An MSNBC anchor revealed in a recent segment that she was hospitalized with heart inflammation in December, leading her to miss work for about a month.
Yasmin Vossoughian said that the health scare started on Dec. 20 when she started to experience chest pains that “waxed and waned over a period of 10 days.” Those pains “continued to get worse” over the coming days, she added.
The anchor, who hosts a weekend program on the left-wing network, said she went to urgent care on Dec. 30 and was told she had acid reflux. A day later, she woke up with severe chest pains and pain in her left shoulder, leading her to believe she was suffering from a heart attack.
Vossoiughian, 44, said she went to the emergency room. Doctors diagnosed her with pericarditis, or inflammation of the lining of the heart. They claimed it was caused by “a literal common cold,” she said.
She added that she doesn’t smoke, she runs several miles per week, does yoga, doesn’t eat meat, and drinks occasionally. “I’m a pretty healthy person,” she said.
After she was admitted to the hospital, she spent several days there before she was released on Jan. 4, Vossoiughian said.
“But that was not the end … three days later, I was readmitted when I felt a flutter in my heart like a butterfly,” she said. Doctors then informed her that she developed myocarditis, inflammation of the heart muscle, and she spent another five days in the hospital.
Vossoiughian then said that it was “just the cold that was doing … all the inflammation in and around my heart.”
Speculation
With Vossoiughian’s confirmation that she suffered pericarditis and myocarditis, there was widespread speculation on social media that it may have been caused by a COVID-19 vaccine or booster. The MSNBC host did not make mention of COVID-19 or vaccines during her segment, and she said her doctors blamed it on the common cold virus.
Both pericarditis and myocarditis are considered side effects of mRNA vaccines manufactured by Pfizer and Moderna, according to the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But, according to Johns Hopkins University, while rare, myocarditis can be caused “by an infection in the body,” including the common cold, influenza, and COVID-19. Bacterial, fungal, and parasitic infections can also lead to myocardial inflammation.
The Myocarditis Foundation, meanwhile, says that “viral infections are the leading cause of myocarditis,” but it notes that “a wide range of infections, diseases, and substances may cause this condition.”
And the UK National Health Service says that “pericarditis often follows a viral infection, such as a sore throat or cold.”
In 2021, Vossoiughian wrote on social media that she was fully vaccinated for COVID-19. “We are both vaccinated…that was confirmed before this pic!” she said in April of that year. Comcast’s NBCUniversal also mandated that its employees, including those working at MSNBC, get the vaccine before returning to the office in early 2022.
Trader Makes Huge $80 Million Bet Fed Is Wrong Again, Will Cut Below 4.2% By Year End
Earlier this week, we quoted Bloomberg trader and market commentator Vince Cignarella who said that “In More Than 40 Years Of Trading, Never Have I Witnessed A Market Fighting The Fed As Boldly As This One” and judging by Powell’s remarkable verbal pivot yesterday, there was good reason for that: the market was spot on, and Powell appears to have conceded that inflation will run much hotter, as he refuses to push back against risk prices any more.
So now that Powell pussied out, it’s open season on the residents of Marriner Eccles, and as Bloomberg reports a trader has put on a massive bet that the Fed will soon cave on promise that it will not cut rates this year, but will instead start slashing rates at a frenzied pace later this year.
The $80 million bet which was placed via options tied to the Secured Overnight Financing Rate, or SOFR, underscores the sentiment shift across markets that not only is the Fed’s tightening cycle almost over, but that the next step will be an accelerating easing campaign.
As Bloomberg’s Edward Bolingbroke observed, an unidentified investor started amassing the position in the morning and continued buying through the afternoon as Fed Chair Jerome Powell expressed confidence that inflation was improving.
The trade’s $80 million outlay would turn into a $400 million profit if the Fed were to cut its benchmark rate to 2.5% by the end of the year. A lesser amount of cuts, to 3.8%, would lead to a $100 million gain, according to Bloomberg’s Option Scenario Analysis function.
