resign at this exact time and date. It was widespread knowledge in DC.

The real powers that be are discarding the old puppet in favor of one that has a better chance of fooling the public.

They fear Trump because he is not a puppet.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 21, 2024

Yet Biden’s team knew nothing about him stepping down and only found out when it was posted on X, by whoever is running Biden’s account.

Biden’s announcement stunned White House and campaign aides, who up until this afternoon were insisting he’d stay in the race.

“We’re all finding out by tweet,” said one Dem. “None of us understand what’s happening.” https://t.co/VHphH6HPNL

— POLITICO (@politico) July 21, 2024

pic.twitter.com/RMIRvlSOYw

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 21, 2024

Before the announcement was made, JD Vance called for Biden to resign the presidency immediately, stating that if he isn’t capable of running , he can’t be capable of being the president.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump has called for an investigation into Biden’s doctors for lying to the American people about the president’s health.

*  *  *

Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

By Grant Smith, Bloomberg markets live reporter and strategist

Oil prices may have been confined to a tight range this month, but an array of signals from the physical market suggest the next move could be a break to the upside.

First of all, there are the time-spreads between monthly futures contracts, which have shown a strengthening premium on prompt deliveries over the past six weeks as US driving demand climbs toward its summertime peak. The so-called flat price of crude has lagged behind, pressured by concerns over the global economy, but sooner or later may need to catch up.

The entrenched premium on prompt supplies — known as backwardation — indicates that global oil inventories are depleting at the swift pace anticipated this quarter by forecasters like the International Energy Agency. This is substantiated by a hefty decline in US crude inventories, down by roughly 20 million barrels over the past three weeks.

Cargo trading is adding to the generally bullish picture, with grades in the Mediterranean like Azeri Light climbing substantially, and CPC Blend bid at its highest level in four years. Wildfires in Canada and hurricane season in the Atlantic compound the short-term supply risks. As brokers PVM Oil Associates write today, “the crude bull story is a compelling one.”

Still, there are serious question marks over how much higher any rally could go. Global inventory drawdowns are set to decelerate markedly in the fourth quarter, as China’s economic growth stutters and supplies from across the Americas continues to swell. Forecasters calling for Brent to spike all the way up to $90 a barrel may yet be disappointed.

Authored by Alex O’Donnell via CoinTelegraph.com,

After years of regulatory pushback and countless amended registration filings, spot Ether  exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are finally hitting the market. 

For the first time, shares of publicly-traded Ethereum (ETH) ETFs will be listed alongside the likes of Apple Inc (AAPL) and SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) on some of the United States’ most popular brokerage platforms.

The anticipated listings are a defining moment for cryptocurrency markets and an opportunity for millions of US institutional and retail investors. Here’s what you need to know to make the most of it.

When will spot Ether ETFs be available?

The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) confirmed July 23 as the launch date for the five ETFs assigned to trade on its platform: 21Shares Core Ethereum ETF, Fidelity Ethereum Fund, Invesco Galaxy Ethereum ETF, VanEck Ethereum ETF, and Franklin Ethereum ETF.

The four other spot ETH ETFs will trade on either Nasdaq or New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Arca. Despite no official announcements yet from those exchanges, they are widely expected to list on July 23 as well.

Where can I buy Ethereum ETF shares?

The short answer: virtually any major brokerage platform. Every spot ETH ETF set to list in the last week of July has already obtained regulatory sign-off to trade on at least one major U.S. exchange — specifically either the Nasdaq, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Arca or Cboe BZX.

Everyday investors don’t trade directly on those exchanges. Instead, they rely on brokerage platforms — household names such as Fidelity, E*TRADE, Robinhood, Charles Schwab, and TD Ameritrade — as intermediaries.

Once ETH ETF shares are listed on public exchanges, expect all of the big name brokerages, and others, to be able to facilitate trades.

What are my options and how do I know which is best?

Nine spot Ether ETFs are set to begin trading. In terms of underlying mechanics, the funds are virtually identical. Every ETF is sponsored by a reputable fund manager, holds spot ETH with a qualified custodian, and relies on a core group of professional market-makers to create and redeem shares. They also all benefit from the same standard investor protections, including insurance against brokerage failures and cybersecurity risks.

