Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

The Washington Post reported Thursday that Ukraine is reliant on coordinates provided or confirmed by the US and its allies to launch strikes using the US-provided HIMARS rocket systems, a revelation that demonstrates Washington’s deep involvement in the war.

The HIMARS is a precision-guided artillery system, one that Ukraine has employed quite a bit in its fight against Russia. One example is a January 1 HIMARS strike on a facility housing Russian forces in Donetsk that killed at least 89 Russian soldiers, one of the deadliest Ukrainian attacks of the war.

Citing three unnamed Ukrainian officials and one unnamed US official, the Post reported that Ukraine also relies on the US for targeting coordinates for similar precision weapons, including the M270 Multiple-Launch Rocket System.

One senior Ukrainian official said that Ukrainian forces almost never launch strikes using these weapons without coordinates provided by US military personnel that are located at a military base in a different country in Europe.

Top Biden administration officials have acknowledged publicly that they have been providing Ukraine with intelligence to carry out attacks on Russian forces, but the details of that cooperation were not previously known.

The Post report said that Ukrainian officials identify targets they want to hit and the location, then provide that information to the US military for more accurate coordinates. The US military then usually sends the coordinates, although sometimes they don’t, and the Ukrainian forces don’t fire.

A senior Ukrainian official said that the cooperation shows the US can provide longer-range weapons without having to worry about them being used to hit inside Russian territory. “You’re controlling every shot anyway, so when you say, ‘We’re afraid that you’re going to use it for some other purposes,’ well, we can’t do it even if we want to,” the official said.

Late night Ukrainian HIMARS launches pic.twitter.com/VRmlaYuF1I

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) January 31, 2023

But a US official disputed the idea that Ukraine was running the targets by the US for approval and said the US only provides coordinates. Back in August, a top Ukrainian intelligence official said that they consult with the US before launching HIMARS strikes and that the US has veto power over the target. Ukraine could have more freedom now to choose its own targets as the Biden administration is less and less concerned about escalating the war.

Russia has made clear it views the US and Ukraine’s cooperation on targeting as an example of Washington’s direct role in the war, and Moscow isn’t alone in its assessment. Back in March 2022, Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), former chair of the House Armed Services Committee, said the US wasn’t providing “real-time targeting intelligence” because that kind of cooperation “steps over the line to making us participate in the war.”

Texas has punted Citigroup from the syndicate that’s set to manage the Lone Star state’s largest-ever municipal bond offering, saying the bank’s policies for gun retailers discriminate against the firearms industry, Bloomberg has reported.   

On Thursday, the Texas Natural Gas Securitization Finance Corp. board reconstituted the lineup of banks that will handle the $3.4 billion offering, jettisoning Citi from a list that was first made in May 2022.   

The move comes in the wake of last month’s determination by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that Citi’s retailer rules violate a 2021 Texas law that bars the state from contracting with companies that impose anti-gun policies.  

“It has been determined that Citigroup has a policy that discriminates against a firearm entity or firearm trade association,” wrote the Texas attorney-general office’s Leslie Brock at the time. “Therefore, until further notice, we will not approve any public security issued on or after today’s date in which Citigroup purchases or underwrites the public security.” 

Following the Feb. 2018 mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, Citibank announced that it would prohibit affiliated retailers from:

• Selling so-called “high-capacity” magazines
• Selling firearms to people under age 21
• Selling bump stocks
• Selling guns to people who haven’t passed a background check 

Citi paused its Texas work after the gun-discrimination law’s passage, but then resumed it two months later, and subsequently managed various transactions, including a billion-dollar DFW airport offering.

Now, however, Citi will now sit on the sidelines of a $3.4 billion offering that will help cover the cost of bailing out natural gas utilities that were hammered by the Feb. 2021’s infamous Winter Storm Uri. The financing of that burden will help spread the cost over decades.     

The National Shooting Sports Foundation pushed for the passage of the Texas gun discrimination law, and questioned Citi’s continued business with the state. 

Last month, spokesman Mark Oliva told Bloomberg the group was “extremely gratified” that Texas will enforce the law which “refuses the ability of ‘woke’ banks to profit from Texan’s tax dollars while at the same time using those profits to pursue policies that deny Texans their Constitutional rights.” 

Don’t mess with guns or oil if you want to do business with the Texas government: In October, Texas boot UBS Group from the same deal after saying it effectively “boycotts” fossil fuels.   

Authored by Simon White, Bloomberg macro strategist,

Trades favoring disinflation are soon set to reverse as price increases prove more entrenched than anticipated.

