With President Biden’s 81st birthday right around the corner, his ancient brain – barely clinging to reality, is no longer responding to whatever cocktail of drugs and blood transfusions (we can only assume) have been keeping him marginally functional since his inauguration.

Four weeks ago Biden staggered out to speak with the press on Air Force One, when he grabbed his face, looked at the floor, and then spat a word-salad of gibberish about mass shootings in between long, geriatric pauses.

Painful to watch: Biden mumbles incoherently to reporters aboard Air Force One pic.twitter.com/P4IQWjFirZ

— TheBlaze (@theblaze) October 18, 2023

Despite finally getting the president to stop sniffing children on camera, his handlers, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and White House spox John Kirby, shot each other ‘we’re seriously screwed, he’s meeting with Xi in 4 weeks’ looks.

A picture is worth 1,000 words pic.twitter.com/E4NFmDJZTg

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) October 19, 2023

Fast forward to Wednesday’s geopolitically delicate meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who he accidentally called a dictator during a post-meeting press conference. 

“After today, would you still refer to President Xi as a dictator?” a reporter asked Biden.

“Look, he is. He’s a dictator in the sense that he’s a guy who runs a country that is a communist country that’s based on a form of government totally different than ours,” Biden replied.

“After today, would you still refer to President Xi as a dictator?” asks a reporter.

“Look, he is. He’s a dictator in the sense that he’s a guy who runs a country that is a communist country that’s based on a form of government totally different than ours,” says Pres. Biden. pic.twitter.com/JjZeGBNcU2

— Last Call (@LastCallCNBC) November 16, 2023

To which Blinken could be seen internally screaming in his chair…

Blinken looked like he wanted to crawl into a hole when Biden said Xi is a dictator.
pic.twitter.com/HmbEJBalWy

— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) November 16, 2023

After which Biden’s handlers start aggressively herding the press out of the room.

Biden advisors scream at press to leave the room after Xi’s statement😳 pic.twitter.com/U8b9yuGvsg

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) November 15, 2023

Blinken was visibly agitated during the Biden-Xi meeting.

*** BLINKEN CAM FROM BIDEN-XI APEC MEETING *** pic.twitter.com/zbtR8n1KTL

— iBankCoin, A Reliable Source (@iBankCoin4tw) November 16, 2023

The “dictator” incident resulted in a furious response from China, who called Biden’s comment “extremely wrong.”

As comic and ZH inaugural debate participant Dave Smith sums up best:

Authored by Maggie Kelly via TheCollegeFix.com,

Jewish students at Arizona State University left a student government event under university police supervision after pro-Palestinian protesters shouted and threw rocks at their meeting from outside.

The students had gathered to debate proposed Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions student government legislation against Israel, according to The State Press, ASU’s independent student-run publication.

Representatives of ASU’s five Jewish student organizations argued against boycotting Israeli institutions, while members of the school chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine demanded support.

The meeting ended early after protesters at a pro-Palestine rally threw rocks at the second-floor window of the hall where the students had gathered.

“Members of SJP left the room, and the session abruptly adjourned because of Jewish students’ and senate members’ safety concerns,” The State Press reported.

The ASU campus police department posted Wednesday to X that “ASUPD is actively investigating the disruption of the ASU Student Government meeting last night.”

“The incident is being reviewed for possible disorderly conduct/criminal damage charges,” the department wrote. “No arrests have been made at this time.”

Neither The State Press nor the ASU police specified whether the protesters were ASU students.

AZ Advisors President Avraham Ber posted Wednesday on X that “close to 20 Jewish students at @ASU had to leave a campus building thru a back door with a police escort together with their @Chabad Rabbi Shmuel Teichtel to return to the Chabad House for safety after a[n] Antisemitic incident.”

“Students speak on the video as they walk with the police escort that they do not feel safe on campus as the meeting ended abruptly with acts of violence,” Ber wrote.

Protesters also ended the meeting with “death threats,” he wrote.

ASU Jewish student organization @chabadasu recorded a video of several Jewish students leaving the meeting with Rabbi Teichtel on Instagram Live.

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Chabad at ASU (@chabadasu)

“We don’t feel safe on this campus,” one student said in the video.

“We are okay now boruch Hashem,” @chabadasu wrote in an update to the post. “We are very disturbed by what happened and the clear anti-Semitism and rocks thrown at the windows where the meeting was held. We are thankful to ASU police for their protection [at] this event once again.”

ASU President Michael Crow posted Wednesday on X that “@ASUPolice is investigating last night’s disruption of a USG meeting on the Tempe campus.”

“Let it be clear that ASU will not tolerate acts of intimidation or violence,” Crow wrote.

An Instagram video posted Tuesday night by ASU’s Students for Justice in Palestine showed students packed into the meeting hall, with some wearing keffiyehs and holding pro-Palestine signs while others donned Israeli flags.

Two pro-Palestinian signs shown read “Intifada Until Victory” and “Palestinian Liberation is Women’s Liberation.”

Just following the meeting’s interruption by protesters, students in the room are shown shouting “We will not be silenced” and “Free, free Palestine,” according to the video.

They exit the building and join a large chanting crowd of protesters shouting “Free, free Palestine,” led by a woman shouting into a megaphone.

“From the sea to the river, Palestine will live forever,” they shouted, as shown in the video. “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

“F**k ASU,” they said. “Long live the Intifada…When people are occupied, resistance is justified.”

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by SJP at ASU (@sjpasu)

ASU SJP President Finn Howe told The State Press that his organization has been working with undergraduate student government Senator Samuel Ndinjiakat Jr. to draft pro-BDS legislation over the few weeks leading up the meeting.

The legislation itself could not be presented to the student government meeting because of “procedural policy,” Howe told the paper.

Howe told the paper that SJC is “completely against antisemitism” and has ” a long history of standing beside Jewish students.”

“It is not about Judaism versus Islam,” he said. “It’s about standing up against genocide.”

Ben Griffith, an ASU senior and member of the campus Hillel, told the outlet that  “the proposed BDS resolution is “incredibly antisemitic.”

At the meeting, Jewish student organizations collaborated to “get as many Jewish students involved and together to show that we are proud of our Judaism and want to feel safe on campus,” Griffith said.

Shares of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. tumbled in premarket trading in New York after it abandoned plans to spin off its cloud computing unit, blaming the Biden administration’s expansion of advanced semiconductor export restrictions on Chinese companies. 

In a Thursday earnings release, China’s e-commerce giant said its Cloud Intelligence Group – the cloud computing arm of Alibaba that competes with Microsoft Azure and Amazon WebServices – said, “expansion of US restrictions on export of advanced computing chips has created uncertainties for the prospects of Cloud Intelligence Group.” 

