Update (10/20/2022 1520ET): Elon Musk sauntered into Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters on Wednesday carrying a kitchen sink in preparation for his Friday takeover of the company.

Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in! pic.twitter.com/D68z4K2wq7

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 26, 2022

The world’s richest man also changed his Twitter bio to “Chief Twit.”

According to Twitter’s chief marketing officer, Leslie Berland, “Elon is in the SF office this week meeting with folks, walking the halls, and continuing to dive in on the important work you all do,” adding “For everyone else, this is just the beginning of many meetings and conversations with Elon, and you’ll all hear directly from him on Friday.”

Now fast forward to Friday:

*  *  *

Update (1355ET): Elon Musk has told debt bankers that he intends to close the Twitter deal on Friday.

Equity investors in Elon Musk’s take private of Twitter have received paperwork from his lawyers at Skadden Arps in order to prepare for closing the deal. It’s another sign deal is on track for Friday close. $TWTR

— David Faber (@davidfaber) October 25, 2022

*  *  *

Twitter employees have penned an open letter to soon-to-be boss Elon Musk and the Board of Directors begging to keep their jobs, after the Washington Post reported that Musk is planning to get rid of nearly 75% of the company’s 7,500 workers – whittling Twitter down to a ‘skeleton’ staff of just over 2,000.

“Elon Musk’s plan to lay off 75% of Twitter workers will hurt Twitter’s ability to serve the public conversation,” reads a draft of the letter, which has not yet been published. “A threat of this magnitude is reckless, undermines our users’ and customers’ trust in our platform, and is a transparent act of worker intimidation.”

NEW: An unknown number of Twitter employees are circulating an open letter to @elonmusk demanding they be allowed to keep all their jobs, pick journalistic and geopolitical winners and losers, and retain all their employment benefits.

The participation trophy generation. pic.twitter.com/R3Mp3CQifA

— Raheem J. Kassam (@RaheemKassam) October 25, 2022

The letter then suggests that the full staff is “helping to uplift independent journalism in Ukraine and Iran, as well as powering social movements around the world.”

The employees then demand that Musk “explicitly commit to preserve our benefits, those both listed in the merger agreement and not (e.g. remote work). We demand leadership to establish and ensure fair severance policies for all workers before and after any change in ownership.”

They also demand “Dignity,” writing “We demand transparent, prompt and thoughtful communication around our working conditions. We demand to be treated with dignity, and to not be treated as mere pawns in a game played by billionaires.”

Following the ‘75% layoff’ report, ‘experts’ told ABC News that the change could “compromise the platform’s capacity to police false or harmful content, with ramifications that extend to social issues like election integrity,” and that “The experience of a typical user could change significantly, they added, noting the possible rise of harassment and other forms of corrosive discourse.”

Cuts to the content moderation workforce would align with statements made by Musk in recent months about his commitment to the principle of free speech, suggesting that Twitter should permit all speech that stops short of violating the law, the experts said. -ABC News

Musk has reportedly told employees that “Anyone who is a significant contributor should have nothing to worry about,” according to a June 16 tweet from Bloomberg reporter Kurt Wagner.

A few updates from Elon’s all-hands at Twitter this morning:

He was just asked about layoffs and replied that the company “needs to get healthy” without rejecting the idea.

“Anyone who is a significant contributor should have nothing to worry about,” he added $TWTR

— Kurt Wagner (@KurtWagner8) June 16, 2022

“If there is more harassment and other forms of toxic speech, if there is more misinformation and disinformation, then people’s experience on the platform is going to be really different,” said Zeve Sanderson, the executive director at New York University’s Center for Social Media and Politics. 

In short, Twitter employees are freaking out, and left-wing ‘experts’ fear that free speech will allow ‘dangerous’ information to reach millions.

This is what it looks like when ideological zealots lose control over narratives.

Almost as quickly as UK Prime Minister Liz Truss was ousted from office, so too was her (now-temporary) order to resume gas shale fracking – a plan which included offering UK households £1,000 each for allowing the practice in their neighborhoods.

