Israeli occupation forces killed nine Palestinians and injured at least twenty on Thursday during violent raids in the occupied city of Jenin and its refugee camp.
The raids began on the evening of January 25 and persisted into January 26, in what is being described as “one of the deadliest days” in the West Bank since last year.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners Club (PPC), several have been detained throughout the raids and transferred for interrogation by Israel’s security service. As a result of the incursions, intense clashes broke out between Israeli troops and resistance fighters, several of whom sustained bullet wounds.
An elderly woman has also been reported among the dead, according to security officials. Eyewitnesses have referred to the situation as a “massacre.”
The Israeli army cut off the power supply to the Jenin camp, while also blocking journalists and ambulance teams from entering. Health officials have said that injuries are continuing to accumulate.
“There is an invasion that is unprecedented in the past period, in terms of how large it is and the number of injuries … The ambulance driver tried to get to one of the martyrs who was on the floor, but the Israeli forces shot directly at the ambulance and prevented them from approaching him,” Wissam Baker, head of Jenin’s public hospital, told media.
The Palestinian Authority said Thursday it was suspending security coordination with Israel after a deadly army raid in the occupied West Bank.
Washington condemned the decision, saying it was not the “right step.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due in the region next week pic.twitter.com/fjC7SpQoX2
Despite centering around Jenin and its camp, the Israeli raids also targeted several homes and refugee camps across the West Bank, including Ramallah’s Al-Amari camp and Jerusalem’s Shuafat camp, as well as the towns of Silwan, Sur Baher, Al-Tur, and Al-Isawiya.
In response to the Israeli aggression, the Palestinian resistance managed to down a drone as it was flying over the Jenin refugee camp.
According to reports, an Israeli soldier was killed and another injured in the confrontations. Another report says that the Jenin Brigade of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) resistance movement detonated an explosive device inside an Israeli military jeep, resulting in “casualties in their ranks.”
WATCH: Palestinian fighters shot down an Israeli drone that was surveying the area as Israeli forces raided the Jenin refugee camp.
The raid resulted in the deaths of nine Palestinians in what has been described as a “massacre” by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s office. pic.twitter.com/kkpUWpO8ww
“The military operation in Jenin was launched after intelligence from the Shin Bet about the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement’s intention to carry out a major operation against Israeli targets … the operation aimed to arrest a prominent member of the movement,” Israeli media reported.
The military ended up withdrawing from Jenin, however, the injury toll is expected to rise.
Middle-Aged Tech Mogul Spends $2 Million Per Year To Achieve ’18-Year-Old’ Body
A 45-year-old tech mogul worth nine figures says he spends around $2 million per year to ‘bio hack’ his body so that he has the fitness of an 18-year-old, the skin of a 28-year-old, and the heart of a 35-year-old.
Bryan Johnson, who sold his company Braintree Payment Solutions to Ebay for $800 million when he was in his 30s, has been sticking to an aggressive daily routine that was crafted by his team of 30 doctors and regenerative health experts, Bloombergreports.
Every morning, Johnson wakes at 5am, downs two dozen supplements, works out for an hour, and then drinks a green juice concoction that includes collagen peptides and creatine. He then brushes and flosses, rinsing with tea-tree oil and antioxidant gel.
Then, before bedtime, Johnson wears special glasses that block out blue light for two hours while monitoring vital signs.
He also goes through monthly medical procedures to gauge his progress, which include MRIs, colonoscopies, blood tests and ultrasounds. He tracks his weight, BMI, blood glucose levels and heart rate variations on a daily basis.
When he goes to bed, Johnson is hooked up to machine that tracks the number of nighttime erections (why though?).
Here’s Johnson in 2017, before he began the health quest:
Colorado appears ready to join other states in clamping down on Second Amendment rights. A draft of the “Mass Shooting Prevention Act,” expected to be introduced in the upcoming legislative session, was made public and Second Amendment Advocates are concerned.
“This bill uses the most insane parts of the laws from California and New York,” Taylor Rhodes, executive director of Rocky Mountain Gun Owners (RMGO), told The Epoch Times. “This doesn’t just ban many commonly owned pistols and shotguns; this will ban almost 70 percent of all firearms overnight.”