For most investors, the deciding factor boils down to fees. For eight of the nine ETFs, management fees range from 0.15% to 0.25%. The one big exception is Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE), which started trading under a different fund structure in 2017 and still charges management fees of 2.5%.

Comparison of the first nine spot Ethereum ETFs.

Most — but not all — of the Ethereum ETFs are temporarily waiving or discounting fees in a bid to woo investors. Greyscale Ethereum Trust is again among the big outliers here, along with Invesco Galaxy Ethereum ETF (QETH).

Ironically, the clear frontrunner in the fee race is also a Grayscale product. The Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust (ETH) — a newer fund created specifically to list as an ETF — has management fees of only 0.15%. Those fees are waived entirely for the first six months after listing, or until the fund hits $2 billion in assets under management (AUM).

Another compelling choice is Franklin Templeton’s Franklin Ethereum ETF (EZET). At 0.19%, its management fees are the second lowest of the bunch, and they are fully waived through January 2025 or until the fund clears $10 billion in AUM.

Will spot Ether ETFs offer staking?

The short answer here is “No.” The longer answer: “Maybe, but not anytime soon.”

As a refresher, staking involves depositing ETH to a validator node on Ethereum’s Beacon Chain. Staked ETH earns a cut of network fees and other rewards but also risks “slashing” — or forfeiting staked collateral — if the validator misbehaves or fails.

Staking is attractive because it significantly boosts returns. Annual rewards rates stand at around 3.7% as of July 19, according to StakingRewards.com.

Earlier this year, several issuers — including Fidelity, BlackRock and Franklin Templeton — sought regulatory signoff to add staking to spot ETH ETFs. The SEC denied those requests.

The issue boils down to liquidity, according to several people involved in the talks who spoke to Cointelegraph on the condition of anonymity. Staked ETH usually takes days to withdraw from Beacon chain. That’s a problem for issuers, who are required to promptly redeem ETF shares for underlying fund assets on request.

Issuers are still exploring ways to add staking to the current crop of spot ETH ETFs — possibly by maintaining a “buffer” of liquid spot Ether — but a workable plan is months away at best, the people told Cointelegraph. For now, staking is off the table for Ether ETFs.

Ether could hit a new all-time high after next week’s ETH ETF launch

Ether’s price could be on track to a new all-time high after the launch of the first United States spot Ether ETFs, according to Matt Hougan, chief investment officer of Bitwise.

Hougan cited three main reasons for Ether reaching a new all-time high, including ETH’s inflation rate, the fact that Ether stakers aren’t selling like Bitcoin miners and that 28% of Ether supply is already out of the market.

In a July 16 blog post, Hougan wrote:

“Ethereum’s inflation rate over the past year is exactly 0% […] Significant new demand meets 0% new supply? I like that math. And if activity on Ethereum ticks up, so does the amount of ETH being consumed. That’s another lever of organic demand working in investors’ favor.”

Other factors also point to an incoming rally, including the number of Ether withdrawals from centralized exchanges, according to crypto analyst Leon Waidmann.

The analyst wrote in a July 19 X post:

“$126M worth of ETH was withdrawn from exchanges this week, signaling massive accumulation ahead of the ETF launch. Next big ETH rally incoming.”

ETH: Balance on exchanges (total). Source: Leon Waidmann

$3,500 remains formidable resistance

However, Ether futures suggest little confidence in the chance of Ether breaking above the $4,000 mark in the short term, as the $3,500 mark remains a significant resistance zone.

Ether’s relative strength index (RSI) also suggests that Ether’s price needs to cool down before rallying to a new all-time high. On the daily chart, Ether’s RSI rose to 58, which suggests that the asset is not yet overbought but is trading above its fair value, according to TradingView data.

ETH/USD, RSI, 1-day chart. Source: TradingView

The RSI is a popular momentum indicator used to measure whether an asset is oversold or overbought based on the magnitude of recent price changes.

Ethereum shakeout could happen first

Ether’s price could first see a sell-the-news event after the initial ETF launch before starting its sustained rally toward new all-time highs.