Alibaba continued, “We believe that a full spin-off of Cloud Intelligence Group may not achieve the intended effect of shareholder value enhancement. Accordingly, we have decided to not proceed with a full spin-off, and instead we will focus on developing a sustainable growth model for Cloud Intelligence Group under the fluid circumstances.”

The news sent Alibaba’s shares in New York down 8% in premarket. Shares are flat on the year and have been range-bound since the start of 2022. They are still down 73% since peaking in October 2020 (around the time when Beijing began to overhaul its tech sector). 

The decision to halt spin-off plans is a significant setback in Alibaba’s restructuring strategy into six separate business divisions, which would have been one of the most radical shake-ups in the company’s history. 

“That maneuver was designed to grant more autonomy to the separate businesses, hopefully rejuvenate them, and create value on markets. Such a split, however, will likely reduce Alibaba’s heft and erode its position as one of the leaders of the Chinese digital economy,” Bloomberg said. 

Willer Chen, research analyst at Forsyth Barr Asia, said the news today “should be a big surprise to the market. This is a big contrast to the previous clear spinoff timetable.” 

“Even considering relative weak market situation, the suspension still leaves the market scratching its head. The first annual dividend looks like a compensation to shareholders. However, it may not fully offset the shock given the higher value of cloud unit,” Chen said. 

On Wednesday, Chinese technology giant Tencent Holdings warned even though it has a large stockpile of AI chips from Nvidia, expanding US export controls on high-end chips could soon impact its cloud services.  

“We feel that the chip ban does actually affect our ability to resell these AI chips through our cloud services, and that’s one area that may be impacted,” Tencent President Martin Lau said.

As the Biden administration’s chip restrictions spark turmoil for Chinese tech companies, Biden went full off the script on Wednesday at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Fran and called President Xi a “dictator” – So much for the attempt to rekindle Sino-US ties. 

Authored by Simon White, Bloomberg macro strategist,

The economy and markets are giving divergent views on US recession risk, with the recent performance of several assets sending out a more negative message than justified by the economic data. Oil, copper, some cyclical sectors and yields look among the most mispriced if — as looks more likely than not — a slump is avoided.

Price is the primary driver of narratives in markets. This week’s CPI miss in the US is a case in point: the steep positioning-led drop in bond yields fed a narrative that inflation is over and the Federal Reserve is done hiking rates. However, it’s highly doubtful that core CPI coming in a tenth of a percent less than expected is enough to justify such an assertive change to the outlook.

Still, it underpinned a burgeoning recession narrative in markets. Most stark has been the underperformance of some of the most cyclical sectors. An indicator based on the methodology of Stanley Druckenmiller — who has said “the inside” of the stock market is the best economist he knows — is at levels that have previously coincided with a recession.

Also oil has slumped, copper is weak and US rates markets now expect almost 100 bps of cuts next year. But this is all contrary to a surfeit of economic data that indicates the risk of an NBER recession is in fact receding.

Which one is right then, the market or economic data?

That’s a knotty question, as I’ll explain, but the short answer is the market looks too pessimistic on the outlook, meaning if a recession is sidestepped, there are potential mispricings in bond yields, some commodities, and in cyclical sectors such as energy, retail and banks.

Markets are not always right. Certainly when it comes to using copper or oil as recession indicators, they are no better than economists, predicting more slumps than have actually occurred. As the chart below shows, there are multiple times where oil and copper have been contracting on an annual basis, but there has been no recession.

So how should we think about markets and economies in relation to recessions?

Economic contractions are regime shifts that occur when hard, real-economy data and soft, market and survey-based data reinforce one other negatively. Weaker than expected economic data feeds negatively into markets. Weaker markets, in turn, negatively affect the real economy through channels such as widening credit spreads.

A deterioration in the real economy is reflected back once again to market prices. Wash, rinse, repeat, and a recession rapidly occurs.

The chart below shows how hard and soft data interact. Soft data becomes stressed fairly regularly, but unless the hard data becomes likewise, a recession is avoided. Recently, hard and soft-data stress levels were at a level that has previously meant a recession, but both are now falling.

What happened differently this time?

Tight financial conditions are the grist to the mill of fomenting the pernicious feedback loops between hard and soft data that catalyze a recession. But for the last year or so, financial conditions have on net been loosening, whereas previously when both hard and soft data were significantly stressed they were tightening. Contained credit spreads, subdued equity vol (the two are linked) and a surprisingly resilient stock market have all conspired to keep financial conditions looser than they otherwise would have been, keeping a recession at bay.

Nonetheless, some leading economic indicators are still signaling a recession is on the way. The most widely followed is the Conference Board’s Leading Index (CBLI), composed of 10 indicators.

It stands in stark contrast to my own US leading indicator, which is turning up strongly (right chart below).

The difference in the two comes from how the indicators are constructed. The US leading indicator is more reactive to changes than the CBLI as its inputs are based on 6-month rather than 12-month changes. Leading economic data is in fact improving, as reflected in my US leading indicator — but this has not yet been picked up by the CBLI.

However, if we look under the hood of the CBLI then it too is looking decidedly non-recessionary. The 6-month diffusion of the CBLI (i.e. a count of how many of its ten inputs are rising on a 6-month basis), is turning up strongly.

It reached a low of 10% in May – which would normally have almost guaranteed a recession — but has since risen to 60%, a level more compatible with an economic expansion. (The reason why the CBLI gave a false positive for a recession this time is due to the bifurcation in the recoveries in the goods and services economies after the pandemic.)

In fact, if we look at a larger set of leading data, as I did in last week’s column, the odds of the NBER declaring a recession over the next approximately six to nine months is looking less likely than so.

A deterioration in the credit market — the biggest non-geopolitical risk to the economy — would significantly worsen the outlook through tightening financial conditions. Credit is vulnerable to weakening underlying fundamentals and the murkiness of the risks in the now sizable private-credit market. A credit downturn would be prone to rapidly setting off a negative feedback loop between markets and the economy, resulting in a recession.

Absent that, in the coming months it should become clearer that the US will not experience a full-blown recession in the near future. That would make, for example, oil start to look too pessimistically priced, especially as excess liquidity remains a tailwind. Yields would also be biased higher as rate-cut expectations are pared back, and poor Treasury-market liquidity remains a negative risk for bonds. Also some cyclical sectors should outperform, such as energy, as commodity prices rise; retail, as leading indicators point to a continued recovery in consumption; and banks.

Price can create its own reality, but this time around the recessionary pricing in markets is not currently grave enough to make one so.

The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits for the first time last week jumped to 231k (from an upwardly revised 218k), up to its highest since August…

Source: Bloomberg

Worse still, continuing claims keeps rising, to 1.864mm – the highest since November 2021…

Source: Bloomberg

And it’s going to get worse, as Goldman reminds us that ongoing seasonal distortions have increasingly weighed on the level of continuing claims over the last six months, and we now expect that the reversal of those distortions could exert a cumulative boost of 375k to the level of continuing claims between now and March.