Rhodes was made aware of the bill draft almost three weeks ago. He said the proposed legislation is designed to greatly diminish Second Amendment rights in Colorado.
“You might as well call this the ‘Gun Owners Get Out of Town Bill,’” Rhodes said.
The proposed law expands the definition of “assault weapons” to cover a wide array of commonly owned rifles, pistols, and shotguns. In addition, parts that could be used to convert a semiautomatic weapon into a so-called “assault weapon” would also be outlawed. The only exceptions would be guns owned before the law was enacted, which would be grandfathered. However, that too comes with a catch.
Guns owned before the law’s enactment can only be kept if the owner has proof of ownership before that date. The law doesn’t say what constitutes proof, but it does outline what will happen if the gun owner doesn’t have proof.
Without adequate proof of ownership, the gun owner would be required to surrender the gun to law enforcement, who would hold it for up to three business days. The gun would be confiscated and destroyed if the owner could not provide proof on the fourth business day. The gun owner could face criminal prosecution, including fines of up to $1,000 for violations between July 1, 2023, and Dec. 31, 2024. The penalties increase to $5,000 after Jan. 1, 2025.
Rhodes said a gun owner would have to carry proof of ownership whenever they had a gun since a police officer could demand to see proof at any time. This could be a problem for people who did not buy the gun they are holding.
“What if you inherited your grandfather’s shotgun 30 years ago?” Rhodes asked.
The fines for Federal Firearms License holders who sell a banned gun are even steeper.
A licensed gun dealer who sells or attempts to sell a banned gun after July 1, 2023, faces a fine of $250,000. Subsequent violations will result in a fine of $500,000.
Rhodes said RMGO lawyers are already drafting a lawsuit because the law is almost guaranteed to pass the General Assembly and be signed by Gov. Jared Polis. According to Rhodes, the “Bloomberg lobby” has invested heavily in Colorado state elections and is reaping the benefits.
Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg started “Everytown for Gun Safety.” The nationwide organization raises volunteers to push for gun control in their communities and provides backing for political candidates who support the group’s gun control agenda.
“These politicians are nothing more than elected activists,” Rhodes said. “We know the realities in Colorado right now, and we are ready to sue.”
Travis Couture-Lovelady is the Colorado state director for the National Rifle Association. Like Rhodes, he sees the proposed law as nothing more than an effort to control law-abiding citizens by denying their Constitutional right to self-defense.
“A ban on so-called ‘assault weapons’ will do nothing to reduce violent crime or enhance public safety, but it will stop law-abiding Americans from exercising their Second Amendment rights,” Lovelady wrote in a statement released on Jan. 23.
Laws Counterintuitive to Rulings
Rhodes said the proposed legislation makes little sense in light of recent Supreme Court decisions that affirmed the individual’s right to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment to the Constitution.
In the 2008 case District of Columbia v. Heller, the court ruled that the Second Amendment was describing an individual right. More recently, in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, the high court justices struck down New York state’s overly restrictive requirements for individuals carrying weapons outside their homes.
Since then, lawmakers in New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois, and Oregon, among other states, have adopted gun control laws that appear to be opposed to the court’s rulings. Many of those laws are now the subject of lawsuits.
One lawsuit filed in Illinois has more than 800 plaintiffs from 87 of the state’s 102 counties suing to overturn the state’s newly enacted gun ban. More than 90 Illinois sheriffs stated they would not enforce the law because they consider it unconstitutional.
Rhodes believes gun control advocates are pushing back just as hard, hoping for success on at least one or two legal points. He said most gun control organizations, like Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety, are well-funded and feel they have little to lose.
What They Can Get Away With
“They want to see what they can get away with. For them it’s not that big of an issue because they’ve got more money than Kellogg’s got cornflakes,” Rhodes said.
Larry Correia is a novelist and Second Amendment advocate based in Utah. While he mainly writes in the fantasy/science fiction genre, his non-fiction work centers on the Second Amendment. His latest book, “In Defense of the Second Amendment,” was set for release on Jan. 24 by Regnery Press.