Hence, the real opportunity to invest in Ether long term could come after the first few weeks of the ETF debut, according to Alvin Kan, chief operating officer of Bitget Wallet.

Kan told Cointelegraph:

“Similar to how the market reacted when BTC spot ETFs got approved, we expect ETH to jump in price for a short time after its own ETF gets the green light. However, there might be followed by some selling pressure for a week or two afterward, as a result of outflows from instruments like Grayscale’s ETF.”

ETH’s price will be able to climb in a more sustained manner after the initial shakeout, added Kan:

“Once this initial shakeout is over, the price of ETH could start to climb steadily each month, depending on the daily inflows into the new ETH spot ETF.”

Other analysts expect the Ether ETF to have wider ramifications on the altcoin market. For instance, popular crypto trader Mikybull expects the ETFs to catalyze the next altcoin bull market cycle.

The trader wrote in a July 19 X post:

“ETH ETFs will be the major catalyst for a massive rally sparking a huge Alts season in this cycle.”

ETH/USD, 2-month chart. Source: Mikybull

Ether’s price rallied over 11% during the past week, but ETH is still trading 29% below its old all-time high of $4,890 reached in November 2021.

We have previously noted the early indicators of the sun’s upcoming 11-year solar cycle. Currently, Solar Cycle 25 is at its peak, known as the ‘solar maximum,’ characterized by intense solar activity such as sunspots, flares, and coronal mass ejections. This results in a significant surge in electromagnetic energy hurtling towards Earth, and now new data shows Washington, DC, is the most vulnerable US city to space weather.

The Royal Astronomical Society reports that researchers at the British Geological Survey (BGS) found that Washington, DC, and Milwaukee are some of the most exposed US cities to space weather. This is particularly problematic during a solar maximum period that will last through 2025 because power grids and ground-based communication devices could be disrupted. 

“We have identified certain regions of the US (Washington DC area and Milwaukee) which are repeatedly appearing as ‘highly connected’ in our network, hence are possibly regions particularly vulnerable to the effects of space weather and may benefit from further monitoring,” said Dr. Lauren Orr of BGS.

Dr. Orr said there were “many reasons” the metro areas might be more at risk of the impact of solar storms, including “electrical conductivity of the ground, the physical construction of the power grid in those areas, or the location of the auroral currents in the sky.”

She added a caveat that further research is needed to reveal more evidence of why these cities are considered ‘supernodes.’ 

Geomagnetically induced currents from powerful solar storms can disrupt the digital and remote work economy.

We’ve outlined this in space weather notes over the years: 

• Digital Economy Disruption Possible As “Terminator Event” Suggests Strongest Sunspot Cycle On Record Imminent
• The Next Big Geomagnetic Storm Poses An Astronomical Risk To Modern Man
•  Solar Storms Can Devastate Entire Civilizations.
• Solar Storms Present Danger Of Blackouts For Major East Coast Cities

In early May, one of the most powerful solar storms in years blasted Earth. Fortunately, the digital economy held up, and Starlink’s massive satellite constellation also survived. 

• US Power Grid & Communication Networks Survive Extreme Geomagnetic Storm

Last year, we pointed out that the current solar cycle (Solar Cycle 25) is expected to peak sometime in 2025. 

• Solar Cycle 25’s Maximum Might Arrive Earlier And Hit Harder

And just recently revealed new data about the next solar cycle:

• “First Traces” Of Solar Cycle 26 Detected On Sun

Let’s remember this executive order signed by Obama in 2016…

The most powerful solar storm to rock Earth in recorded history, the Carrington Event, occurred in September 1859. It sparked fires in telegraph systems across Europe and North America. 

The biggest threat to Earth is likely not the narrative radical leftist push about climate change. It’s the sun and how one powerful solar storm can take down grids worldwide.

Authored by Austin Alonzo via The Epoch Times,

The Republican Party outraised the Democratic Party in June and entered July with more money in the bank than its rival.

On July 20, committees affiliated with America’s major political parties published financial disclosures covering their June activities.

The Federal Election Commission filings show that the main Republican bodies collectively raised about $99.8 million during the month. The main Democratic committees raised about $71.1 million.

According to the FEC, the Republican National Committee brought in about $66.9 million in June while spending $19.4 million. It began July with about $101.6 million in cash on hand.