According to the Financial Times, her successor – the WEF-sponsored (of “great reset, eat bugs, own nothing and be happy” fame) Rishi Sunak is reversing Truss’s order, and reinstating the fracking ban.

During his first prime minister’s questions in the House of Commons on Wednesday, the new UK prime minister told MPs that he “stands by” the Conservative party’s 2019 manifesto commitment that halted fracking. The moratorium was briefly lifted by Truss during her brief period as prime minister. -FT

The 2019 manifesto – which followed a 2.9 earthquake caused by private fracking company Cuadrilla – reads; “We placed a moratorium on fracking in England with immediate effect. Having listened to local communities, we have ruled out changes to the planning system. We will not support fracking unless the science shows categorically that it can be done safely.“

As such, former PM Boris Johnson’s government announced that all new fracking wells would be banned, and the country’s only active site in northwestern England would immediately shut down.

Truss’s reversal was set to increase North Sea drilling, a renewed focus on accelerating offshore wind farms, a pre-announced £400 energy bill discount and the removal of green levies costing £150 – capping the typical household energy bill approximately £1,971.

Sunak, however, is still advocating for offshore wind plants “and more nuclear,” adding “that is what this government will deliver.”

UK NatGas production had been notably declining since 2000.

The news brings clarity to Jacob Rees-Mogg’s Tuesday resignation. Rees-Mogg, a fracking advocate, was placed in charge of the UK’s energy strategy by Truss. He notably warned against ‘climate alarmism’ and said that he wants cheap energy for his constituents “rather more than I would like them to have windmills.”

Rebecca Newsom, head of politics for Greenpeace UK, said Mr Rees-Mogg was the “last person who should be in charge of the energy brief,” adding that “appointing him to the brief now suggests the Tories have learned nothing from some years of energy policy incompetence.”

The Greta will be pleased, we’re sure.

By Michael Every of Rabobank

Careful, Not Careless Whispers

The last few Global Dailies have again been pleading for some depth in markets analysis. Instead, we get new bean-counting shallowness. As Bart Simpson says proudly in an early episode when the show was still funny, “You can’t make me learn.” No, I can’t. As a more lexical, Lisa Simpson, lyrical reader noted to me, what we get is, “Botox city without seeing the melanoma”.

In line with such epidermal ‘Don’t worry, it’s a beauty spot!’ thinking, yesterday saw another whisper that a Fed pivot looms, because it’s been weeks since the last one, so it’s now time to try the same self-serving strategy again. Yet this iteration was not just bad data- or stocks-driven. Rather, there are worries the entire Treasury market is looking so fragile –or so ‘Gilts’– that intervention will be needed: if so, who’s the moron now?

One other potential explanation for US yields being down sharply, and the curve flatter was the slump in China’s currency, which is deflationary, alongside a bounce in US-listed China tech stocks. By squinting, some saw the pre-2016 world where China makes cheap stuff for the West and its tech stocks soar. Yet both trends have run their political course, as the Financial Times talks about China’s rich fleeing; and CNY rallied anyway as the US dollar stumbled “because pivot”.

Yet as the Greenback dropped, oil went up. So did gold. So did Bitcoin. So did Botox. Worse, the Saudis publicly chided the White House for using its Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to try to manipulate oil markets, warning this won’t end well once it’s gone – and it’s nearly gone. Said Saudi allegation is deeply unfair to this administration: surely the SPR is being used to try to manipulate the midterm elections? It’s not working, given the recent opinion polls – but then the SPR has that in common with the ability to keep long-run inflation low too given where 2023 forecasts mostly sit. Far more so if the Fed decide to shout, “Burns, Baby, Burns!” and commodity markets go disco inferno.

I repeat for the umpteenth time, what we saw alongside lower yields yesterday is a clear signal that were the Fed to pivot, it would be repeating exactly the 70’s errors it claims it fears most. But, hey, markets gonna market to try to make year-end return targets starting from deeply underwater positions.