We’re gonna need more seasonal adjustments.

S&P futures dropped and global stocks paused their rally on Wednesday as the euphoria over a potential dovish pivot by central banks faded and earnings from a slew of companies undershot expectations. A boost to sentiment from the US averting a government shutdowns was offset by a last minute debacle in the Biden-Xi talks in which the US president (correctly) called his Chinese counterpart a “dictator”; sentiment was also pressured by disappointing guidance and commentary on the US consumer from retail giant Walmart. As of 8:15am, S&P futures ticked 0.2% lower. 10YTreasuries steadied just below 4.5%, after yields increased by almost nine basis points in the previous session. The dollar was little changed and West Texas Intermediate declined toward $76 a barrel.

In premarket trading Cisco tumbles 10% after its forecast raised concerns that corporations are reining in their technology spending. Walmart sank over 6% after it modestly raised its annual profit forecast, but struck a cautious tone about the outlook for US shoppers. Alibaba Group fell 8% after the company said it won’t proceed with a full spinoff of its cloud unit. Cisco Systems Inc. headed for its biggest drop in 18 months after saying new product orders are slowing. Children’s Place falls 19% after posting 3Q profit that fell short of estimates.

This week’s rally in stocks and bonds has prompted some to ponder whether the market is jumping the gun on expectations of interest rate cuts. While data has showed US inflation slowing, other economic measures such as retail sales and Target Corp. earnings indicate consumer demand remains resilient.

“The inflation discussion is done and dusted,” said Peter Kinsella, head of FX strategy at Union Bancaire Privee UBp SA. “Now the narrative will slowly shift from inflation to growth risks, and we have to wait and see what happens with labor market data.”

In other news, President Xi Jinping’s comment that his country will not fight a cold, or a hot, war with the US is being viewed as a sign Beijing is intent on repairing recently soured relationship with the US. He spoke after a meeting with his US counterpart Joe Biden. “The tone from both sides seems conciliatory and that is good,” said Redmond Wong, a market strategist at Saxo Capital Markets in Hong Kong.

The focus now turns to US initial jobless claims and industrial production figures due later Thursday, with investors also likely to tune in to a lineup of speakers from the Fed and European Central Bank.

European stocks are on course to snap a three-day winning streak. The Stoxx 600 is down 0.3%, led by declines in energy and leisure shares while utilities and industrial goods lead the outperformers. Burberry plunged 9% after saying weaker demand for high-end goods may make its sales forecast impossible to hit. Meal-kit firm HelloFresh SE sank 18% after cutting sales expectations. Here are the biggest movers Thursday:

• Siemens gains as much as 5.8%, the most since February, after the German industrial conglomerate presented an overall strong report, with analysts noting a return to growth for its key Digital Industries division, impressive cash flow and a fresh EU6 billion buyback as key positives
• Arcadis rises as much as 5.3%, the most in more than six months, after the Dutch engineering firm announced targets for 2024-26 on its capital markets day that Degroof Petercam says were substantially above expectations
• SSE rise 2.8% as BNP Paribas Exane says the UK utility is “entering a sweet spot” after upgrading its rating to outperform. Reports that UK will upgrade offshore wind auction price caps could open bidding opportunities for SSE next year
• EFG International shares gain as much as 3.4% after the Swiss asset manager reported results for the first 10 months of the year that signal a strong 2023, according to ZKB. Other analysts also point to the company’s hiring as a good sign
• Premier Foods advances as much as 5.2%, the biggest intraday advance since May, after the packaged-food company reported first-half results that were seen as good by analysts. Jefferies highlighted the company’s strong momentum carrying into the second quarter
• Hotel Chocolat shares jump as much as 164%, the most on record, after US candy giant Mars agreed to buy the premium chocolate maker and retailer for £534 million ($662 million)
• City Pubs shares gain as much as 33%, the most on record, after Young & Co.’s Brewery agrees to buy the chain of pubs operator for 108.75 pence in cash and 0.032658 new Young’s A Shares
• Soitec shares flip to gains after erasing a 6.1% drop at the open. The French firm’s results for fiscal 2Q showed a strong rebound in its core segment of providing wafers to smartphone-chip vendors, with the division recording a 90% jump in sales from a quarter earlier
• HelloFresh declines as much as 21%, the most ever, as the meal-kit company cut full-year sales and Ebitda guidance, citing challenges in acquiring customers in the US and a slow ramp-up of its capacity to produce ready-to-eat pre-made meals
• Burberry shares drop as much as 11% after the UK trench-coat maker warned that a global slowdown in luxury demand has taken a toll on its sales and put its yearly revenue targets at risk
• Allegro drop as much as 6.9% after the Polish e-commerce platform’s guidance for 4Q signals ballooning losses in Czech Republic and modest gross merchandise value (GMV) growth despite stronger trends in October

Earlier, Asian stocks halted a three-day winning run. Chinese shares were undermined by data showing home prices fell at the fastest clip since 2015; traders also cited profit-taking following the meeting between Xi Jinping and Joe Biden. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell as much as 0.8%. Xiaomi was one of the biggest contributors to the loss as investors were unimpressed by its new electric vehicle, while Tencent fell as amid concerns on its revenue. Hong Kong and mainland benchmarks led losses across the region. Chinese home prices fell by the most in eight years in October, signaling the property slump is worsening even after government stimulus. Meanwhile, the much-anticipated meeting of Xi and Biden delivered an outcome that was seen as largely in line with expectations.

Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp weakened amid mixed tech earnings ahead of Alibaba’s results and with participants digesting the rhetoric from the Biden-Xi meeting which was said to be constructive and productive as they agreed to restart cooperation on counter-narcotics and create forums for military-to-military contact. However, reports noted that Biden said Xi was a dictator and he also raised concerns about human rights abuses.

• Australia’s ASX 200 was lower with the energy and mining-related sectors pressured by a deterioration in the commodities complex and with stronger-than-expected employment data doing little to spur risk appetite.
• Japan’s Nikkei 225 failed to sustain its early gains despite better-than-expected exports and machinery orders.
• India stocks logged their best back-to-back gains since July, skirting losses in their Asian peers, led by gains in technology stocks. The S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.5% to 65,982.48 in Mumbai, while the NSE Nifty 50 Index advanced by the same magnitude. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index was down 0.3% for the day.

In FX, the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index is unchanged. The kiwi is the worst performer among the G-10’s, falling 0.5% versus the greenback.