It began 2024 with only about $8 million in cash on hand, according to federal records.

The Democratic National Committee, on the other hand, raised about $39.2 million in June. It used about $26.1 million and started July with about $78.3 million in cash on hand.

The Democratic Party outraised the GOP all year until May; and then, the Democrats still held a cash-on-hand advantage.

June marked the third full month with new leadership at the helm of the RNC. RNC chairman Michael Whatley and co-chair Lara Trump took over in March. Since then, they’ve led the committee with a focus on reelecting former President Donald Trump.

In July, the RNC held its Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

The party formally nominated former President Trump as its 2024 presidential candidate at the event.

The DNC is set to host the Democratic National Convention in Chicago from Aug. 19–22.

With Biden’s stepping down from the race, Kamala Harris is expected to receive the nomination, but it is far from a done deal.

In Congress, both the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) held more cash on hand at the end of June than their Republican Party rivals.

The congressional committees exist primarily to raise money and donate to the campaigns of candidates running for seats in the House or Senate.

At the end of June, the NRSC held about $48.3 million, and the NRCC held about $70.8 million. The Senatorial Committee collected about $18.5 and disbursed $11.2 million. The Congressional Committee took in about $14.3 million and sent out about $8.2 million.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee closed June with $53.1 million in cash on hand, while the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee ended the month with 87.9 million.

The Senatorial Committee raised $12.1 million during the month and spent $7.3 million. The Congressional Committee earned about $19.7 million in contributions while using about $10.7 million.

In the 118th Congress, Republicans remain the majority party in the House despite some departures.

In the Senate, Republicans hold 49 of the 100 seats, and Democrats have 47, with 4 independents.

Nevertheless, Democrats are considered the majority party because the four independent lawmakers—Sens. Angus King (I-Maine), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), and Joe Manchin (I-W.Va)—caucus with the Democrats.

All 435 House seats and one-third of the Senate seats will be up for election in November.

Between 1990 and 2022, worldwide adult obesity rates more than tripled from 5% to nearly 16% of the global adult population.

In the following infographic, Visual Capitalist’s Pallavi Rao maps and rank the countries with the highest adult obesity rates, measured through Body Mass Index (BMI) calculations.

Data is sourced from the World Health Organization, current up to 2022.

Ranked: The 15 Countries With an Obesity Problem

Small island nations in the Pacific have some of the highest obesity rates in the world. They also see high rates of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

A change in diet in the 20th century—relying on imported, processed foods—is generally regarded as the common cause.

Note: Figures rounded. Adult obesity measured by a body mass index of 30 kg/m2 or higher.

Egypt, Qatar, and the United States are the only countries with a population greater than 1 million on this list.

Poor food habits are once again a factor, with some cultural differences. In Egypt, high food inflation has pushed residents to low-cost high-calorie meals. To combat food insecurity, the government subsidizes bread, wheat flour, sugar and cooking oil, many of which are the ingredients linked to weight gain.

In Qatar, a country with one of the highest per capita GDPs in the world, a genetic predisposition towards obesity and sedentary lifestyles worsen the impact of rich diets.

And in the U.S., bigger portions are one of the many reasons cited for rampant adult and child obesity. For example, Americans ate 20% more calories in the year 2000 than they did in 1983. They consume 195 lbs of meat annually compared to 138 lbs in 1953. And their grain intake has increased 45% since 1970.

It’s worth noting however that this dataset is based on BMI values, which do not fully account for body types with larger bone and muscle mass.

Authored by Emma Tekstra via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Study Challenges ‘Bad Cholesterol’ Label For LDL

Annual Lab Tests Are a Good Idea

Maybe you already submit to blood tests as part of your annual check-up with your doctor. If you’re generally healthy they may advise everything “looks normal” whether or not you have been complaining of various symptoms.

If you’re managing a chronic condition perhaps your doctor requests more regular testing and monitors your numbers to adjust medication accordingly. Or maybe you’ve been avoiding the doctor and haven’t had any lab work done in a while.