Correia wrote the book to provide Second Amendment supporters with facts to show people the truth about firearms.
“We’ve got the facts on our side. I want to provide those facts for the people who need them. I want to move the dial for the ‘fence sitters,’” Correia told The Epoch Times.
While the move toward stricter gun laws may seem counterintuitive given the court’s recent actions, Correia said the laws are likely elements in more comprehensive strategies. The fact that the courts have been ruling against them may have gun control advocates in “fight-or-flight” mode. It could be as Rhodes proffered that they “are throwing everything against the wall to see what sticks.” Or, Correia said, the court battles may be the objective.
Well Funded Groups
Rhodes pointed out that many gun control movements are well-funded. Correia agreed, saying it might be to wear Constitutionalists down and deplete their resources.
A California judge on Wednesday halted the state’s so-called COVID-19 misinformation and disinformation law, which was challenged by doctors in two lawsuits, claiming it violates their constitutional rights.
In Hoeg v. Newsom, five doctors alleged that the state law, AB 2098, is unconstitutional under the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. A separate related lawsuit, Hoang v. Bonta, makes similar allegations.
Both lawsuits sought a preliminary injunction to prevent California from enforcing the law.
The five doctors, Tracy Hoeg, Ram Duriseti, Aaron Kheriaty, Pete Mazolewski, and Azadeh Khatibi, filed their lawsuit against Gov. Gavin Newsom and other officials, including the president and members of the Medical Board of California.
They argued the law prevents them from providing information to their patients that may contradict what the law permits or prohibits. They also alleged the law was used to intimidate and punish physicians who disagreed with prevailing views on COVID-19.
Judge William Shubb, a George W. Bush appointee, wrote in his ruling (pdf) it was plausible that the medical board would determine their conduct violates AB 2098, and therefore the doctors’ fears are reasonable “given the ambiguity of the term ‘scientific consensus’ and of the definition of ‘misinformation’ as a whole.”
Shubb noted that this weighed in favor of the plaintiffs having standing.
“Because the definition of misinformation ‘fails to provide a person of ordinary intelligence fair notice of what is prohibited, [and] is so standardless that it authorizes or encourages seriously discriminatory enforcement,’ the provision is unconstitutionally vague,” Shubb wrote. “Accordingly, the court concludes that plaintiffs have demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits of their vagueness challenges.”
The Law
Newsom signed the bill into law in September 2022, and it took effect on Jan. 1, 2023.
The law defines misinformation as “false information that is contradicted by contemporary scientific consensus,” and prohibits physicians from disseminating “misinformation or disinformation related to COVID-19, including false or misleading information regarding the nature and risks of the virus, its prevention and treatment; and the development, safety, and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines.”
Doctors who deviate from the established U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidance by attempting to assess and advise their patients as individuals may run afoul of the new law.
The state medical board is required by law to act against any licensed doctor charged with unprofessional conduct.
The court’s ruling effectively halts the law while the legal challenge plays out.
The legal organization representing the doctors said their clients were put in a difficult position, fearing repercussions for acting in the best interests of their patients by giving them honest information, depriving them of their right to receive advice and hear treatment options without fear of professional discipline.
According to American Civil Liberties Alliance (ACLA), the First Amendment, which protects Americans’ rights to free speech and expression, applies to minority views and majority opinions.
The doctors alleged they have been threatened by other doctors and individuals on social media to use AB 2098 to have their licenses taken away, according to ACLA.
Busted Pfizer R&D Exec Claims He Lied About “Mutating COVID” To “Impress A Date Like Normal People”
Update (1750ET): Project Veritas’ James O’Keefe was physically assaulted after approaching Jordon Trishton Walker, Pfizer’s Director of R&D, Strategic Operations, who had been caught on tape admitting to the fact that the company is exploring a way to “mutate” COVID via “Directed Evolution” in order to anticipate new strains for their Covid-19 vaccine.