• GBP/USD steadied at 1.2400 after the Bank of England’s Megan Greene said she wasn’t even thinking about rate cuts
• NZD/USD sank as much as 0.9% to 0.5971 and AUD/USD fell as much as 0.7% to 0.6456 on falling Chinese house prices and a mixed Australian job report

In rates, treasuries were richer across the curve, unwinding a portion of Wednesday’s losses and following wider gains in gilts where yields are richer by almost 10bp across long-end of the curve. US session features several economic data releases and at least five Fed speakers. Also, corporate deal flow is expected to be heavy for a second straight day. US yields richer by ~4bp across long-end of the curve with futures on session highs in early trading; 10-year is around 4.48%, near day’s low, trailing gilts in the sector by 4bp. Long-end outperformance in Treasuries pushes 2s10s spread flatter by around 1bp on the day with 5s30s spread also slightly tighter vs Wednesday close. Gilts have outperformed their German counterparts as UK 10-year borrowing costs fall by 7bps. 

In commodities, oil fell as an increase in US inventories added to market sentiment over weaker demand and steady supplies. WTI fell 0.6% to trade near $76.20. Gold edged up, after a modest decline on Wednesday as US data pointed to signs of resilience in the US economy that could affect the Federal Reserve’s rate path. 

Bitcoin remains stuck in very narrow USD 37-37.5k range after a failed attempt to break out above $38k last night. Ethereum spiked to $2100 after confirmation that Blackrock had filed for an ETH ETF.

US economic data includes October import/export price indexes, initial jobless claims, November Philadelphia Fed business outlook and New York Fed services business activity (8:30am), October industrial production (9:15am), NAHB housing market index and Kansas City Fed manufacturing (11am) and September TIC flows (4pm). Scheduled Fed speakers include Mester (8:30am, 11:45am and 1:30pm), Williams (9:25am), Waller (10:30am), Barr (10:35am) and Cook (12pm)

Market Snapshot

• S&P 500 futures little changed at 4,516.50
• STOXX Europe 600 down 0.3% to 453.20
• MXAP down 0.2% to 160.68
• MXAPJ down 0.2% to 504.48
• Nikkei down 0.3% to 33,424.41
• Topix down 0.2% to 2,368.62
• Hang Seng Index down 1.4% to 17,832.82
• Shanghai Composite down 0.7% to 3,050.93
• Sensex up 0.7% to 66,138.36
• Australia S&P/ASX 200 down 0.7% to 7,058.42
• Kospi little changed at 2,488.18
• Brent Futures down 0.4% to $80.85/bbl
• Gold spot up 0.4% to $1,967.34
• German 10Y yield little changed at 2.63%
• Euro little changed at $1.0857
• U.S. Dollar Index little changed at 104.35

Top Overnight News

• Biden and Xi met for four hours on Wed and reached agreements on curbing fentanyl production and resuming military-to-military communications, but otherwise it was a fairly uneventful gathering (the most important takeaway was that the two men agreed to continue talking as relations thaw, although Biden reiterated that considered Xi to be a dictator). NYT
• A decision by Germany’s top court to strike down off-budget funding for climate action has called into question about €770 billion ($840 billion) of state funding, according to people familiar with the matter. BBG
• The US and EU are haggling over terms to extend a truce on steel and aluminum trade after talks stalled on a more lasting agreement. The US proposed prolonging the status quo until end-2025, but the EU wants changes to the current deal before agreeing to an extension, people familiar said. BBG
• Hamas agrees to a deal whereby it will release 50 women and child hostages in exchange for a 3-5 day ceasefire and the release of certain women and children being held in Israeli prisons. WaPo
• Israeli president Isaac Herzog has said that his country cannot leave a vacuum in Gaza and would have to maintain a “very strong force” in the coastal enclave for the near future to prevent Hamas re-emerging in the besieged strip. FT
• Iran’s supreme leader delivered a clear message to the head of Hamas when they met in Tehran in early November, according to three senior officials: You gave us no warning of your Oct. 7 attack on Israel and we will not enter the war on your behalf. RTRS
• Senate passes bill to avoid a shutdown (the vote was 87-11), sending it to the White House for Biden’s signature (the new spending deadlines are 1/19 and 2/2). WaPo
• Larry Summers said transitory factors like bottlenecks are partly behind the faster-than-expected slowdown in US inflation. He still doesn’t see a return to 2% without a significant downturn. BBG
• CSCO reported solid EPS upside, but the guidance was very soft (mgmt. said the culprit behind the poor forecast isn’t macro weakness but instead absorption hiccups as customers take time to install and implement prior purchases before making new ones). RTRS
•  Liquidity – Top book liquidity has doubled from $8M to $16M month-to-date. The ability to transfer risk has increased. We expect liquidity to tick lower heading into Thanksgiving.

More details on overnight moves from Newsquawk

APAC stocks were mostly negative as the recent data-driven momentum eventually lost steam. ASX 200 was lower with the energy and mining-related sectors pressured by a deterioration in the commodities complex and with stronger-than-expected employment data doing little to spur risk appetite. Nikkei 225 failed to sustain its early gains despite better-than-expected exports and machinery orders. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp weakened amid mixed tech earnings ahead of Alibaba’s results and with participants digesting the rhetoric from the Biden-Xi meeting which was said to be constructive and productive as they agreed to restart cooperation on counter-narcotics and create forums for military-to-military contact. However, reports noted that Biden said Xi was a dictator and he also raised concerns about human rights abuses.

Top Asian News

• US President Biden said talks with Xi were constructive and productive, while they made real progress and are restarting cooperation on counter-narcotics, as well as resuming military-to-military contact. Biden also raised concerns about people detained in China and about China’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong, while he emphasised the US would take actions to prevent US technology from being used to undermine US security and said that Chinese President Xi is a dictator.
• Chinese President Xi said China has no plan to replace the US and that he hopes the two countries can be partners, respect each other and coexist peacefully. Xi added that both sides should have more dialogue, discuss more and handle differences calmly, as well as promote mutually beneficial cooperation in fields including the economy, trade, agriculture, climate change and AI. Furthermore, he said the US should stop arming Taiwan and support China’s peaceful reunification with Taiwan, while he hopes the US will lift its unilateral sanctions and provide a fair and just environment for Chinese companies.
• Chinese President Xi said during his APEC address that the door of US-China relations cannot be shut and the world needs China and the US to work together. Xi also stated China is ready to be a partner and friend of the US and that the US should not bet against China, while he added that there is plenty of room for US-China cooperation and that it is wrong to view China as a threat and play a zero-sum game.
• US senior administration official said the Biden-Xi meeting lasted for over 4 hours and both leaders acknowledged that they want to keep lines of communication open, while there are no plans for another visit between Biden and Xi at this time although they kept the door open to it.
• China’s state planner said it will continue to expand domestic demand and promote high growth in services consumption. NDRC added it will coordinate the link between macro policies this year and next year and make sure there is a good start to the economy in 2024, while it will roll out policy measures to attract foreign investment with bigger efforts and will increase household income in urban and rural areas, as well as improve consumption capability of low- and mid-level income groups.
• “China’s Ministry of Commerce said on Thu it will implement tariff reduction and exemption for imported equipment for foreign investment projects encouraged by the government”, according to Global Times. “The Ministry also urged responsible authorities to study relevant policies encouraging foreign investment and help the involved enterprises to report corresponding projects in accordance to national policies.”