If you want another Fed whisper, try Harald Malmgren – but you won’t like it half as much as the one you are clinging to now. He recently shared that after talks with his extensive contacts, he thinks that in early 2023, the Fed is going to start floating a trial balloon to shift the CPI target to 3-4% rather than 2%(!)

Look for Fed in coming months to suggest that the long standing 2% “normal” inflation target should be “realisticaly set in the 3% to 4% range” https://t.co/rYtl1nAGIH

— Harald Malmgren (@Halsrethink) October 25, 2022

Way to financially repress, if so: way to get debt levels down; and stocks up; and to see the dollar tumble; and commodity prices soar; and inflation become entrenched. Do you still want to be bidding up bonds if so? Only if the Fed is doing QE to buy them off you, BOJ-style, as some are saying sotto voce. In which case, it’s my “Rate hikes + QE” T-shirts again; and “DM = EM” ones; and “USD = JPY”; and it’s the 70s, 2010s, 1920s, and 1930s all in one toxic cocktail. Bottoms up!

I’m not saying believe this whisper: I am saying if you are going to trade off the back of them, then don’t only choose ones that –purely coincidentally!– suit your short-term portfolio positioning into end-year if you have been so, so wrong so far.

As a further example, consider the Ukraine war. There were lots of urgent whispers, and desperate cries, ahead of 24 February that this could/would happen. Mr. Market was having none of it.

Late last night, Polish President Duda reportedly organised an urgent meeting between himself, PM Morawiekci, Defence Minister Blaszczak, Interior Minister Kaminksi, and the top generals of the Polish army. The whispers are of a potential threat from Russian Kaliningrad to the Suwalki gap, cutting off the Baltics from the rest of the EU. Norway is also stepping up military preparedness near Svalbard.

Does it make any military sense for an over-stretched, under-performing Russian army to start a new front against a NATO member? None. But neither did invading Ukraine, and here we are.

This further action would be madness – unless Russia, after floating the idea of a dirty bomb in typical projecting fashion, just saw Progressive Democrats pen (then withdraw) a letter calling for urgent negotiations to end the war, matching the sentiment from one wing of the Republican party, and thinks further threats of escalation will be met by Western retreat. In that case, such escalate-to-deescalate lunacy would potentially be rational. Or the West is looking to declare war on nuked-up Russia, “because imperialism”, if you are into that kind of thing.

Again, just a thought based on a whisper – but I listen to lots of whispers, rather than just one. I am deliberately careful to do so.

Now for a pivot to Australia, where the RBA this week, tragicomically, spoke of a “secret” piece of modelling suggesting that house prices could fall 20% from their peak. I say tragicomic because the market is already well past that level of decline in some pockets, and this is ‘secret’ in the same way I am actually James Bond – anyone with a brain could see the risks as rates rise. 20% would only undo the Covid boom – not the larger explosive ‘boom!’ from rising mortgage rates.

Against that backdrop, Aussie CPI data out this morning came in, you guessed it, hotter than expected. Oops. Q3 was up 1.8% q-o-q vs. 1.6% consensus and 7.3% vs. 7.0% y-o-y; the trimmed mean measure was 1.8% q-o-q vs. 1.5% expected, and 6.1% y-o-y vs. 5.1%; and the weighted median was 1.4% vs. 1.5% q-o-q and 5.0% vs. 4.8% y-o-y. The new September numbers, as the market starts to adjust to getting monthly data too, were up 7.3% y-o-y headline (vs. 7.1% consensus) and 6.8% core, with no consensus – and no m-o-m print for either measure because this is still too much of a logistical challenge for the ABS.

Either expect the RBA to focus on the q-o-q weighted median much more going forwards, or further “secret” whispers to start of how one might hypothetically intervene in the mortgage market if one were to hypothetically have to. In which case, more “Rate hikes + QE” T-shirts; and “DM = EM” ones; and “AUD = JPY”.

Diesel supplies are very scarce across the Northeast and in the Southeast. Supplies are at the lowest seasonal level for this time of year, and the US only has 25 days left of the industrial fuel in storage. The crisis gripping the diesel market appears to be getting out of hand as one fuel supply logistics company initiated emergency protocols this week. 