This year, higher-duration sectors, such as tech, telcos and consumer discretionary have led stocks’ advance, while low-duration ones such as energy and utilities have underperformed. This is a reversal of the trend from late 2021, where investors started to shun high-duration stocks as inflation began to rise rapidly.

Duration is the ultimate driver of investor preferences in an inflationary cycle such as the current one. This year growth has begun to outperform value again, and cyclicals are outpacing defensives, but these obscure the bigger picture of how long-duration assets are best avoided when inflation risk is high.

Investors re-embracing higher-duration stocks is a signal they are also embracing the disinflationary narrative, one endorsed by the Fed and priced in to inflation swaps.

That narrative may soon run into trouble though. Headline inflation is falling, but this is almost all due to the drop in cyclical inflation. We can estimate cyclical and structural inflation by looking at the sub-components of CPI that are persistently above trend (structural) and those that are not (cyclical).

The chart below shows that while cyclical inflation has fallen, structural inflation is barely off its peak.

What is likely to happen is that cyclical inflation will keep falling in the near term, taking headline CPI lower. But structural inflation will remain stubborn, meaning CPI will make a higher low. At this point, cyclical inflation will begin rising again, taking headline inflation with it.

This would be a rude awakening for tech and consumer discretionary and other high-duration sectors that have risen this year. 

The bigger trend of lower-duration sectors outperforming – encapsulated in the energy vs tech stock rotation – is likely to re-assert itself sooner rather than later, taking the market lower with it.

A US official has said Friday that the US military engaged and shot down an unidentified object flying over Alaska on Thursday night, upon the order given by President Biden.

It’s unconfirmed whether the unidentified object was a balloon, “but it was traveling at an altitude that made it a potential threat to civilian aircraft,” according to The New York Times, which first reported it Friday afternoon.

The president gave the shootdown order “out of an abundance of caution,” the unnamed US official said, coming on the heels of the dramatic Chinese ‘spy’ balloon shootdown off the American east coast last Saturday.

The scant details given to the Times didn’t reveal any information that might point to the nature of the flying object, or if it was possibly a weather or spy balloon (China still insists last week’s balloon was purely for weather research purposes, and that it blew off course).

A separate official quoted in the new report commenting on the second object to breach US airspace in a week called it a “fast-moving” situation, and that it’s still developing – thus more details are expected to soon trickle out.

“It is not clear if the object was from an adversarial power, or a commercial or research operation that has gone astray, the official said,” NYT reports.

⚡️#BREAKING White House: Object smaller than recent balloon downed near Alaska a few moments ago

It’s suspected to be another Chinese Balloon

— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) February 10, 2023

Officials called the airspace breach relatively short, and could not readily identify what it was. It’s also unclear whether a recovery team is able to access the down object, or whether it took place over water or land.

In a briefing administration spokesman John Kirby said the Pentagon had been tracking the object before deeming it a “reasonable threat” to the safety of civilian aviation, as it was traveling at 40,000 feet:

Kirby: A “high altitude object” has been shot down over Alaska pic.twitter.com/Ps2W9nCBHz

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) February 10, 2023

Meanwhile, on Friday the US announced it will go after Chinese firms deemed connected with the manufacture of the alleged spy balloon shot down last weekend…

US SET TO SANCTION CHINESE FIRMS CONNECTED TO SPY BALLOON

developing…

Authored by Adam Dick via The Ron Paul Institute,

A Monday article at Politico makes the case that Donald Trump will likely be running as the peace candidate among individuals vying to be the 2024 Republican presidential nominee.

The article’s authors – Meridith McGraw, Natalie Allison, and Gary Fineout – write:

Those close to Trump’s campaign operation say he plans to try and paint himself as an anti-war dove amongst the hawks. They believe doing so will resonate with GOP voters who are divided on, but growing wary of, continued support for Ukraine in its war with Russia.

Such a strategy would be in line with how Trump presented his campaign from the beginning — in his November 15 candidacy announcement speech. In that speech, Trump referenced his not having started a new war during his presidential term when declaring that, “unlike Biden possibly getting us into World War III, which can seriously happen, I will keep America out of foolish and unnecessary foreign wars just as I did for four straight years.”