While the market is certainly pricing in aggressive rate cuts by year end – a 50bps cut to 4.4% in December from a 4.9% June peak, is now very much a given – a plunge to 2.5% in Fed Funds would be unprecedented and even a drop to 3.8% would require some unexpected shock to startle the Fed. The breakeven for the trade at expiry is a yield level of approximately 4.2%, so it is only profitable if the Fed cuts below this level.
As Bolingbroke explains, the $80 million SOFR bet was placed via a December 2023 SOFR call spread, where the owner of the position is long one strike equivalent to a 4.5% yield and short a higher strike equivalent to a 2.5% yield, where the maximum profit would be reached. Thursday’s preliminary Chicago Mercantile Exchange open interest data suggested the trade was a new position. Those options expire December 15, two days after the Fed’s final policy meeting of 2023.
Of course, once you start fighting the Fed – successfully – you don’t stop until you win, and on Thursday, another big SOFR options trade hit the tape, amounting to about $50 million. It stands to benefit from a continued collapse in volatility through the end of the year that would coincide with the steep rate cuts priced into markets.
Old clips of Mister Rogers, a children’s TV show from the 1980s, have gone viral on social media after leftists were triggered by the character in the show singing a song about ‘boys being boys and girls being girls’.
Fred Rogers, who hosted Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood for decades, is seen in the footage singing a song explaining to children that there are two genders, that boys and girls are different, but that everyone is equal.
“Boys are boys from the beginning, girls are girls right from the start. Everybody’s fancy, Everybody’s fine. Your body’s fancy and so is mine,” Rogers sings.
Further stanzas of the song include the assertions “If you were born a boy, you stay a boy,” and “Only girls grow up to be the mommies, only boys can be the daddies.”
The message was considered entirely wholesome, even up until the show aired its last episode in 2001, yet now in our 2023 reality the message is being labelled triggering and upsetting.
TRIGGER WARNING. ⚠️ This is the most upsetting thing you will see all weekend. pic.twitter.com/eVLPZ3J3RI
In an appearance on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, Rogers expanded on the meaning of the song, explaining to some laughter in the audience that it is an important societal responsibility to define gender roles to children:
Mister Rogers knew something way back in 1980 and tried to warn us. We laughed at him because we thought what he said was silly and nonsense.
And if he were still alive today, he’d say that it’s okay to be trans and nobody should hurt you because of it.
The man cared about everyone and transpeople weren’t as prevalent and as forthcoming as they are now with science backing them. He’d love them just as well.
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By Ven Ram, Bloomberg markets live reporter and strategist
On Wednesday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell often peppered his answers by intersplicing “Let’s see.”
As it turned out, that provided enough comfort for the markets.
You could parse his entire post-meeting remarks and why Treasuries rallied, but here’s what I took away.
This is what he essentially said:
“It’s a forecast of slower growth, some softening in the labor market and inflation moving down steadily, but not quickly…
…If the economy performs broadly in line with those expectations, it will not be appropriate to cut rates this year…
…If inflation comes down much faster, we’ll be seeing that, and that will be incorporated into our thinking…we’ll see.”
The markets read it thus:
“Well, essentially, let’s invert what you just said:
if the economy goes pear-shaped and inflation comes down a lot, you are willing to cut. We will bet our last farthing that inflation will come off rapidly.”
So what will decide who wins that tussle between the markets and the Fed?
There are plenty of indicators to look at, including core PCE ex-housing, which he emphasized.
For me, I will be watching core PCE inflation – now at 4.4% to come down to the 3.5% penciled in by the Fed for this year – before holding my breath.
Manchin, Cruz Reveal New Bipartisan Bill Halting Biden From Selling Emergency Oil Reserves To China
The Biden administration’s draining of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to four-decade lows to ease market tightness drew sharp criticism from the fossil fuel industry and Republican lawmakers. What ignited controversy last summer was when one SPR shipment was delivered to an entity tied with the Chinese Communist Party.
Now a group of bipartisan lawmakers wants to ensure America’s emergency crude oil reserves are never sent to China again.
On Wednesday, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and several other lawmakers introduced the Protecting America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve from China Act.