When O’Keefe first approached him about his admission, Walker erupted in denial, exclaiming that “I was just lying to a person to impress them on a date.” He then lunged for O’Keefe and his staff in what appeared to be an effort to take away the iPad that O’Keefe was holding.
The situation escalated when Walker urged the restaurant owner to call the police, but the restaurant owner asked O’Keefe to leave… which left Walker pressuring him to stay until the police arrived.
As Walker raged around the empty restaurant, he once again claimed: “I was on a third date with a man and like normal people you lie to impress a date…”
Yeah, we are not sure lying about mutating the COVID virus in order that the company you work for can make more money will get you to 3rd base (let alone first base).
Walker went on to admit that “I’m not even a scientist by background…”
When speaking to the NYPD, Walker said “there are… five white people… and I am feeling very unsafe right now.”
Then Walker, more emotionally, asked O’Keefe why he is doing this, with the alleged Pfizer exec saying: “I’m just someone who’s working in a company that’s trying to literally help the public.”
Once O’Keefe had left the restaurant, Walker jumped in front of their car to block it until the police arrived (however, it was not the right car)…
Watch the full interaction here:
SHOCKING: @Pfizer Director Physically Assaults @JamesOKeefeIII & Veritas Staff; Destroys iPad Showing Undercover Recordings About “Mutating” Covid Virus; NYPD RESPONDS!
“I’m just someone who’s working in a company that’s trying to literally help the public.”
Jack Posobiec summed the entire interaction up perfectly: “This is what happens when a narcissist knows he’s funked and there is no way out.”
* * *
A high-level Pfizer employee was caught on undercover camera by Project Veritas when he inadvertently dropped several bombshells which we’re confident will be subject to extreme damage control over the coming weeks.
Jordon Trishton Walker, Pfizer’s Director of R&D, Strategic Operations – and an mRNA Scientific Planner, said that the company is exploring a way to “mutate” COVID via “Directed Evolution” in order to anticipate new strains for their Covid-19 vaccine.
“One of the things we [Pfizer] are exploring is like, why don’t we just mutate it [COVID] ourselves so we could create — preemptively develop new vaccines, right? So, we have to do that. If we’re gonna do that though, there’s a risk of like, as you could imagine — no one wants to be having a pharma company mutating f**king viruses,” said Walker, adding that he believes Pfizer scientists are going about it slowly “because you obviously don’t want to advertise that you are figuring out future mutations.”
BREAKING: @Pfizer Exploring “Mutating” COVID-19 Virus For New Vaccines
“Don’t tell anyone this…There is a risk…have to be very controlled to make sure this virus you mutate doesn’t create something…the way that the virus started in Wuhan, to be honest.”#DirectedEvolutionpic.twitter.com/xaRvlD5qTo
Walker claims that “directed evolution” is different from Gain-of-Function research.
“Don’t tell anyone. Promise you won’t tell anyone. The way it [the experiment] would work is that we put the virus in monkeys, and we successively cause them to keep infecting each other, and we collect serial samples from them,” he said, before saying calling the Covid-19 natural origins theory bullshit:
“You have to be very controlled to make sure that this virus [COVID] that you mutate doesn’t create something that just goes everywhere. Which, I suspect, is the way that the virus started in Wuhan, to be honest. It makes no sense that this virus popped out of nowhere. It’s bullsh*t.”
“You’re not supposed to do Gain-of-Function research with viruses. Regularly not. We can do these selected structure mutations to make them more potent. There is research ongoing about that. I don’t know how that is going to work. There better not be any more outbreaks because Jesus Christ,” he continued.
Walker also admitted that Covid-19 mutations were going to be “a cash cow” for Pfizer.
Walker:Part of what they [Pfizer scientists] want to do is, to some extent, to try to figure out, you know, how there are all these new strains and variants that just pop up. So, it’s like trying to catch them before they pop up and we can develop a vaccine prophylactically, like, for new variants. So, that’s why they like, do it controlled in a lab, where they say this is a new epitope, and so if it comes out later on in the public, we already have a vaccine working.
Veritas Journalist:Oh my God. That’s perfect. Isn’t that the best business model though? Just control nature before nature even happens itself? Right?