Trump’s record on peace leaves some to be desired. But, his 2024 Republican presidential primary opponents can be expected to include major warmongers. The Politico article mentions Nikki Haley, Mike Pence, and Mike Pompeo as likely contenders, all of whom appear to be more pro-war than Trump. And while Florida Governor Ron DeSantis — another potential candidate for the nomination — is not widely known for his thoughts on foreign policy, the Politico article quotes a Trump advocate who provides a preview of the case for Trump as the peacemaker vis-à-vis DeSantis:

‘Trump is the peace president and he’s the first president in two generations to not start a war, whereas if you look at DeSantis’ congressional record, he’s voted for more engagement and more military engagement overseas,’ said a person close to the Trump campaign, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions.

DeSantis was a Republican United States House of Representatives member from Florida from January of 2013 through September of 2018, when he left the House toward the end of his successful governor campaign. DeSantis was appointed to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs upon joining the House and went on to be chairman on the Subcommittee on National Security at the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. So DeSantis should have plenty of a track record related to war and peace.

We’ll see if Trump follows through with this campaign strategy.

One month ago, when looking at the latest Chinese credit data, we said that Beijing’s credit flood is coming, even if the December data was a disappointment.

China’s Credit Flood Is Coming, But December Was A Disappointment https://t.co/M9qmJRm0KX

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) January 11, 2023

Then two weeks later, we got confirmation that this was indeed coming, when a local news paper said that “China Bank Lending in Jan. May Hit Record at Over 4T Yuan”, to which our response was that China had just wasted 3 years in another pointless deleveraging experiment to get back where it started: with massive credit injections as the only means for growth.

China just wasted 3 years in another pointless deleveraging experiment to get back where it started: with massive credit injections as the only means for growth. https://t.co/nDrAaUHYJA

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) February 1, 2023

Fast forward to today when just as we previewed a month ago, the Chinese Credit Flood arrived with a bang, and a record 4.9 trillion in new loans, which smashed expectations as did the Total Social Financing which came at a near record 6 trillion yuan, or almost $1 trillion in total new credit (i.e., new money) in just one month!

The big picture: Total RMB loans surprised the market to the upside mainly on stronger corporate loans – corporate loan growth accelerated to 23.7% month-over-month annualized in January from 16.9% in December, although short-term corporate loans grew faster than medium to long term loans. Household loan growth slowed in contrast – medium to long term loans to households (mostly mortgages) contracted in January vs December last year amid weak property transactions and early repayment of mortgages. Total social financing and M2 beat expectations as well on the back of stronger loan growth.

The key numbers:

• New CNY loans: RMB 4900BN in January (RMB loans to the real economy: RMB 4930BN) vs. Bloomberg consensus: RMB 4200BN.
• Outstanding CNY loan growth: 11.3% yoy in January (+12.7% mom sa ann, estimated by GS); December: 11.1% yoy (+12.1% mom sa ann).
• Total social financing: RMB 5980 billion in January, vs. consensus: RMB 5400bn
• TSF stock growth: 9.4% yoy in January, vs. 9.6% in December. The implied month-on-month growth of TSF stock: 11.5% in January (seasonally adjusted annualized rate), more than double the 4.8% December rate.
• M2: 12.6% yoy in January (21% mom sa ann estimated by GS) vs. Bloomberg consensus: 11.7% yoy, December: 11.8% yoy (+2.5% mom sa ann).

Courtesy of Goldman’s Maggie Wei, here are the main points from the report:

• 1. January total social financing (TSF) came in above market expectations, mainly on stronger loan growth. The sequential growth of TSF stock accelerated to 11.5% mom sa annualized in January from 4.8% in December, and in year-on-year terms, TSF stock growth slowed to 9.4% from 9.6% in December. Among major TSF components, new CNY loans rose strongly after seasonal adjustment, and shadow banking credit turned less negative as well. Trust loans, entrusted loans and undiscounted bankers’ acceptance bills combined contracted by RMB 140bn in January, vs a contraction of RMB 453bn in December last year. Corporate bond showed net issuance of RMB 91bn, vs net redemption of RMB 505bn in December, and government bond net issuance rose to RMB 794bn, from RMB 425bn in December.

• 2. Overall CNY loans came in well above market expectations, and the sequential growth of RMB loans accelerated to 12.7% mom sa annualized from 12.1% in December. Year-on-year growth of RMB loans was 11.3% in January, edging up from 11.1% in December. Based on loan breakdown by different sectors after our seasonal adjustment, corporate loan growth accelerated while household loan growth slowed. In particular, household short-term loan growth slowed to 3.4% month-over-month annualized from 5.7% in December, and household medium to long term loans, which are mostly mortgages, contracted by 2.2% in January from 5.2% expansion in December last year, on the back of slow property transactions and early repayment of mortgages, despite on-going property policy easing.
• 3. M2 growth accelerated to 12.6% yoy in January from 11.8% in December, above market expectations and the highest since 2016. FX inflows have likely been quite strong in January, adding to the overall M2 growth in the month, besides the contribution from faster RMB loan growth.