“Because conditions are rapidly devolving and market economics are changing significantly each day, Mansfield is moving to Alert Level 4 to address market volatility. Mansfield is also moving the Southeast to Code Red, requesting 72-hour notice for deliveries when possible to ensure fuel and freight can be secured at economical levels,” Mansfield Energy wrote in an update to customers on Tuesday. The trucking firm has a fleet of tankers that delivers refined fuel products to more than 8,000 customers nationwide. 

Mansfield said in many areas on the East Coast, diesel fuel prices are “30-80 cents higher than the posted market average, because supply is tight.” 

“At times, carriers are having to visit multiple terminals to find supply, which delays deliveries and strains local trucking capacity,” the notice continued.

This could mean that the US diesel market is so tight that supplies are running very low in certain areas. The crisis has sent supplies of the industrial fuel that power the economy, from trucks to vans to generators to freight trains to tractors, to the lowest level ever for this time of year. 

The latest EIA data shows there are only 25 days of diesel supply, the lowest since 2008; and while inventories are record low, the four-week rolling average of distillates supplied – a proxy for demand – rose to its highest seasonal level since 2007.

Mansfield’s is a warning sign that the record low storage levels is beginning to impact fuel supply networks. 

None of this should be surprising, as we’ve warned diesel markets have been in crisis for much of 2022. Our latest note titled “Forget Oil, The Real Crisis Is Diesel Inventories: The US Has Just 25 Days Left” outlines the severity of the crisis but also points out underinvestment in the nation’s fuel-making capacity, refinery closures and disruptions, strong domestic demand, soaring exports for the fuel, and embargo on Russian energy products have all helped to deplete inventories and the price surge. 

Historically low diesel inventories have put a fuel trucking company on high alert for possible disruptions in the Southeast.

By Jeffrey Jones of Gallup

Joe Biden’s job approval rating is 40%, a step down from the 44% measured in August but still above his term-low 38% from July. In all other months in 2022, his approval rating has been in the 40% to 42% range.

The Oct. 3-20 survey finds 56% of Americans disapproving of Biden’s performance, unchanged from September and midway between his highest (59% in July) and lowest (53% in August) disapproval scores this year.

Biden’s approval ratings continue to be starkly different by political party, with 85% of Democrats and 4% of Republicans approving. The 81-point gap in party ratings matches the average for Biden’s presidency to date, and is the same level of polarization measured in Donald Trump’s job approval ratings, on average.

Thirty-nine percent of political independents approve of the job Biden is doing, which is slightly above the 36% average approval rating among independents from January to September.

Biden Seventh-Quarter Approval Average Fairly Typical

Biden averaged a 42% job approval rating during his seventh quarter in office, which spanned July 20 through Oct. 19. That average is similar to what most other elected presidents dating back to Jimmy Carter received during their seventh quarters in office. The major exceptions were George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, who had significantly higher ratings tied to the U.S. response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait and the 9/11 terrorist attacks, respectively.

Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and Trump all averaged 41% or 42% approval during their seventh quarter, while Barack Obama’s 45% average during that time was slightly higher.

Biden’s seventh quarter was notable for the ongoing high inflation and elevated gas prices the country was experiencing. Gas prices have come down from their mid-June high but remain above where they were a year ago. A bright spot for the economy is the continued strong job market, with the unemployment rate matching its lowest point since 1969.

Additionally during his seventh quarter, Biden achieved key campaign goals with passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, which addresses climate change, prescription drug costs and deficit reduction. Biden also announced a plan, now on hold pending litigation, to forgive student loan debt for many U.S. adults holding such loans.

Bottom Line

Americans’ evaluations of the job Biden is doing as president continue to be more negative than positive, as they have for over a year now. Given the relationship between low job approval ratings and midterm election outcomes, Biden’s unpopularity is likely to be a drag on his fellow Democrats’ chances in this fall’s voting.