Blood tests are one of the least invasive and cost-effective tests you can get to be proactive about managing your health. Testing centers are typically easy to find and make an appointment with. In fifteen minutes you can be in and out, having had a few vials of blood drawn in a usually pleasant setting, and be on your way. Results are often available online a week or so later.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, “blood tests are an essential tool healthcare providers use to monitor your overall health or diagnose medical conditions.” But you don’t need to be under a doctor’s care to obtain blood tests. Consumer-focused companies like Grassroots Labs or Function Health can put you firmly in the driver’s seat.

Limitations of Normal Ranges

The trick though is in understanding the context of all those numbers and how your results compare to the cited “normal range.” Only then can you begin to glean relevant insights to optimize your health.

For starters, even if you test 100 different biomarkers in your blood, it is barely scratching the surface of what is going on inside your infinitely complex body that is constantly working to keep you in balance and functioning well.

A blood test generally measures a moment in time and may be influenced by what you ate the day before, how much you exercised, if you had an argument with your spouse, or how well you slept the previous night. You are an individual. There is no such thing as a perfect score for any element being tested.

An article published in the journal Heliyon last year discusses the pros and cons of biomarkers which include tests of other bodily fluids and cells such as hair—useful to test for heavy metals—and stool—useful to assess your microbiome—and sound an alert to certain cancers and other conditions. One of the clear disadvantages cited of biomarker monitoring is the difficulty of establishing what is “normal.”

The reference values or normal ranges listed on your test results are typically lab-specific and are based on the test results of a subset of the population studied. The range then covers the results for 95 percent of this sample population who are deemed to be healthy. The lowest 2.5 percent and the highest 2.5 percent are considered outliers, with the rest considered normal.

The lab may adjust its range by demographics such as males/females and age groups, but this vastly oversimplifies all the elements that affect any individual biomarker for a given human.

Typical Tests Your Doctor May Order

The biggest use of blood tests is to assist your doctor in making diagnosis and treatment decisions. The pharmaceutical industry relies on biomarker testing to prove its drug is doing what it claims to do better than a placebo.

Most drugs are evaluated by their effect on a biomarker rather than their impact on actual health. But as long as we understand the context and limitations of the tests, we can use them to our advantage helping to inform our priority interventions.

The most common tests your doctor is likely to order include:

• Metabolic markers—to understand your kidney and liver function, blood sugar level, proteins, and electrolyte balance including your hydration status.
• Complete blood count—looks at your red and white blood cells and platelets which can indicate an infection, anemia, or blood clotting issues.
• Lipids—will include your LDL (low-density lipoprotein) and HDL (high-density lipoprotein) cholesterol, and your triglycerides (a type of fat stored in your liver).
• Thyroid function—especially for women, specifically your TSH (thyroid-specific hormone) levels indicating potential hypo- or hyperthyroidism which can affect many aspects of your health including infertility.
• Hemoglobin A1C—especially for those who have a high basic glucose level or who are overweight. It measures the percentage of your blood cells that are saturated with glucose and provides a better measure of your average glucose level over the last 2—3 months.
• PSA (prostate-specific antigen)—men only. Can indicate problems with the prostate, including cancer, but other factors can also affect PSA levels.

Without going into the details of each test and the shortcomings of its quoted normal range, it is important to do your own research and consider additional testing if:

1. You are outside of normal ranges and your doctor is proposing pharmaceutical treatment to address it.
2. You are inside of normal ranges but are suffering from “unexplained” symptoms.

Examples of other blood tests that can provide additional context and guidance are:

• Inflammatory markers—C-reactive protein (hs-CRP, the high-sensitivity version) can be used as a general measure of inflammation and risk for cardiovascular disease and depression. Homocysteine is an amino acid that needs certain B vitamins to break down—elevated levels can indicate impaired ability to detox and make neurotransmitters.
• Thyroid detail—beyond the basic TSH score, more accurate tests can measure additional elements such as free T4, total T3, free T3, and reverse T3 to get a better picture of how your thyroid is performing.
• Full hormone panel—such as the DUTCH testing service, which stands for dried urine test for comprehensive hormones—which tests over 24 hours to get a more accurate picture.
• Cancer detection—such as the Galleri test that has been validated to detect early signals of over 50 types of cancer.
• Pathogen antibodies—including Lyme disease and mold using specialty tests such as those offered by Realtime Laboratories and IGeneX.
• Essential nutrients—like vitamin D, iron/ferritin, B12, folate (B9), magnesium, and omega-3s.