• 4. January loan and credit data were stronger than expectations, mostly on higher RMB loans to the corporate sector. The acceleration in corporate loans reflected policy support and some improvement in credit demand – policymakers urged commercial banks to accelerate loan extensions and market color suggests faster loan growth in infrastructure and manufacturing sectors. However, corporate short-term loans grew faster than long-term loans – short-term loans expanded by 39.3% month-over-month annualized, vs 5.4% in December last year, and medium to long term loans expanded by 28.2% month-over-month annualized, vs 24.4% in December. Whether the fast speed of corporate loan growth could be sustainable thus remains to be seen. In contrast, the weak household loans and in particular household medium to long term loan growth highlighted the challenges in the property sector – despite the on-going policy easing in the sector, households chose to repay mortgages early amid falling mortgages rates and relatively conservative expectations on future property prices.
• 5. PBOC revised the statistical standards for money and credit data this month by including credit extensions from consumer credit companies, wealth management companies, and financial asset investment companies to the loan and TSF data, though this impact is relatively small. According to the PBOC, total loan extensions by these companies stood at RMB 841bn in January, around 0.4% of outstanding RMB loan stock.

Bottom line, the January loan and credit data came red hot as we expected and as China warned, clearly expecting this outcome and hinting that there is much more to come (no surprise that the PBOC released more than 1trillion yuan in new liquidity in just the past three days). The acceleration in bank loans reflected policy support – commercial banks extended more loans to property developers after the “property 16 measures”, and policy banks’ credit facility targeting at infrastructure investment in recent months likely also added to overall RMB loan growth. At the same time, the sharp upward reversal in TSF growth indicates that Beijing has fully capitulated when it comes to new containing the next credit bubble and is now pursuing it wholeheartedly as it hopes to reverse three years of subdued growth by China’s economy during its Zero Covid nightmare.

The question is how soon and how extensively China’s massive credit impulse reboot will flood the world. One thing is clear: the burst higher in credit will lead to an even more powerful bounce in Chinese stocks in the near term.

The chart below basically summarizes my take on the credit data Beijing just released. pic.twitter.com/Tpd0mtcD8T

— Shanghai Macro Strategist (@ShanghaiMacro) February 10, 2023

How widely that spreads across the globe remains to be seen and will be a function of how much inflation China manages to export to the world in the next year. This a topic we discussed in “Nikileaks Spooks Markets That Chinese Reopening May Be Inflationary, But Wall Street Disagrees.” But what is perhaps most important is that the wobbly foundation of the world’s biggest asset bubble – China’s property market..

… is about to be reinforced with monetary concrete, as discussed in “In Huge Policy Reversal, China Will Ease “Three Red Lines” Rule To Kickstart World’s Biggest Asset Bubble“, and not long after expect all global “high beta” asset classes to follow suit.

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

Even after the collapse of the Russian collusion investigation, Democrats seem to be doubling down on labeling opponents as Russian lovers and Putinites.

Yesterday, I testified at a hearing with members of Congress who want the House to investigate possible FBI abuses. One of the witnesses, former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, testified how her anti-war positions led to her being labeled a Russian asset by Hillary Clinton. Not to be outdone, MSNBC contributor and former Senator Claire McCaskill appeared on MSNBC following the hearing to denounce Senator Chuck Grassley and Sen. Ron Johnson as “Putin apologists” and Putin lovers.

McCaskill went on MSNBC’s Deadline: White House to declare “I mean, look at this, I mean, all three of those politicians are Putin apologists. I mean, Tulsi Gabbard loves Putin.”

(For the record, she also attacked me as not being “a real lawyer.”)

McCaskill previously denounced the personal attacks used by Republicans as unacceptable in American politics.

It is an ironic follow up to a hearing where I warned Congress not to replicate the mistakes of the McCarthy period and label opponents as “fellow travelers” and Russian sympathizers. McCaskill immediately responded by denouncing these members as Putin apologists and lovers.