The bipartisan legislation would prohibit exporting crude oil from the SPR to China. A similar piece of legislation was recently passed in the US House of Representatives by a large majority, 331-97.
“The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is a vital piece of our nation’s infrastructure that bolsters our energy and national security. While the reserve has been a policy Band-Aid for rising gas prices and the global unrest caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the reserve is, above-all, meant to help the United States and our allies through difficult times, not to help China power its economy,” Manchin, who serves as the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, wrote in a statement.
He continued: “This bill would ensure that we are not risking our energy security by selling our petroleum reserves to China, and the bipartisan support this legislation has received shows just how important it is for America to be energy secure and independent.”
The latest Department of Energy data shows the Biden administration drained the SPR to the lowest levels since 1983, all in an attempt to ease crude market tightness.
What sparked outrage was when Biden sent 5.9 million barrels to a Chinese firm last July. This is because strategic reserves are to ensure domestic energy security.
“The Strategic Petroleum Reserve was intended to ensure that America had sufficient oil reserves in the event of an emergency. Under no circumstances should we sell any part of this stockpile to the Chinese Communist Party or any company under its control.
“We need to immediately act to stop this from happening in the future and unleash American energy, and I’m proud to work with my colleagues and Sen. Joe Manchin on this important, bipartisan issue,” Cruz said in a statement.
The SPR is the world’s largest supply of emergency crude oil, with four storage sites in Texas and Louisiana designed to alleviate significant oil supply shortages during major geopolitical events or natural disasters. The steep declines by Biden, who blamed Russia’s Ukraine war for the “price hike at the pump,” has been hellbent on draining the reserves.
Some good news: Biden Administration plans to replenish the SPR later this year.
Remember a few years ago when former President Trump received criticism for his plan to fill up the SPR when crude prices crashed?
Also, we might add that gas and diesel prices at the pump are elevated because the US has a refinery capacity problem.
It’s been a year since four Department of Defense (DOD) whistleblowers found a sudden increase in various diseases in the Defense Medical Epidemiology Database (DMED), which coincided directly with the introduction of COVID-19 vaccinations. Now, new data shows more evidence.
That’s according to Lt. Col.Theresa Long, M.D., MPH, a board-certified aerospace medicine doctor and Army Brigade flight surgeon with specialty training as an aviation mishap investigator and safety officer, who was one of the four whistleblowers. Long’s background has uniquely equipped her to recognize what she described as “unusual diagnoses and alarming trends only after the introduction of the COVID-19 vaccinations.”
Sharp Increase in Serious Harm Reports in Pilots: DOD Data
Long said what she has now found has led her to file yet another whistleblower complaint with Sen. Ron Johnson’s (R-Wis.) office. She described this data as “more alarming DMED data” after she “went back into the ‘fixed’ DMED again to look for signals of harm for Army aviation.”
“What I found was a clear signal, that something in 2021 changed the health of service members,” Long told The Epoch Times. She said these signals were consistent with those in the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) reports. But unlike VAERS reports, DMED data showed spikes in the number of diagnoses “made by a healthcare professional within the DOD on service members.”
According to the Military Health System, the DMED provides remote access to a subset of data contained in the Defense Medical Surveillance System (DMSS). The DMSS contains up-to-date and historical data on diseases and medical events (including reportable events) and “is available to authorized users such as U.S. military medical providers, epidemiologists, medical researchers, safety officers or medical operations/ clinical support staff for surveying health conditions in the U.S. military.”
“After querying all pilots across the DOD, for all-cause morbidity and mortality, I found a stunning increase in the number of reportable events, spiking from an average of 226 reportable events a year (2016-2019) to 4,059 reports in 2022,” she explained.
A DOD reportable event is any patient safety event resulting in death, permanent harm, or severe temporary harm—and all require a comprehensive systematic analysis and a follow-on corrective action implementation plan report.
“The point is there is a statistically significant increase in death, permanent harm, or severe temporary harm in young healthy fit pilots,” she continued.
Such injuries were more obviously shown in this population. Because aviation pilots are required to have a superior level of health and fitness, and their health conditions are under more strict monitoring, according to Long.