It’s been a terrible morning for the tech giants which reported yesterday, GOOGL, MSFT, TXN, all of which either missed or guided much weaker than expected. The results is this:

• *ALPHABET FALLS 8% AT THE OPEN AFTER 3Q RESULTS DISAPPOINT
• *MICROSOFT SINKS IN BIGGEST INTRADAY DROP SINCE MARCH 2020
• *TEXAS INSTRUMENTS SLIDES 6.1% AT THE OPEN, MOST SINCE FEB. 3

Below we compile some of the most notable hot takes following the dismal earnings which started off the tech portion of earnings season on a decidedly wrong foot.

First Microsoft:

Microsoft shares tumbled after the software company reported its weakest quarterly sales growth in five years and gave a lackluster forecast for sales growth in its Azure cloud-computing services business. Analysts noted that Azure growth is expected to moderate, “elevating near-term concerns.” That echoed disappointing results from other industry giants, leading US tech stocks to tumble.

Here’s what analysts are saying

Piper Sandler (overweight, PT cut to $265 from $275)

• FX headwinds and deteriorating macro conditions pressure outlook
• Azure growth is expected to moderate, “elevating near-term concerns on competitive pricing and workload optimization efforts that could curb consumption patterns heading into a recession”

Jefferies (buy, PT cuts to $270 from $275)

• Azure miss was due to a moderation in consumption across customer base and geographies
• The personal computer markets deteriorated further in September

RBC Capital Markets (outperform, PT cut to $310 from $380)

• Microsoft’s commercial outlook was mixed with Office 365 looking encouragingly resilient and Azure’s disappointing outlook

Morgan Stanley (buy, cuts PT to $307 from $325)

• While investors were expecting some cyclical weakness, they might be surprised by the magnitude

Barclays (overweight, cuts PT to $296 from $310)

• Results from Microsoft’s More Personal Computing and Productivity businesses “should calm investors,” though “not all was perfect, as Azure growth of 42% YoY in constant currency was slightly below consensus at 42.6% and gross margins came in slightly below”

Bloomberg Intelligence

• “Microsoft’s sales growth of 16% in constant currency gives us confidence that tech spending is stable amid economic uncertainty”

* * *

Alphabet

Alphabet shares are also tumbling after the Google parent reported third-quarter revenue that was weaker than expected, reinforcing concerns about a slowdown in the ad market. Analysts also singled out a strong US dollar as a headwind.

Here’s what analysts are saying

Raymond James (outperform, PT to $120 from $143)

• The soft results reflect difficult year-over-year comparisons and an “increasingly challenging macro environment”
• “We are optimistic that margins can improve by later 2023”

Citi (buy, PT $120)

• “The macro environment is likely to continue impacting the broader online advertising environment,” although “Alphabet remains one of the best positioned companies across the Internet sector”

Baird (outperform)

• Most of the softness came from YouTube and Network, due to the sluggish performance in app installs, macro impact on video ads and some cannibalization from Shorts

Goldman Sachs (buy)

• YouTube results were much weaker and “likely reflective of a mix of brand ad dollar volatility, revenue headwinds created by consumption mix to Shorts and one last quarter of tougher comps from direct response revenue growth last year”

Bloomberg Intelligence

• “Alphabet’s weakness, particularly in its high- margin Google Network segment, shows the company isn’t immune to ad pricing”

Jefferies (buy, PT $130)

• Ad revenue was weaker than expected, “likely due to FX and macro,” while Google Cloud was strong

Truist Securities (buy, PT $136)

• “The top and bottom lines missed Street expectations,” with revenue pressured by a currency headwind
• The miss “overshadows sustained momentum” in the US

* * *

Finally, Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments shares are down 6.1% on Wednesday, after the chipmaker’s fourth-quarter outlook signaled that the semiconductor industry’s slump is spreading beyond PCs and smartphones to the once-healthy industrial segment. KeyBanc analysts note that while chip softness broadens, the auto segment continues to hold up

Here’s what analysts are saying

KeyBanc Capital Markets (overweight, PT cut to $210 from $220)