Democrats like McCaskill expressed disgust at the personal attacks of former President Donald Trump against opponents and witnesses. I joined in that criticism. However, they are now engaging in the same attacks to avoid addressing issues of agency bias, censorship, and investigatory abuse. On MSNBC, those seeking investigations into these allegations are now Russian lovers and traitors. Even with a supportive media, it will not work. The polls have shown that the public overwhelmingly support investigations into these matters. It will, however, succeed in adding to the hateful rhetoric that now permeates every aspect of our political discourse.

Ukrenergo, Ukraine’s energy operator, confirmed Friday that several high-voltage sites across the country had been hit in what Kiev authorities called the latest “massive” missile attack by Russia. Already tens of millions across the war-ravaged country are without power, and elsewhere emergency cuts persist.

Ukrainian forces claimed to have shot down the majority of inbound missiles, however. “The enemy launched a massive missile attack on the critical infrastructure of Ukraine,” Ukraine’s air force said. “Sixty-one out of 71 enemy missiles (have been) destroyed.”

The attack was focused on Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia regions. In describing the fresh assault, Valery Zaluzhny, the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, said that Russia fired two Kalibr missiles from the Black Sea and which had allegedly crossed over the airspace of Romania and Moldova. The allegation is significant especially given Romania is a NATO member.

Romania has formally denied the claim, but Moldova acknowledged it without initially condemning Russia directly, likely in fear it will inflame tensions with Moscow further, as the AP reports:

Romania’s defense ministry said it detected an “aerial target launched from the Black Sea from a ship of the Russian Federation” but “at no point did it intersect with Romania’s airspace”.

The Moldovan defense ministry said it detected a missile, confirming it “crossed the airspace of Moldova.” Moldova, which has already seen debris of Russian missiles during the war, said it would summon Russia’s ambassador over the incident.

But one of the missiles is still believed to have narrowly missed crossing into NATO-member Romania’s airspace. Ukraine’s President Zelensky seized on this to argue it constitutes a fresh “challenge” to NATO and its collective security.

“The enemy launched at least 70 rockets in another massive attack [on Ukraine] this morning,” Zelenskyy said in a video statement on Telegram.

“Several Russian missiles passed through the airspace of Moldova and Romania. These missiles are a challenge to NATO and collective security. This is terror that can and must be stopped,” he added. Zelensky has long tried to push NATO more directly into the conflict to drive the Russians out of Ukraine.

News of the missile flyover was accompanied by further instability in Moldova, as CNBC reports, the Moldovan government has effectively collapsed amid the ongoing pressure due to the war just across the border. “Moldova’s Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita said Friday that her government was resigning following a volatile 18 months in power and an ongoing war at its border.”

“Gavrilita did not say whether the decision was in direct response to the war between neighboring Ukraine and Russia,” CNBC continues. Western allies have long charged Russia with seeking to destabilize Moldova, and there have long been fears that Russian forces could cross into the country.

The follows on the heels of in the past months Western countries donating hundreds of millions of dollars to shore up tiny Moldova’s resources amid renewed fears of future Russian aggression and energy supply cuts against it. 

Moldova’s pro-Western government resigned as fallout from the war in neighboring Ukraine worsened. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia was trying to destabilize the country. https://t.co/rmomLx5EVl

— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) February 10, 2023

A new prime minister has been named, the pro-EU Dorin Recean, described as someone who will keep Moldova on a pro-European Union trajectory. Recean is currently the national security adviser, and will replace Natalia Gavrilița as the new head of government,” Politico reports.

“The Moldovan parliament, where Sandu’s party holds a comfortable majority with 63 out of 101 seats, will vote to confirm the nomination next week,” details Politico.

Video from Ukraine’s 72nd Mechanized Brigade reportedly showing Javelin ATGM strikes on three Russian BMP-3 (only 1 is in the video) and two T-80 tanks (they look like T-80BVM) from the Pacific Fleet’s 155th Naval Infantry Brigade in Vuhledar. https://t.co/vynMHox7K0 pic.twitter.com/HkO53vlJNS

— Rob Lee (@RALee85) January 26, 2023

On the ground, fighting in Bakhmut continues, with Western media reports increasingly acknowledging that time is running out for Ukrainian troops defending the city.

Russia already has it surrounded by three sides, but the Ukrainians have vowed to fight till the end, akin to what happened in Mariupol. Control of Bakhmut will strategically link large swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine currently in control of Russian forces. 

By Sagarika Jaisinghani and Michael Msika, Bloomberg Markets Live reporters and strategists

Meta, Big Oil Lead $160 Billion Buyback Revival

Investors may say they want companies to save cash rather than repurchase stock, but they’re more than happy to reward the increasing number doing otherwise.