European bourses are struggling for direction, Euro Stoxx 50 -0.1%, as newsflow slows considerably in European hours and the tailwind from US data begins to fizzle out. Sectors are tilting negative with stock specifics dictating, aside from Energy which lags on recent benchmark action. Elsewhere, Luxury names slump post-Burberry’s concerns around attaining guidance while Utilities and Industrials benefit from broker action and Siemens results respectively. Stateside, futures are in the red but as above action is very contained and limited thus far with futures flat/0.10% lower ahead of a number of Fed speakers incl. Williams and key earnings from WMT & M, among others. NetEase Inc (NTES) Q3 2023 (USD): EPS 1.84 (exp. 1.47), Revenue 3.7bln (exp. 3.82bln). Cuts quarterly dividend to 0.495/ADS (prev. 0.525/ADS).

Top European News

• BoE’s Greene says the latest inflation data is good news and labour market data is positive. The question is whether BoE policy is restrictive enough and we may need to be restrictive for longer; Greene makes clear that we are in restrictive territory. Markets globally have not really clocked on to how long central banks will need to stay restrictive. UK wage growth is still incredibly high. I am not thinking about cuts.

FX

• Buck continues to recover from post-US CPI lows as DXY forms a base above 104.00 between 104.30-56 parameters.
• Euro and Yen relatively firm within 1.0831-60 and 151.13-47 respective ranges on yield spread and data dynamics.
• EUR/USD flanked by hefty option expiries and USD/JPY solidly underpinned.
• Sterling gleans some support around 1.2400 via hawkish remarks from BoE’s Greene and Aussie on either side of 0.6500 via strong payroll gain.
• Kiwi lags sub-0.6000 in the face of big upside expiry and AUD/NZD headwinds
• PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 7.1724 vs exp. 7.2474 (prev. 7.1752)

Fixed Income

• Debt futures regroup and rebound after early buying petered out for a while.
• Bunds off lower 130.56 low having peaked at 130.89.
• Gilts extend both ends of the Liffe range to 96.34-74 amidst hawkish BoE rhetoric.
• T-note hovers towards the top of 108-17/07 band awaiting US IJC, IP and a host of Fed speakers.

Commodities

• WTI Dec’23 and Brent Jan’24 futures are softer around USD 76.30/bbl (vs high 76.61/bbl) and USD 80.90/bbl (vs high 80.98/bbl) following a session of selling on Tuesday; as mentioned, newsflow has been slow with specifics for crude equally limited.
• Spot gold moving back above its 50 DMA (USD 1,962.30/oz) from a USD 1,956.55/oz trough, but off its intraday peak of USD 1,968.61; Spot silver found support at its 200 DMA.
• 3M LME copper has reclaimed a USD 8,300/t handle for the first time since the end of September, although iron ore futures fell overnight after China’s NDRC yesterday said it is investigating “unreasonably high prices; LME zinc prices meanwhile slipped some 3% following a larger-than-usual build in zinc inventories (+65kt).
• US and the EU discussions on a permanent steel agreement have reportedly reached a stalemate, according to Bloomberg sources; Biden admin has proposed prolonging the status quo until the end of 2025 to hammer out a permanent deal.

Geopolitics

• US senior official said Chinese President Xi said there were no such plans for China military action against Taiwan in the coming years, while Xi told Biden China’s preference was for a peaceful reunification but also talked about conditions in which force could be used.
• North Korea said the US and its allies are raising tensions in the region, while it will respond to military threats by the US and its allies with more aggressive and strategic military acts, according to KCNA.
• Pentagon said the State Department approved a potential sale of sidewinder missiles to South Korea.

US Event Calendar

• 08:30: Oct. Import Price Index YoY, est. -1.8%, prior -1.7%
• 08:30: Oct. Import Price Index ex Petroleu, est. -0.3%, prior -0.3%
• 08:30: Oct. Import Price Index MoM, est. -0.3%, prior 0.1%
• 08:30: Nov. New York Fed Services Business, prior -19.1
• 08:30: Nov. Continuing Claims, est. 1.85m, prior 1.83m
• 08:30: Oct. Export Price Index MoM, est. -0.5%, prior 0.7%
• 08:30: Oct. Export Price Index YoY, prior -4.1%
• 08:30: Nov. Philadelphia Fed Business Outl, est. -8.0, prior -9.0
• 08:30: Nov. Initial Jobless Claims, est. 220,000, prior 217,000
• 09:15: Oct. Capacity Utilization, est. 79.4%, prior 79.7%
• 09:15: Oct. Manufacturing (SIC) Production, est. -0.4%, prior 0.4%
• 09:15: Oct. Industrial Production MoM, est. -0.4%, prior 0.3%
• 10:00: Nov. NAHB Housing Market Index, est. 40, prior 40
• 11:00: Nov. Kansas City Fed Manf. Activity, prior -8
• 16:00: Sept. Total Net TIC Flows, prior $134.4b
• 16:00: Sept. Net Foreign Security Purchases, prior $63.5b

DB’s Jim Reid concludes the overnight wrap

I like to think I’ve had a relatively decent career so far but I did doubt myself yesterday given where I was late at night. I’m in Frankfurt and after a busy day was very hungry when I arrived back at my hotel after meetings. Looking at the room service menu I decided that to satisfy my hunger would be an unreasonable cost so I went for a walk in search of food. I’m not sure if I went the wrong way but after half a mile of going past closed shops and empty buildings, I found myself in a row of kebab shops. By this stage I had lost the will to carry on and ended up in a fried fish bar. I choose something that required cooking and waited. It was only when I left with my takeaway 20 minutes later that I realised my suit smelt of fried food. So if you have a meeting with me today in Frankfurt excuse the smell.

While I was locked in meetings yesterday there was just a 13bps range for 10yr US yields. It all felt quite dull in comparison with Tuesday. In all seriousness it was another large move across the curve with US yields selling off around 7-9bps from 2s to 30s as the moves the prior day were deemed to be a bit overdone with just under half the rally reversed. This reversal was helped by some positive news on the corporate earnings side, as well as some better data releases, which led to growing doubts about whether the Fed would actually cut rates as swiftly as many were hoping. We’ve seen yields fall 2-4bps across the curve in Asia again though so volatility remains. Risk has managed to shrug this all off with the S&P 500 (+0.16%) hitting a 2-month high, with US HY spreads reaching their tightest level since September. President Biden and Chinese Premier Xi Jinping have held what was a tightly-scripted diplomatic encounter their first in a year. It has generally gone without incident with relations thawing a little. More below.