Walker:Yeah. If it works.
Veritas Journalist:What do you mean if it works?
Walker:Because some of the times there are mutations that pop up that we are not prepared for. Like with Delta and Omicron. And things like that. Who knows? Either way, it’s going to be a cash cow. COVID is going to be a cash cow for us for a while going forward. Like obviously.
Veritas Journalist:Well, I think the whole research of the viruses and mutating it, like, would be the ultimate cash cow.
Walker:Yeah, it’d be perfect.
He also explained that Big Pharma and government agencies such as the FDA are not working in the best interests of Americans.
Walker:[Big Pharma] is a revolving door for all government officials.
Veritas Journalist:Wow.
Walker:In any industry though. So, in the pharma industry, all the people who review our drugs — eventually most of them will come work for pharma companies. And in the military, defense government officials eventually work for defense companies afterwards.
…
Veritas Journalist:How do you feel about that revolving door?
Walker:It’s pretty good for the industry to be honest. It’s bad for everybody else in America.
Veritas Journalist:Why is it bad for everybody else?
Walker:Because when the regulators reviewing our drugs know that once they stop regulating, they are going to work for the company, they are not going to be as hard towards the company that’s going to give them a job.
Watch the entire video below:
CLEAR YOUR CALENDAR @pfizer! I’m sure the committee to investigate Covid will have questions on this!! https://t.co/RRlW5edKmd
Toyota’s CEO To Step Down As New Chief Will “Remodel” Automaker
Akio Toyoda, the CEO of Toyota Motor Corporation and grandson of the company’s founder, is stepping down after leading the world’s largest automaker for 14 years, according to Nikkei Asia.
Chief Branding Officer Koji Sato will replace Akio Toyoda on April 1. The plan is to “fully remodel” the automaker as a mobility company and accelerate the electrification of vehicles under Sato’s leadership.
Toyoda has led the company that pioneered hybrid cars with its Prius model since 2009 and will become chair. Sato is currently the chief branding officer and head of the Lexus unit. The handover is primarily due to Toyota’s slow adoption of electric vehicles.
“Because of my strong passion for cars, I am an old-fashioned person in regards to digitalization, electric vehicles, and connected cars. I cannot go beyond being a car guy, and that is my limitation,” Toyoda told reporters.
“The new team can do what I can’t do . . . I now need to take a step back in order to let young people enter the new chapter of what the future of mobility should be like,” he continued.
One of Toyoda’s mishaps was the botched launch of the company’s first mass-produced EV, the bZ4X, which was immediately recalled after its launch last year. He also has had a staunch view that hybrids are much better than EVs, which likely led to the management reshuffle.
“The mission of the new team, led by new President Sato, is to fully remodel Toyota as a mobility company,” Toyoda emphasized.
Tatsuo Yoshida, a senior analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, said today’s announcement is a total “surprise.” He noted, “Toyoda’s choice to remain as chairman will help maintain the company’s business strategy and continuity.”
Toyoda’s slow move toward all-electric vehicles probably cost him the top spot.
GOP Senator Rand Paul has joined others in promoting an updated bill to reinstate military service members who were previously fired for refusing to comply with the Biden Administration’s COVID vaccine mandate.
The legislation, named the Allowing Military Exemptions, Recognizing Individual Concerns About New Shots (AMERICANS) Act of 2023, includes a requirement that the Secretary of Defense offer reinstatement to active members who were removed from duty for not taking the shots.
Senator Paul noted “The COVID-19 vaccine mandate has ruined the livelihoods of men and women who have honorably served our country. This inept bureaucratic policy should have never been imposed, and while it has since been rolled back, we still have service members who have not been rehired, promoted, or received back pay and benefits.”
He continued, “The AMERICANS Act will address these issues and others that the Biden administration has failed to consider at the expense of service members’ lives and our nation’s national security interests.”
Senator Ted Cruz, who is also co-sponsoring the bill added “Our military continues to feel the effects of the Biden administration’s reckless, misguided, and now-prohibited vaccine mandates.”