• Lowering guidance to be consistent with expectations as “a broader inventory correction” is commencing
• Expect headwinds to persist over the next several quarters

Morgan Stanley (underweight, PT cut to $152 from $160)

• TI remains more cautious than its analog peers
• “The company’s sober outlook will be something of a negative outlier – but a broad-based inventory correction will eventually impact everyone”

Citi (neutral, PT cut to $155 from $165)

• “TXN reported increasing cancellations as the downturn takes hold”

Truist Securities (hold, PT $172)

• The outlook “represents a 12% sequential decline and is about 7% below both typical seasonality and consensus expectations”

Mizuho Securities

• The outlook “is not a total shock” and “looks a bit worse on surface than reality,” writes Jordan Klein, a managing director and tech analyst
• Given the stock’s year-to-date outperformance relative to chips, some investors may be looking to sell or short the stock

* * *

After the dismal earnings, all the three stocks were trading sharply lower, and dragging down their peer group, which early this morning was set to shed nearly $300 billion in market cap as the combined weight of just the three companies above amounts to more than 19% of the Nasdaq 100.

Despite the devastation unleashed by these three companies, there was a silver lining.

As Goldman’s Prime Brokerage notes, a possible bright spot is that institutional exposure in FAAMG has been reduced significantly and might soften some of the blow from these prints. Positioning data from the GS Prime book suggest a cautious stance on the mega caps (FAAMG) by hedge funds: indeed, the first chart below shows that the aggregate FAAMG long/short ratio on the Prime book now stands at ~6.3, a multi-year low. For perspective, the same metric was at ~18 in March and at 9.2 in mid-July.

Another note: FAAMG collectively now make up ~11% of the overall US Single Stock Net exposure on the Prime book, also a multi-year low. The same metric was at ~14% in March and at ~12% in mid-July.

There was both good and bad news in Boeing’s latest Q3 earnings report. First the good news: after many years and many more quarters of relentless negative cash flow following its countless 737 and Dreamliner fiascoes, Boeing appears to have finally turned the corner, and in Q3 the company reported nearly $3 billion in FCF, almost 3x more than consensus estimates. This was only the second time Boeing has generated positive cash since Chief Executive Officer Dave Calhoun took the top job in early 2020.

The sold cash performance overshadowed more bad news from the Arlington-based company’s defense division, which racked up $2.8 billion in losses due to cost overruns on its KC-46 aerial tanker, Air Force One and other military contracts. This resulted
in Boeing reporting a whopping adjusted loss of $6.18 a share in the period, a huge miss to analyst expectations of slightly positive earnings, marking the company’s fifth consecutive earnings miss.

Revenue of $16 billion also fell short of the $17.7 billion expected by Wall Street.

Here is a summary of the company’s Q3 results:

• Adjusted free cash flow $2.91 billion, estimate $1.02 billion
• EPS loss -$6.18 vs. loss/shr 60c y/y; Exp. +0.07
• Revenue $15.96 billion, estimate $17.74 billion
  • Commercial Airplanes revenue $6.26 billion, +40% y/y, estimate $6.95 billion
  • Defense, Space & Security revenue $5.31 billion, -20% y/y, estimate $6.57 billion
  • Global Services revenue $4.43 billion, +5% y/y, estimate $4.53 billion
  • Boeing Capital revenue $52 million, estimate $62.9 million
• Operating cash flow $3.19 billion vs. negative $262 million y/y, estimate $1.38 billion
  • Commercial airplanes oper loss $643 million, -7.2% y/y, estimate loss $195.6 million
  • Defense, space & security oper loss $2.80 billion vs. profit $436 million y/y, estimate profit $352.7 million
  • Global services oper earnings $733 million, +14% y/y, estimate $691.2 million
  • Boeing Capital operating earnings $23 million, estimate $21.9 million
• Backlog $381 billion

The uneven results underscored Boeing’s slow progress in overcoming supplier strains and the financial toll from two 737 Max crashes. Still, with cash unexpectedly surging by rising jet deliveries, stronger receipts and a tax benefit, the company sparked investors’ hope that it’s finally emerging from one of the worst crises in its history.