Delving in now with more detail. The bond moves had several drivers throughout the day, which all added up to a broadly positive narrative about the economy. One was the latest retail sales print for October, which saw a slightly smaller -0.1% contraction than the -0.3% expected, with the September number revised up two-tenths to +0.9% but with August revised down. Retail control which goes into GDP was in line at 0.2% down from 0.7% (revised up 0.1pp) last time so some slowing. Later on, we had t he New York Fed’s Empire State manufacturing survey, which hit a 7-month high of 9.1 (vs. -3.0 expected). And on the corporate side, Target (+17.8%) was the strongest performer in the entire S&P 500 after they announced better than expected earnings.

The stronger newsflow meant there was a bit more scepticism about the rate cuts being priced for 2024 after Tuesday’s CPI report. For example, the rate priced in at the Fed’s December 2024 meeting was back up by +10.8bps to 4.437%, which reversed almost half of the previous day’s -25.2bps decline. And in the near term, the likelihood of a cut by the May meeting came down from 86% on Tuesday to 73.5% by the close. So we’ve now got a slightly shallower pace of cuts priced in relative to 24 hours ago. Bear in mind this is now the 7th time in the last two years we’ve had a very clear example of markets getting excited about a dovish pivot, and on the previous 6 those dovish expectations have entirely unwound again. For reference, Henry has collated all the times we’ve seen this in an update yesterday (link here). It all started with the Omicron variant being seen as the reason the Fed wouldn’t be able to raise at all in 2022! It’s a a fascinating trip down memory lane of the last two years of the markets continually being fooled on rates. At some point there will be a dovish pivot, and this could be closer than the others to it, but be wary that we’ve now been to this well 7 times in 2 years.

Moving back to those Treasury moves in more detail. The 2yr yield was up +7.6bps to 4.91%, and the 10yr yield +8.4 bps to 4.531%. As mentioned at the top we’ve rallied back again overnight with yields 2-4bps lower across the curve.

In Europe yields on 10yr bunds (+4.4bps), OATs (+4.9bps) and BTPs (+3.2bps) all moved higher, whilst gilts (+7.5bps) underperformed in spite of a lower-than-expected CPI print for October. The release showed headline CPI falling to a two-year low of +4.6% (vs. +4.7% expected), whilst core CPI fell to a 19-month low of +5.7% (vs. +5.8% expected). In turn, that saw investors grow in confidence that the Bank of England was finished hiking rates, with only a 11% likelihood of a further hike now priced in.

For equities, the S&P 500 (+0.16%) hit a two-month high. The gains were driven by a mix of cyclicals and staples; with food (+2.47%), autos (+2.03%), banks (+1.44%), and transports (+1.24%) the highlights. Small-cap stocks continued the post CPI climb, with the Russell 2000 advancing +0.16% even if they were up +1.75% early in the session. Likewise in Europe, the STOXX 600 (+0.42%) posted a 3rd consecutive advance, closing at its highest level in nearly two months as technology (+2.18%) and basic resources (+1.46%) led the way.

Presidents Biden and Xi met in California yesterday ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. Following the meeting, President Biden noted that the talks were “some of the most constructive and productive discussions we’ve had .” The talks came with agreements on reopening military communications, and cracking down on fentanyl manufacturing in China. The two leaders and their advisors also discussed topics such as climate change, AI, and the upcoming Taiwanese elections. Ahead of the meeting, there was a joint statement from both governments detailing new climate change commitments including building carbon-capture technology in order to curtail pollution. The post-meeting news conferences and speeches are carrying on as we type and there’s generally an air of cautious diplomatic progress. However, make no mistake that these tension will likely be hovering over us for many, many years.

Staying with the US, the Senate has joined the House in passing the bill to avert the shutdown this week. President Biden will now look to sign the bill into law. This short-term funding kicks the problem into January. So join us then for the latest in this drama.

Another important story yesterday came from Germany where the federal constitutional court said that €60bn from unspent pandemic funds could not be moved into an off-budget climate fund. In 2022, the government approved a plan to retroactively shift 2021 funds into the extra-budgetary “Climate and Transformation Funds” (“Klima- und Transformationsfonds”; KTF) in an attempt to prefinance future KTF spending. The ruling is something that could have important ramifications for fiscal policy over the coming years, and finance minister Christian Lindner acknowledged that the judgement “has potentially far-reaching implications for government practice and the budgetary policy”. The final parliamentary 2024 budget draft consultations will start today as planned. See more on the ruling and the implications from our German economists here.

Bucking the recent trend, Asian equity markets are lower this morning with Chinese equities leading losses after home prices fell at their fastest pace since 2015. The Hang Seng (-1.65%) is emerging as the biggest underperformer with the CSI (-0.96%) and the Shanghai Composite (-0.64%) also edging lower. Elsewhere, the Nikkei (-0.66%) and KOSPI (-0.10%) are also slightly lower. S&P 500 (-0.19%) and NASDAQ 100 (-0.29%) futures are also on the softer side.

Coming back to Japan, data showed that exports rose +1.6% on the year (v/s +1.0% expected), a second consecutive month of growth but decelerating from a +4.3% increase the previous month. Imports slipped -12.5% y/y in October (v/s -12.8% expected) as against a revised -16.6% decline previously, mainly due to lower demand for energy-related products like coal, crude oil, and LNG. Still, the trade balance swung back to a deficit of ¥662.5 billion in October.

Elsewhere, Australia’s October employment was strong. Data showed that net employment increased last month by 55,000 well above the modest 7,800 increase in September. Most of the gain was due to a 37,900 gain in part-time jobs while full-time employment rose 17,000. Meanwhile, the official unemployment rate edged higher to 3.7% last month as expected, up from 3.6%.

Lastly, the main other data release came from the US PPI yesterday, which surprised on the downside like the CPI. For instance, monthly headline PPI was at -0.5% (vs. +0.1% expected), and the measure excluding food, energy and trade was ‘only’ up +0.1% (vs. +0.2% expected). In turn, that took year-on-year headline PPI down to +1.3% (vs. +1.9% expected), which reversed a run of three consecutive increases in the year-on-year measure. Interestingly airfares that fell -0.9% in CPI were up +0.8% in the PPI. Healthcare was at 0.5% in the PPI and this feeds more into core PCE than the softer healthcare data in the CPI on Tuesday. So some food for thought on inflation after a big week.