Bumper buyback announcements worth more than $160 billion from the likes of Meta Platforms Inc., BNP Paribas SA and Equinor ASA have brought enthusiastic responses this earnings season. Those that suspended programs — such as Carlsberg A/S and British American Tobacco Plc — or shied away from setting out new plans have been punished. Both in the US and Europe, buyback announcers have outperformed benchmark indexes by 6 percentage points in the past year.

After slowing down last year as firms braced for a bleaker economic outlook, stock repurchase plans have roared back in 2023, led by energy firms such as Chevron Corp. and Exxon Corp. as soaring oil prices brought cash flooding in. That’s despite 53% of the participants in Bank of America Corp.’s latest fund manager survey saying they’d rather see corporates shoring up balance sheets, and less than a fifth opting for higher shareholder returns.

Not even a new US tax on buybacks or calls for further levies by President Joe Biden have acted as a deterrent, and at $132 billion in January in the US, repurchase plans notched the best ever start to a year.

Companies with still large post-pandemic cash balances are returning increasing amounts to investors as they face “relatively limited investment opportunities in light of a worsening economic backdrop and rising uncertainty,” said Marija Veitmane, senior multi-asset strategist at State Street Global Markets.

In Europe, this year is shaping up to be one of the best ever for buybacks, with announcements totaling about $30 billion so far. Along with energy firms, banks have been leading the way as higher interest rates have provided a boost to their income. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. strategist Sharon Bell said she expects repurchases to be one of the main drivers of stock demand in the UK in 2023.

With the economic climate still so uncertain, companies have cause to prefer returning cash via buybacks, given they’re much easier to suspend or reduce than dividends. Moreover, buybacks produced capital gains but no immediate tax bills until this year, when a 1% excise tax went into effect in the US. In his State of the Union address this week, Biden called for quadrupling the levy.

One argument against buybacks is that companies would be better off investing the cash into research & development, ensuring they maintain a competitive advantage over the longer term. But as interest rates remain high, “shorter-duration equities” are more attractive, “perhaps at the expense of those hoping to tie up capital for longer-time horizons,” said Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Robert W. Baird & Co.

That’s not to say companies announcing buyback plans this season have ignored R&D investments. BP Plc on Tuesday hiked its dividend and extended buybacks, but also pledged to accelerate investments in both low-carbon energy and fossil fuels. Its stock jumped 8% to the highest since November 2019.

“It’s not an either/or situation for buybacks versus capital expenditure and a majority of companies are continuing to invest as appropriate in R&D,” said Brian Ferguson, a portfolio manager at Newton Investment Management.

To be sure, not everyone is sold on the benefits of stock repurchases.

“Buybacks create incremental demand for shares, pushing them higher and enriching executives with stock options or underlying shares,” said Michael Green, portfolio manager and chief strategist at Simplify Asset Management. “Whether they are a good deal for long-term shareholders is debatable.”

BAT shares tumbled by the most in nearly two years after the firm’s decision to end a share buyback program disappointed some investors.

Late last month, mysterious green laser beams were spotted from Hawaii’s tallest peak. Experts initially said the burst of laser beams was emitted by a NASA spacecraft though that was proven incorrect this week — with evidence pointing to a Chinese satellite. 

Space experts at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) initially tweeted on Jan. 30 that the Subaru-Asahi Star Camera “captured green laser lights in the cloudy sky over Maunakea, Hawai’i. The lights are thought to be from a remote-sensing altimeter satellite ICESAT-2/43613.” 

But on Feb. 6, one week later, NAOJ issued a correction on YouTube that specified the laser beams weren’t from a US spacecraft but the “most likely candidate” was a “Chinese Daqi-1/AEMS satellite.” 

“According to Dr. Martino, Anthony J., a NASA scientist working on ICESat-2 ATLAS, it is not by their instrument but by others,” a correction note on the YouTube video explains. 

“His colleagues, Dr. Alvaro Ivanoff et al., did a simulation of the trajectory of satellites that have a similar instrument and found a most likely candidate as the ACDL instrument by the Chinese Daqi-1/AEMS satellite.

“We really appreciate their efforts in the identification of the light. We are sorry about our confusion related to this event and its potential impact on the ICESat-2 team.”

Here’s the video of the Chinese satellite firing bursts of lasers toward Earth. 

Even though the Daqi-1 satellite is supposedly an atmospheric environment monitoring spacecraft, there are many concerns after the spy balloon incident last week of space-base and even high-altitude surveillance equipment monitoring the US and allies.