After several quarters of relentless declines, Boeing’s quarter-end cash finally rose, pushing higher by almost $3 billion from $11.4BN to $14.3BN at Sept 30, while debt was unchanged. The airplan manufacturer said in presentation slides that it has “sufficient liquidity” and expects to generate positive FCF for the rest of 2022. 

As Bloomberg reports, in an early-morning message to employees, CEO Calhoun touted the progress toward Boeing’s goal of achieving positive free cash flow this year and blamed the defense unit’s latest losses on “higher estimated manufacturing and supply-chain costs, as well as technical challenges” on a handful of military programs with fixed-price contracts.

“Turnarounds take time — and we have more work to do — but I am confident in our team and the actions we’re taking for the future,” Calhoun said.

Having mostly passed the hurricane from the 737-MAX fiasco, Boeing has been hammered with a series of cost overruns: the company had already recorded $1.5 billion in cost overruns on fixed-price defense contracts during the first half of this year as it dealt with shortages of workers with security clearance and other supplier stresses. Calhoun declared in April that the company would no longer bid near its estimated costs as it did last decade to secure high-profile contracts, from a military trainer to the Air Force One replacements now facing ballooning expenses.

Boeing is working to mitigate risks on the programs, Calhoun said. He touted other work underway to stabilize Boeing’s factories, like hiring 10,000 employees, expanding digital tools to track inventory, creating teams of experts to address industrywide shortages and ramping up its own parts-fabrication capacity to help offset supplier shortfalls.

After first dumping in kneejerk response to the bad news, then spiking on the good news, BA shares were little changed as of 9:00 a.m. before the start of regular trading. Boeing had declined 27% this year through Tuesday’s close.

Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News,

Tens of millions of US citizens were given a “COVID-19 decree violation” score as a result of a data harvesting program conducted during the first lockdown by voter analytics firm PredictWise.

“These Covid-19 decree violation scores were calculated by analyzing nearly two billion global positioning system (GPS) pings to get “real-time, ultra-granular locations patterns.” People who were “on the go more often than their neighbors” were given a high Covid-19 decree violation score while those who mostly or always stayed at home were given a low Covid-19 decree violation score,” writes Reclaim the Net’s Tom Parker.

The data collected was then used by PredictWise to help Democrats target over 350,000 “COVID concerned” Republicans with campaign ads relating to virus prevention measures.

“PredictWise understood that there were potential pockets of voters to target with Covid-19 messaging and turned high-dimensional data covering over 100 million Americans into measures of adherence to Covid-19 restrictions during deep lockdown,” the company states in its white paper.

This information was used to help identify 40,000 “persuasion targets” for Senate candidate Mark Kelly, who was subsequently elected.

As we highlighted throughout the COVID lockdowns, chilling components of the surveillance grid were weaponized against ordinary people.

At one point, a senior government minister in Australia refused to rule out citizens being forced to wear electronic ankle bracelets, even if they were fully vaccinated, to make sure they were complying with home quarantine orders.

Conservative MP Jeremy Hunt, who was recently promoted to become Chancellor of the Exchequer, called for the government to use GPS tracking technology to ensure Brits were complying with COVID quarantine measures.

“Daily contact with those asked to self-isolate – using GPS tracking to monitor compliance if necessary as happens in Taiwan and Poland,” said Hunt.

Police in the UK also used surveillance drones to monitor and threaten people who dared to go out into remote countryside to walk their dogs.

In Australia, tracking drones were deployed to catch people who didn’t wear masks outside and to keep track of cars that traveled further than 5km from home.

*  *  *

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Update(8:48ET): Russia has hailed the ‘success’ of Wednesday scheduled annual nuclear drills, after President Vladimir Putin oversaw the exercises from a command and control room.

RIA news agency quoted the Kremlin as saying, “Under the leadership of the Supreme Commander-in Chief of the Armed Forces Vladimir Putin, a training session was held with ground, sea and air strategic deterrence forces, during which practical launches of ballistic and cruise missiles took place.”