To the day ahead now, and US data releases include industrial production for October, the NAHB’s housing market index for November, and the weekly initial jobless claims. Central bank speakers include ECB President Lagarde, Vice President de Guindos, and the ECB’s Centeno, Knot and De Cos, Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Barr, and the Fed’s Mester, Williams, Waller and Cook, and BoE Deputy Governor Ramsden. Lastly, today’s earnings releases include Walmart.

Cops and Gaza-ceasefire advocates clashed at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee on Wednesday night, with each side accusing the other of initiating the violence.

🚨#BREAKING: Pro-Palestine Protesters are Clashing with Metro DC Police Outside Democratic National Committee Headquarters
⁰📌#Washington | #DC⁰
Currently Hundreds of pro-Palestine protesters have gathered outside the Democratic National Committee Headquarters in Washington,… pic.twitter.com/sNEzM2wRIC

— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) November 16, 2023

While the fracas was largely limited to shoves and pepper-spray, the incident underscores growing progressive discontent with Biden’s blank-check backing of Israel’s assault on Gaza, and could foreshadow consequences in next year’s general election. About 75% of Democrats and half of Republicans want a ceasefire, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll published Wednesday. 

Right now, outside of the DNC. Pro-ceasefire protesters are being dragged away by police.

Both the White House and Democratic lawmakers are betting that the anger over Gaza will fade away by Nov 2024.

I don’t think it will. For many young voters, this war has been FORMATIVE. pic.twitter.com/wiWR7eWVJE

— Trita Parsi (@tparsi) November 16, 2023

A DNC campaign reception was underway at the time of the protest arranged by groups including If Not Now and Jewish Voice for Peace Action. AP reports that “scores of Democratic representatives and candidates” were on hand, including Hakeem Jeffries, the House Minority Leader. 

Protesters told AP they’d attempted to block the building’s doors so the VIPs inside would have to face the candlelight vigil outside and the group’s call for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas that erupted 41 days ago when the Palestinian group’s al-Qassam Brigade invaded the Zionist state, killing more than a thousand civilians and military service members. 

Outside of the DNC just minutes ago.

Here’s an open secret – many staffers on the Hill and State Dep employees actively support the protests against Biden’s blocking of a ceasefire. pic.twitter.com/1pDzphc9cY

— Trita Parsi (@tparsi) November 16, 2023

An estimated 150 protesters assembled at DNC headquarters. While Capitol Police characterized the group as “illegally and violently protesting,” the demonstrators say the cops initiated force without giving any warning.

Congressman Brad Sherman just lied to @abbydphillip on CNN. Police became violent and pepper-sprayed nonviolent, antiwar protesters at the DNC — not the other way around. pic.twitter.com/7xkL6sv3wJ

— Waleed Shahid 🪬 (@_waleedshahid) November 16, 2023

“It is shameful the way that nonviolent protesters and members of our community were met with violence tonight,” Philadelphian protestor Dani Noble told AP. “It is absolutely shameful.” Noble said police were “pulling on folks that are disabled or have have chronic illnesses, pulling people to the ground.” 

🚨#BREAKING: Capitol Police are in riot gear as they announced that The large group of illegal protesters has cleared out and left the DNC building Police officers will stay on the scene out of an abundance of caution. pic.twitter.com/oMXJpkRr7Q

— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) November 16, 2023

As cops in riot gear yanked protestors from doorways and pushed them across the street, other cops bolted inside to protect the reception attendees. They rushed legislators into the building’s basement and others were laters whisked away in police cars. Congressional staffers received alert messages declaring that nobody could enter or exit buildings associated with the House of Representatives.

Six officers had minor injuries. Only one person was arrested by US Capitol Police, under a charge of assaulting a police officer. 

Some Democratic officials who attended the event took to the platform formerly known as Twitter to cultivate their preferred version of what took place. California Rep Brad Sherman described the crowd as “pro-terrorist, anti-Israel protestors” who “grew violent, pepper-spraying police officers and attempting to break into the building.” Protestors deny such an intention, and videos reviewed by ZeroHedge don’t support Sherman’s accusation of a break-in attempt or protesters using pepper spray. Police reportedly did use spray. 

Apparently trying to shame ceasefire advocates into rallying around the war state’s backing of Israel — and ignoring the growing electoral peril of his stance and that of Biden — Sherman also tweeted, “Apparently, these pro-Hamas demonstrators want Republicans to prevail in the next Congressional election.” 

DC Police officer goes far out of his way to snatch Palestinian flag from a protester at DNC HQ. This act couldn’t be more symbolic of the entire night.#FreePalestine #AlShifaHospital
End #IsraelTerrorism #GazaGenocide pic.twitter.com/kvidj37vJ7

— #StopCopCity (@ChuckModi1) November 16, 2023

After yesterday’s solid (inventory liquidation driven) earnings from Target, many were hoping for follow through today from the OG, the world’s largest retailer WMT which reported Q3 results at 7:00am ET. Alas, those same long-suffering consumer discretionary investors were in for more disappointment when the retailing giant reported earnings that generally beat on revenue and earnings, and even though it raised its previous guidance, the numbers came in shy of Wall Street estimates which in turn sent its stock tumbling.

Let’s take a closer look at what WMT reported, starting with Q3 historicals:

• Adjusted EPS $1.53 vs. $1.50 y/y, just barely beating the (previously lowered) consensus estimate of $1.52
• Revenue $160.80 billion, +5.2% y/y, beating the estimate of $159.13 billion (global eCommerce net sales hit $24
  billion, reaching 15% of net sales; they were up 15% led by pickup and delivery)
• Total US comparable sales ex-gas +4.7%, beating the consensus estimate +3.35%
  • Walmart-only US stores comparable sales ex-gas +4.9%, beating consensus estimate +3.46%
  • Sam’s Club US comparable sales ex-gas +3.8%, beating estimate +3.66%

The increase in Walmart’s comp store sales was notable because both Target and Home Depot reported declines in that metric this week, as consumers continued to pull back from discretionary purchases.

The key charts:

So far so good, and if that was the extent of it the stock would probably be soaring now. However, what the market threw up all over was the company’s disappointing guidance (which was raised but still failed to meet consensus estimates), as well as its cautious tone about the outlook for US shoppers after signs of weakness at the end of October.

Looking ahead, Walmart forecast that adjusted earnings for fiscal 2024 will be in the range $6.48-$6.48 a share, up from its previous outlook range of $6.36 – $6.46 a share. However, this was still viewed as weak compared to consensus: Wall Street had been estimating $6.48, which Walmart now admits may be a stretch.

Not helping was the company’s commentary on consumer strength, or rather, weakness trends: according to CFO John Rainey, there was a “sharper falloff” in sales during the last two weeks of October. Demand however picked up in November, spurred in part by seasonal offerings.