“I’m glad that we were able to remove the COVID-19 vaccine mandate last Congress, but there is more work to do,” Cruz urged, adding “The AMERICANS Act would correct the wrongs done to unvaccinated service members who were discharged for exercising their conscience.”
As they noted in their statements, the Senators were previously successful in getting the mandate scrapped by threatening to block the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act.
Representative Dan Bishop, who has introduced a companion bill in the House, also noted that “While last year’s NDAA directed that SECDEF rescind the DOD’s authoritarian COVID vaccine mandate, it didn’t prohibit the DOD from issuing a similar mandate in the future.”
He continued, “The bill also didn’t provide any meaningful remedies for service members who were kicked out due to the mandate. This is completely unacceptable. Sen. Cruz and my bill, the AMERICANS Act, will close these glaring loopholes and bring justice to military members who were purged by Secretary Austin’s egregious vaccine mandate.”
Specifically, the legislation will require the Department of Defense to:
Reinstate any service member separated solely for COVID-19 vaccine status who wants to return to service, crediting the service member with the time of involuntary separation for retirement pay calculations;
Restore the rank of any service member demoted solely for COVID-19 vaccine status, compensating the service member for any pay and benefits lost due to that demotion;
Adjust to “honorable” any “general” discharge given to a service member solely due to COVID-19 vaccine status;
Expunge from a service members’ record any adverse action based solely on COVID-19 vaccine status, regardless of whether the service member previously sought an accommodation;
Make every effort to retain service members not vaccinated against COVID-19, providing them with professional development, promotion, and leadership opportunities equal to that of their peers; and
Provide a COVID-19 vaccine exemption process for service members with natural immunity, a relevant underlying health condition, or a sincerely held religious belief inconsistent with being vaccinated.
The Military Times estimates that more than 3,400 troops were “involuntarily separated from the service” due to non-compliance with the vaccine mandate.
Freeport LNG Terminal Approved For Partial Restart
US natural gas futures erased some losses but still hovered sub $3 per million British thermal units after federal regulators approved Freeport LNG’s request for a partial restart of operations at the liquefied natural gas export terminal on the Texas coast.
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved Freeport LNG’s request to restart operations. Freeport was granted approval to begin the “cool down” of its Loop 1 transfer piping and restart the terminal’s boil-off gas management compressors and other piping.
The FERC has formally granted Freeport LNG approval to “commence commissioning, including cooldown, of Loop 1 LNG transfer piping and commissioning and reinstate service of the boil off gas (BOG) management system.” The letter was dated January 26, 2023 and the approval was based on an inspection conducted by the FERC and PHMSA onsite on January 25, 2023.
Moving forward, Freeport will need to request and receive approval for any further activity. This includes securing permission to “reinstate service for Loop 1 LNG circulation to enable ship loading to Dock 1 and to cooldown, recommission, and reinstate service of the liquefaction trains, including rundown piping to tanks.”
Based on Freeport’s initial request this week, the Loop 1 and BOG work will now take 11 days, placing the completion of that process on Monday, February 6, 2023.
Recall earlier this week. Freeport released a statement that it “has completed repairs to the Export Facility on Quintana Island, Texas, performed safety reviews, revised various procedures, implemented new safety systems and performed necessary training in order to safely begin to resume initial operations at its Export Facility.”
Freeport’s LNG net flows show some signs of life after being halted last June when an explosion rocked the facility and brought it offline.
Even after the news, US NatGas futures are still deep in the red and sub $3 — mainly because of increased production, ample supply, and a mild winter.
The question remains if NatGas prices will finally find a floor if Freeport begins a partial restart — considering the facility is one of the biggest export terminals in the US.
By Isabelle Lee, Bloomberg Markets Live reporter and strategist
Investors fretting about the prospects for global earnings growth may want to brace for a long slog this year, and stiff headwinds to equities as a result.
Analysts’ estimates for 2023 profits continue to fall, with major regions showing negative revision momentum, according to research from Bloomberg Intelligence’s Gina Martin Adams and Gillian Wolff. In the US, for example, sell-side analysts have lowered projections by more than half since September, while the outlook for emerging markets has slumped even more.