These more advanced tests may not be covered by your insurance plan but are often an excellent investment to better understand your health issues and how to tackle them. This is especially true if the aim is to avoid pharmaceuticals so often designed to address a biomarker rather than improve overall health.

Essential nutrient testing in particular can often provide the missing link to explain mystery symptoms or unusual “scores” in other blood tests.

Understanding Nutrient RDAs

In our modern world of over-scheduling, ultra-processed food, insidious technology, and other toxin exposures, so much of what ails us is due to an underlying nutrient deficiency. There are simply inadequate nutrients going into our body to run all the many complex systems that rely on them.

If we’re taking any pharmaceuticals the risk of deficiencies is higher as many pharmaceuticals are known to leach nutrients out of the body.

It is therefore recommended to include nutrient-level testing in your annual blood work. But make sure you apply a similar level of caution in their interpretation and your response for three main reasons:

1.  The “normal” ranges quoted for nutrient tests are usually far too low given the vast majority of the U.S. population is deficient, and therefore any sample taken to set the ranges. A deficiency in certain nutrients may not immediately present with symptoms so the sample population may be considered healthy subjects but in fact, their nutrient levels are not optimal.

For example, most labs will quote a normal range for vitamin D blood levels of 30–150 nanograms per milliliter (ng/ml). A well-informed doctor may push you to be over 50 ng/ml and supplement up to that level. However, research now suggests over 75 ng/ml is optimal.

2. It is important to understand that blood levels are not always a good indication of absorption or availability to your cells. Magnesium for example is stored in your bones and tissues with only a small amount circulating in the blood. Absorption of one nutrient can also affect another, with low magnesium levels potentially responsible for low potassium or calcium levels as well, emphasizing the need to look at all test results holistically.

3. Another factor to understand when responding to nutrient test results is the recommended daily allowance (RDA) suggestions—more often now quoted in the United States as daily value (DV) requirements for individual nutrients.

It’s worth noting a bit of the history about how RDAs were developed decades ago before we understood the interaction of different nutrients and how factors like the health of our microbiome, age, weight, and lifestyle greatly affect our personal nutrient needs.

The focus was to prevent the occurrence of specific diseases like scurvy, beri beri, pellagra, and rickets (respectively long-term deficiencies in vitamin C, B1, B3 (niacin), and vitamin D for calcium absorption). They weren’t (and still aren’t) focused on optimal health.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration took over the ownership of DV levels to help consumers determine the level of various nutrients in a standard serving of food compared to their approximate requirement for it. You are likely to find the percentage of DV now quoted on supplement bottles. However, your personal needs may be far higher.

In Conclusion

It can seem a bit overwhelming to synthesize the pros and cons of lab testing plus make an informed decision on what tests to undertake and how to interpret the results. As with all aspects of your health, it is a very individual decision and warrants taking the time to research some details rather than ceding responsibility to the professional in a white coat. Standardized guidelines are never a substitute for an informed holistic assessment.

8 Key Tips

1. Annual blood tests are a good idea—despite their drawbacks analyzing your blood can provide important insights.
2. You don’t need to go through a doctor—several direct-to-consumer options are now available without a doctor’s requisition order.
3. Non-standard tests may be helpful particularly if symptomatic—consider additional testing for better insight although be aware your insurance plan may not cover them.
4. Reference ranges are not always useful—individual physiology is important as well as taking a holistic view of all tests and their levels over time.
5. Focus on symptoms not just numbers—context is key. The numbers are just a set of data points. Energy levels, digestion, mental health, and pain for example are important indicators.
6. Absorption and interaction of different nutrients may not line up with test numbers—monitor symptoms for indication of deficiency and take a holistic view.
7. A whole food diet is optimal to address nutrient deficiencies and other concerning test results—make food your first line of defense opting for nutrient density over convenience.
8. If supplementation is required select quality brands—nutrient combinations from whole foods (not synthetically made) and a formulation that optimizes absorption is critical.