The defense ministry also published brief footage of some of the drills in action…

⚡️Tu-95MS from today’s nuclear exercises. pic.twitter.com/fZkHn7Jsux

— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) October 26, 2022

The Kremlin additionally said that “all missiles hit their targets in the drills,” and that the exercise was undertaken to “prepare for possible enemy nuclear attack against Russia,” according to TASS.

Russia launches Soyuz rocket pic.twitter.com/plTWsFizI8

— Russian Market (@runews) October 26, 2022

* * *

With NATO’s “Steadfast Noon” annual nuclear drills already ongoing in the North Sea region, and led by B-52 bombers from the United States, Russia has formally notified Washington it is kicking off nuclear exercises of its own. 

Two US officials cited in a Tuesday CBS report say the notification from Moscow specified that the annual exercises are to include “launches of nuclear capable missiles starting Wednesday.”

The timing of the two sides holding “annual” nuclear exercises couldn’t be worse, with the Ukraine war now hitting the eight-month mark – and tit-for-tat false flag accusations currently being hurled between the warring parties.

Russia says Ukraine forces are preparing to unleash a “dirty bomb” which will be blamed on Kremlin forces, while Kiev has alleged the Russians are preparing a “terrorist act” using spent nuclear fuel from the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. 

According to more on the announced Russian exercises via the new CBS reporting: 

The annual exercise has been described by U.S. officials as “routine” around this time of year but nevertheless will take place against heightened Russian rhetoric about using nuclear weapons in Ukraine. 

The Russian “Grom,” or Thunder nuclear exercise, typically involves large-scale maneuvers of strategic nuclear forces, including live missile launches, a senior military official said earlier this month. Officials have expected the annual exercise for several weeks but only recently received notification from Russia.  

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has meanwhile said the Western military alliance will closely “monitor” the Grom drills, saying it “will remain vigilant not least in light of the veiled nuclear threats and the dangerous nuclear rhetoric we have seen from the Russian side.”

The administration’s position is now:
1. There will be no diplomatic track.
2. Military aid will be virtually unlimited and go on forever.
3. Only Zelensky can decide when and how the war ends.
4. Even though (according to Biden) the war could escalate into Armageddon.

— David Sacks (@DavidSacks) October 25, 2022

Also deeply alarming is the fact that negotiations seem a distant possibility at this point. The US position is that Ukraine must achieve “victory” – and that ceasefire dialogue with Russia is a decision for President Zelensky alone. 

Russia’s military and the Pentagon just within the last days reaffirmed that they are keeping “open lines of communication” – precisely so that inadvertent escalation can be avoided.

Just hours after the offshore yuan hit a new record low amid chatter of wealthy Chinese capital exodus, and questions about whether the PBOC is ‘allowing’ the communist nation’s currency to devalue, Beijing appeared to step in and spark the biggest rise in the currency on record…

After weeks of fixing the onshore yuan far stronger than the offshore yuan (to no effect), having barely adjusted the fix during the Party Congress, last night saw the fix slightly stronger (for the first time this week) and then offshore yuan leg dramatically higher, almost up to the fix…

Desk chatter suggested Chinese state-owned banks were actively selling dollars – no doubt under orders from party HQ – triggering stop-losses and sparking the biggest single-day gain in the offshore yuan in history…

It’s certainly not the first time we have seen the very visible hand of Beijing in the currency markets, but traders are not piling on to the trade for now…

“The PBOC is experienced in managing onshore-offshore spot basis and spot-fixing gap, by always choosing the right timing,” said Ju Wang, head of Greater China FX & Rates Strategy at BNP Paribas.

The offshore yuan had traded below the lower end of the PBOC’s peg band, likely another reason for Beijing’s sudden entrance…

Finally, not to be left out, Yen is rallying on speculation of yet another round of intervention…

Given our comments last night on the broken JGB market, they may just have to keep intervening.

Idiocy? Yes. But once you are in the endgame of MMT and helicopter money, that’s all you have left.