The upshot is it may be too early for investors to bet on a full-fledge rebound from the pummeling equities took last year, even with China moving past its zero-Covid policies and the Federal Reserve potentially set to end its interest-rate hikes. The concern is that companies still have more pain to absorb as the past year’s jump in borrowing costs ripples through the global economy.
“Global earnings estimates are being cut at an increasingly rapid pace through much of the developed world, threatening to put more pressure on stocks,” the BI strategists wrote.
The S&P 500 Index is headed for the best January since 2019, and the US economy is still expanding, albeit at a slower pace. But even onetime optimists have been questioning whether the world’s biggest economy can achieve a soft landing. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Marko Kolanovic, for example, said earlier this week that slowing growth is setting the stage for a selloff in stocks. He expects a recession in the US and Europe.
Of the 44 sectors that BI tracks in global markets — 11 each in China, Europe, the US and emerging markets — three quarters have reduced expectations for earnings-per-share growth in 2023, the strategists wrote.
“There still seems to be this broad ubiquitous downgrade that’s occurring across the board,” Wolff said in an interview. “In terms of calling the bottom for these downgrades, it’s difficult to say. But near-term, it’s not showing signs reversing.”
Global markets appear to be at different phases of their respective growth cycles as they rebound from the pandemic — a dynamic that earnings estimates highlight.
For instance, anticipated earnings growth of close to 15% this year in China and India won’t show up in the average for emerging markets because of declines foreseen in Taiwan, South Korea and Latin America, BI said. Europe may see a slight earnings contraction, while the US will likely see earnings growth of roughly 3% — compared with the pre-pandemic pace of 7%, according to BI.
However, all markets face a similar hurdle when it comes to central banks bent on tamping down inflation. Fed officials, for example, have signaled they intend to keep rates elevated even after they eventually stop hiking.
“The lag effects of the Fed’s tightening so far will slow the economy in the second half of 2023 and cause analysts to slash earnings estimates, which ultimately is a headwind for stocks,” Richard Saperstein, chief investment officer at Treasury Partners, said in a note.
A group of seven Republican Senators have been holding Tuesday “breakfast club” meetings in order to formulate a strategy for the upcoming showdown over the debt ceiling.
According to Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN), the group doesn’t actually gather for a meal.
“No breakfast — we’re fiscal conservatives,” he told Bloomberg.
Almost all of the Breakfast Club’s members, including Rick Scott of Florida and Mike Lee of Utah, late last year led an unsuccessful revolt against reelecting GOP leader Mitch McConnell. Like the House’s far-right Freedom Caucus that almost blocked Kevin McCarthy from the speakership, they are a reminder that the party’s populist members aren’t afraid of a high-stakes rebellion.
“There is always a need for leadership,” said breakfast club member Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who added that “If we don’t balance the budget we’ll never get interest rates down, we’ll never get inflation down.“
“I think we’ve got to have a legitimate conversation about how do we balance the budget,” said Sen. Scott. “I think we’ve got to have a legitimate conversation about how do we balance the budget,”
The formation of the group marks the first time Senate GOP conservatives have united into a faction since the long-disbanded Tea Party Caucus from over a decade ago – when Cruz and House conservatives huddled in the basement of a now-closed DC restaurant just steps from the Cannon House Office Building while the government was in the middle of a 16-day shutdown which was orchestrated in part by Cruz.
On Wednesday, Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin said they’re hoping to work with House conservatives to lead the effort. “And we’re going to hopefully influence what they’re asking for.”
The emergence of the group, which also includes Rand Paul of Kentucky and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, comes as President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats are doubling down on their call for a “clean” debt ceiling. Biden has said it would be a financial “calamity” if the US defaults on its obligations.
McConnell has said spending reductions often are negotiated with debt limit increases, but aggressive moves by some conservative House Republicans to force deep reductions have prompted concerns of a repeat of 2011, when a simmering feud over roiled financial markets and damaged an economic recovery. -Bloomberg
In short, GOP conservatives aren’t going to go quietly into the night.