What spurred Long on to pull this second round of data was when she learned the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had quietly made changes to the acceptable parameters of PR intervals (representative of the first part of a heartbeat, measured in seconds or milliseconds) on electrocardiograms of pilots. The FAA didn’t respond with research and data to support their decision, according to Long.
Those actions led to the press release dated Jan. 27, 2023 from Johnson in a letter to the FAA, where he stated the following details:
“Based on data from the Defense Medical Epidemiology Database, the whistleblower [Theresa Long] reported that the total number of disease and injuries [reportable events] in pilots across the DOD was 265 in 2016, 252 in 2017, 164 in 2018, 223 in 2019, 2,194 in 2020, 2,861 in 2021, and 4,059 in 2022.”
Johnson also told The Epoch Times these statistics “raise questions as to whether FAA has seen similar increases in disease and injuries in individuals in the aviation industry.”
Long noted that in the “post-glitch” DMED, the number of reportable events across the DOD had gone from a four-year average (2016-2019) of 40,813 to 110,000 in 2020 to over 200,000 in 2022.
“Some would ask why the numbers start increasing in 2020, you have to remember the Pfizer/DOD study with 43,448 participants started on July 27, 2020.”
Long emphasized that her opinions do not reflect those of the Army or the DOD.
Looking back, she said it was after being stonewalled for answers regarding adverse events from the COVID vaccine that she began performing queries in the DMED. She wanted to know if what she was seeing within her brigade were isolated anomalies or part of a wider disaster unfolding.
Whistleblowers First Report Discrepancies in DOD Data
It was in January of 2022 when Long, along with two other U.S. military doctors, Dr. Samuel Sigoloff and Special Forces flight surgeon Lt. Col. Peter Chambers, and Army Public Health Officer 1 Lt. Mark Bashaw first blew the whistle on the DOD. Together, they filed the initial whistleblower complaints regarding the DMED data, which showed an inordinate amount of negative health-related conditions related to the vaccine.
The initial DMED data given to Johnson showed a massive rise in cases of anxiety, esophageal cancer, breast cancer, female infertility, miscarriages, HIV, acute myocarditis, and Bell’s palsy among other conditions after the vaccine was mandated for U.S. military members.
Long added that after the DMED data was presented, Moderna, the pharmaceutical and biotechnology company behind one of the COVID-19 vaccinations and its mRNA immune response technology, lost $140 billion of dollars in stock.
Yet, despite the alarming data coming directly from the DOD’s own $42 million medical surveillance database, the department’s official claimed that the discovery of the data was a “data glitch” and proceeded to take the database offline, supposedly “fixing” it.
As reported in The Epoch Times, the DOD claimed that the data in DMED was incorrect for the years 2016-2020, but the 2021 number was not affected. The corrected data saw the data for prior years increased, which made the 2021 data look normal.
After Long handed over the documents to DOD, it took officials 47 days to formulate a response to the data, only to explain it was a surprise to them.
Based on the previous DOD data, “the cluster of medical conditions represents a dramatic shift in the acuity of medical conditions we normally see,” said Long, noting that the data is “so catastrophic,” at the very least when those numbers came out, the military would reflexively pause everything and investigate.
“They didn’t pause anything and it took them [the DOD] a month to complete their sham investigation.” She said. “It’s a gross indictment and dereliction of duty.”
“We introduce a brand new drug into our very healthy population and the surveillance people aren’t even paying attention to their own $42 million-a-year system?” asked Long, who noted that during her 30 years in the Army, many of which she served as a doctor, she and other colleagues never heard of such a database provided by the system’s contractor Ussiant until 2019. “Don’t you think introducing a drug that was rushed to an entire fighting force would make it a top priority that the surveillance system is working?”
Long also asked why, if the DMED just had a “glitch” during the COVID pandemic, no one is being held accountable for this egregious medical surveillance system failure. Long’s attorney, Todd Callender, noted the DOD failed to produce a single expert IT witness that would testify under oath that the shocking data was just a “glitch.”