“The takeaway for us is that we’re seeing strength, we’re seeing share gains versus others, but there still is pressure on the consumer,” Rainey said. The punchline: “We are more cautious on the consumer than we were 90 days ago at this time.”

Separately, the company als warned that “general merchandise sales reflected softness in discretionary categories including apparel, home, and toys”, categories which some had expected would show a rebound.

In the aftermath of Target’s earnings, which were actually quite ugly but for some reason the huge short squeeze was enough to make markets forget that fundamentals are rapidly deteriorating, Walmart’s muted tone pointed to growing uncertainty around consumer spending even as the company grabs more sales from many rivals.

One thing is certain: the market did not like what Walmart had to say, and the shares tumbled as much as 8%. Walmart stock had climbed 20% this year through Wednesday, compared with the 17% increase in the S&P 500 Index. It is about to lose about half this gain in the premarket.

Full Q3 company presentation below (pdf link here)

Earnings Presentation FY24 Q3 by Zerohedge Janitor

Conservative influencer Candace Owens appeared on Tucker Carlson’s show Wednesday, where she responded to attacks by Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro, her boss. 

Shapiro was caught on a viral clip calling Owens “disgraceful” for her commentary on Israel – after she tweeted on Nov. 3 that “No government anywhere has a right to commit a genocide, ever,” referring to Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack. “There is no justification for a genocide. I can’t believe this even needs to be said or is even considered the least bit controversial to state,” she continued.

Later that day, Owens doubled down on her statements in two tweets, responding to Jewish conservative Dave Rubin.

Fast forward two weeks, when Shapiro was filmed talking to a group of people regarding Owens’ statements.

“I think her behavior during this has been disgraceful. Without a doubt,” he said. “I think that her faux sophistication on these particular issues has been ridiculous.“

Ben Shapiro blasted Candace Owens saying that she is absolutely disgraceful and basically wrong about her take on Arab Israel conflict.
What makes this interesting is that Ben Shapiro is the owner of the Daily Wire and Candace Owens works at the Daily Wire.

This is NOT the… pic.twitter.com/BdPOlmYa5k

— ꪻꫝể ꪻꫝể (@TheThe1776) November 15, 2023

On Tuesday, Owens responded to Shapiro’s comments, posting bible quotes to X which ended with “You cannot serve both God and money.” Shapiro responded on Wednesday, writing “Candace, if you feel that taking money from The Daily Wire somehow comes between you and God, by all means quit.”

Candace, if you feel that taking money from The Daily Wire somehow comes between you and God, by all means quit. https://t.co/qachKhAuHo

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) November 15, 2023

45 minutes after Shapiro’s reply, Tucker Carlson tweeted out an interview with Owens where she said that she and Shapiro have had “many disagreements,” adding “We disagreed on the COVID vaccine, Ukraine and Russia, big pharma,” noting Shapiro’s early endorsement of the Covid-19 jab.

Candace Owens responds to a clip of Ben Shapiro criticizing her: “Ben and I have many disagreements. We disagreed on the COVID vaccine, Ukraine and Russia, big pharma.”

Tucker: “It’s just a little weird. So he was on the Left on the three biggest issues of our time?” pic.twitter.com/I5HpGnpoaV

— TheBlaze (@theblaze) November 15, 2023

When asked to respond to Shapiro’s insults, Owens largely demurred – though she did note that he hadn’t reached out to her personally to discuss the disagreement. 

“I can’t respond to it beyond what he’s saying because it’s just ad-hominem attacks,” she said – which Carlson agreed with.

“Yeah, because it’s not, ‘We disagree’ or ‘I don’t think she’s correct’ or ‘Maybe she doesn’t know what she’s talking about,’” instead, calling her comments ‘absolutely disgraceful.’

“Exactly. So I can’t respond to it on a level of intellect because there’s nothing that he has expressed—at least in that short clip—that he fundamentally disagrees with in terms of what I said,” Owens replied. “But I will say that I’m not going to respond with ad-hominem attacks. I don’t think it helps further the discussion.”

Owens also said that Shapiro should be “embarrassed” to have been filmed talking trash like that.

Candace Owens responds to Ben Shapiro calling her behavior towards the Israel-Hamas conflict “disgraceful”:

“I can’t respond to it beyond what he’s saying because it’s just ad hominem attacks.” pic.twitter.com/iaKMgMdqHk

— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) November 16, 2023

“I would hope that amongst colleagues, it would always be civil disagreements,” said Owens. “I would hope that it would remain respectful, and that you wouldn’t throw your colleagues under the bus, so to speak.”

Watch the entire Tucker interview below:

Ep. 39 Candace Owens responds to Ben Shapiro.

TIMESTAMPS:
(00:00) Candace is attacked – even when she’s right
(4:27) Ben Shapiro’s comments
(12:50) The emotional response to news out of Israel
(23:05) Nikki Haley vs. free speech
(30:34) 2024 predictions pic.twitter.com/VOThqpQQ48

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) November 15, 2023

Leading up to the spat, Shapiro publicly criticized Owens for “garbage” tweets in which she amplified left-wing blogger Max Blumenthal, who tweeted that “We White American Jews are living through a golden age of power, affluence and safety,” which he called a “welcome reality” that “threatens the entire Zionist enterprise, from lobby fronts like the ADL to the State of Israel, because Zionism relies on Jewish insecurity to justify itself.”

“I don’t know who Max Blumenthal is, but I do know that you have my number and could have informed me in earnest. Real relationships should trump Twitter theatre. Let’s set a better example going forward,” Owens replied to Shapiro after he blasted her.

Authored by Magyar Hírlap via ReMix,

Gasoline and petrol supplied to the Ukrainian army will be marked with dyes in the hope that less fuel will be stolen and sold on the black market, the rbc.ua news portal reported on Saturday, citing a Telegram post from the Ministry of Defense.

According to the report, fuel suppliers to the armed forces will now paint gasoline red and petrol green. The Ministry of Defense is planning to organize the delivery of the marked fuel as early as next week. The painted gas oil and petrol will reach the troops at the end of November.

“The marking will allow identification and tracking of fuel purchased exclusively for the army and reduce the possibility of its illegal sale. In addition, the coloring will make it impossible for fuel to be misused for rationing,” a statement by the ministry read.

The dye is such that it is not possible to dilute a marked fuel so that the color disappears completely. The Ministry of Defense promises that the change will not change the price of diesel and petrol.

Although there have been some reports of fuel theft from the military so far, defense analysts suspect that theft is a widespread phenomenon in the Ukrainian Army: as much as 25 percent of the military equipment donated by other countries is estimated to end up on the black market.

Read more here…