“So if the data was that alarming, why didn’t anyone in the Defense Health Agency (DHA) sound the alarm or catch the ‘glitch,’” she continued. “How did they not see this huge spike in serious medical problems?”
Another question arises as to why military doctors like Long have not received any communication regarding this spike in reportable events, which wasn’t just limited to pilots but also general officers and those in the Special Forces.
“I was notified to comb over our inventory after a risk management alert notification alerted me to two defective earplugs found at Fort Sill, Okla.” Long said, “But I can’t even get them to send out an alert saying ‘Hey your pilots might get myocarditis from the vaccine.’”
For this story, The Epoch Times reached out for comment from Director of Defense Lloyd J. Austin, the Office of the Surgeon General, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for comment.
‘I Can’t Un-see the Things I’ve Seen’
These new developments come as more physicians and patients have spoken out about a growing number of vaccine injuries while the science and research literature has simultaneously validated their claims and concerns.
Long said she was not only ignored but received threats against her career after speaking up. That’s because no action was taken on the part of military leaders to fully investigate the number and scope of adverse medical events that she, Sigoloff, Chambers, and Bashaw initially brought to their attention.
“When I found the DOD data, they pulled my credentials and took all my patients off my schedule,” said Long, noting that only left her more time to thoroughly look into the data.
While Long continues to add to her count of personally witnessed vaccine injuries, she also waits for a response from government officials with her latest filing.
Since she first came forward, she has also given testimony to the Idaho Legislature and at the Alaska Medical Freedom Symposium. Appearing recently on Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Tonight, she spoke about the FAA’s change in health requirements that significantly broaden the electrocardiogram range for pilots and allows those with cardiac injury damage to fly.
“In the light of emerging and overwhelming data showing cardiac damage from COVID and COVID vaccines on cardiac muscle, I can’t imagine why they would make this move and I think it’s a question that really should be taken to Dr. Susan Northrup, senior flight surgeon for the FAA,” Long told Carlson.
The online community has expressed bewilderment over how China’s crypto ban aligns with the United States’ proclaimed principles of freedom…
The cryptocurrency community has ridiculed well-known Bitcoin critic Charlie Munger, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, for calling the United States to follow in the footsteps of China and ban crypto.
In an op-ed article in The Wall Street Journal, the 99-year-old investment veteran has once again slammed crypto, calling a cryptocurrency a “gambling contract with a nearly 100% edge for the house.”
Munger also said that a cryptocurrency is “not a currency, not a commodity, and not a security,” adding that “obviously” the U.S. should enact a new federal law that would ban crypto.
According to Munger, the best way to approach crypto is to follow the example of China, which put a blanket ban on crypto in September 2021.
The Berkshire Hathaway vice chairman stated:
“What should the U.S. do after a ban of cryptocurrencies is in place? Well, one more action might make sense: Thank the Chinese communist leader for his splendid example of uncommon sense.”
The community was quick to react to Munger’s latest anti-crypto arguments, with many expressing bewilderment about how measures like China’s crypto ban stack up with the United States’ proclamations that it supports freedom.
“The battle lines are being drawn. Freedom or tyranny. Non-custodial wallets are the hill we can’t surrender,”NFT APE author Adam McBride wrote on Twitter.
Others also mocked Munger for not understanding that crypto is virtually unbannable.
It’s sad that Charlie munger believes he’s doing something by calling for a ban. Doesn’t understand it’s math and can’t be banned. Old age deteriorates critical thinking skills.
Given that Munger called cryptocurrency a “gambling contract,” it’s worth noting that gambling is legal under U.S. federal law, despite people losing significant money from it.
According to data from the American Gaming Association, U.S. casinos and mobile gaming apps hit a record $54.93 billion in revenue during the first 11 months of 2022. The revenues came at the cost of Americans losing more money on gambling than ever before by the first quarter of 2022.
Many European countries also allow at least some gambling, with about 420,000 British gamblers losing more than $2,000 per year.
Despite casinos causing significant losses for investors, Europe and the U.S. have not followed in the footsteps of China, which banned most forms of gambling back in 1949.
Ferrari Shares Accelerate On Strong 2023 Outlook Despite “Complex Global Macro” Turmoil
Despite the stock, bond, and crypto turmoil last year, Italian supercar maker Ferrari posted full-year profits up 13% year-over-year and revealed an even stronger outlook for 2023. The CEO said robust supercar sales were fueled by “persistently high demand for our products worldwide.”
For the fourth quarter, Ferrari reported earnings per share of $1.33 from sales of $1.5 billion. Wall Street analysts were satisfied with the earnings.
“Last year ended with outstanding financial results that met and exceeded our guidance and set new records across all metrics, such as a net profit of €939M and an industrial free cash flow generation of €758M. These figures provide the base for an even stronger 2023, fueled by a persistently high demand for our products worldwide.”
“Despite a complex global macro scenario, we look ahead with great confidence, encouraged by the many signs and achievements of an evolving Ferrari,” CEO Benedetto Vigna said.
Ferrari shipped an impressive 13,221 vehicles in 2022, up 19% from 2021. This was a new record for the company.
US-listed shares of Ferrari were up nearly 5% in premarket trading. Shares traded near 2021 highs.
Analysts from Credit Suisse were surprised by the strong 2023 outlook. Morgan Stanley analysts said the guidance was solid and supportive.
Ferrari is bucking the trend as the overall auto industry wanes. High-interest rates have sparked an affordability crisis, while average folks with high monthly car payments struggle to service their debts.
What’s impressive with robust Ferrari sales and a strong outlook for this year is that demand has yet to be impacted by market turmoil. Last fall, we noted that “crypto bros” were panic-selling G-Wagons and McLarens while Bitcoin tumbled to a low of $15,500.
Biden, McCarthy Strike Positive Tone After Debt Ceiling Meeting
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden met at the White House on Wednesday to discuss the debt ceiling, and spending cuts which are set to become major points of contention in the coming weeks.
“I thought it was a very good discussion. We walked out saying we will continue that discussion. And I think there is an opportunity to come to an agreement, and I think that’s the best thing,” McCarthy told reporters following the one-hour discussion.
McCarthy refused to state which areas Republicans are focusing on for cuts, or when he would announce their plan – and that ‘negotiating in public’ won’t help in reaching an agreement. The only thing McCarthy did say was that cuts to Medicare and Social Security are not on the table.
Biden, meanwhile, said of the meeting: “Let’s start treating each other with respect, that’s what Kevin and I are going to do.”
The United States is close to exceeding its statutory debt ceiling, and Republicans are using the occasion to highlight the rapidly increasing federal debt and call for spending cuts.
The debt ceiling is the amount of debt Congress has authorized the federal government to have at one time.
Since the United States has operated on a deficit budget in all but four years since 1970, continued borrowing is essential to meet the country’s financial obligations.
The current ceiling is approximately $31.4 trillion, set 13 months ago.
“If we continue the trajectory that we’re in for the next 10 years, we’ll spend $8 trillion just on interest [on the national debt],” McCarthy said.
“The greatest threat to America is our debt. Our debt is now 120 percent of GDP, meaning our debt is larger than our economy.”
Setting Expectations
Prior to the meeting, both leaders attempted to define the terms of the discussion.
Biden characterized increasing the debt ceiling as a non-negotiable requirement for maintaining the integrity and economic stability of the United States.
“I will not let anyone use the full faith and credit of the United States as a bargaining chip,” Biden said on Jan. 26 while making remarks on the economy in Springfield, Virginia.
A White House memo released on Jan. 30 reiterated the president’s position.
“As the president has said many times, the United States must never default on its financial obligations. Raising the debt ceiling is not a negotiation; it is an obligation of this country and its leaders to avoid economic chaos,” the memo stated.
As vice president, Biden was involved in negotiations in 2011 when House Republicans demanded that President Barack Obama make deficit reductions in exchange for an increase in the debt ceiling.
The showdown prompted volatility in financial markets and caused the credit rating of the United States to be reduced for the first time in history.
The two sides eventually agreed on an increase in the debt ceiling accompanied by a deficit reduction. But the confrontation hardened Biden’s resolve to never again negotiate over the debt ceiling, a White House staffer reportedly told NBC News.
McCarthy has repeatedly said that he would not refuse to raise the debt ceiling but would ask the president to agree to reduce runaway spending.
“Look, there will not be a default,” McCarthy said on Face the Nation Sunday. “But what is really irresponsible is what the Democrats are doing right now, saying you should just raise the limit.”
After today’s meeting, McCarthy was more emphatic about reducing the national debt.
“The one thing I do know is our debt is too high. We have waste in our government. And we need to sit down together in a responsible will put us on a path to balance that will make the future of America stronger into the next century.”
A Successful Start
McCarthy’s goal for the meeting was to begin negotiations, which he believes was accomplished.
“I’ve just walked out having an hour conversation with this president, that I tell you from my perspective was a good conversation. No agreements, no promises except that we will continue this conversation,” McCarthy said.
He did acknowledge that the two are not yet close to making a deal.
“We have different perspectives. But we both laid out some of our vision of where we want to go, and I believe after a while, we can find common ground.”
The United States would have exceeded its current debt ceiling on Jan. 19 but for “extraordinary measures” taken by Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen to keep the government solvent.
Yellen estimated that would keep the nation below the ceiling until sometime in June.
McCarthy is hopeful that he and Biden can come to an agreement sooner than that. “I told the president I would like to see if we can come to an agreement long before the deadline so we can start working on other things.”
To accomplish that goal McCarthy said he will look for ways to compromise through discussion and negotiation.
“I think this is exactly how the government in America is designed because you have to find a compromise. The American people made the decision to have the Republicans in control in the house.
“Democrats have a small majority of the Senate, and the Democrats have a president. But we’re all Americans. We all have to work together.”
Adani Contagion Spreads As Citi Halts Margin Loans On Debt
Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s corporate empire is crumbling. A deeper selloff forced Adani Enterprises Ltd. to pull a stock sale in the final minute. Two banks have rejected bonds tied to Adani companies as collateral for client trades. And the turmoil has pushed MSCI India Index to the brink of a technical correction.
Adani Enterprises plunged 27% on Thursday in Mumbai trading after it was revealed late Wednesday that it abandoned a $2.4 billion follow-on share sale. Today’s losses added to a 28% tumble in the previous session.
The decision to pull the share offering comes as more than $100 billion in market cap has been wiped out in Adani group’s stocks following a scathing report from Hindenburg Research last Tuesday. Dollar bonds tied to the companies are also plunging into the distressed territory, raising the risk of default.
Yesterday, Bloomberg reported that Credit Suisse designated a zero lending value for bonds sold by Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, Adani Green Energy, and Adani Electricity Mumbai. Now Citi’s wealth management arm has done the same.
The meltdown in Adani shares has significant implications for Indian stocks:
“This is potentially a bigger problem for Indian equities, which have done so well during the pandemic as China pursued its Covid Zero policy.”
“The long-term ramifications could be quite negative,” said Peter Garnry, head of equity strategy at Saxo Bank A/S in Hellerup, Denmark.
Bloomberg added:
The implosion of the Adani companies, which accounted for almost one out of every $10 invested in Indian stocks at the group’s peak in September, has provided a catalyst for investors complaining about the nation’s expensive valuations to trim their holdings. The fallout is likely to make it harder for other Indian corporations to raise funds, put them under increased regulatory scrutiny, while also testing the faith voters have in Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The turmoil has helped push MSCI India Index to the brink of a technical correction.
Meanwhile, global funds have yanked a net $2 billion out of Indian equities in the three days through Tuesday. Funds are selling now, and asking questions later.
“The Adani-related headlines are generating a high level of negative attention, which could dampen investor appetite for Indian stocks,” said Jian Shi Cortesi, who manages China and Asia equity funds at GAM Investment Management in Zurich.
One major risk we see is the deterioration in access to financing for Adani companies, some of which are highly leveraged.
Even after the latest slide in Adani group shares, Bloomberg Intelligence’s Nitin Chanduka believes there is more downside ahead.
