Half of that natural gas is coming through the Ukraine. They want Europe to stop buying Russian gas while at the same time, they want to continue to collect fees to deliver that natural gas. And therein lies the crisis.
Russia does not want to conquer Ukraine. It just wants to bomb them back to the dark ages and they’re doing a damn good job of it.
Bloomberg) — Covid-19 infections in England reached their highest level in March since the pandemic began, driven by the omicron subvariant BA.2 and waning immunity among older adults, according to a new study. The overall Covid prevalence rate more than doubled last month from February when infection rates were falling from the omicron-led January peak, the React-1 study led by Imperial College London found. Since then the emergence of BA.2 — a more-transmissible version of omicron- has accelerated new infections and become the dominant strain in England, accounting for about 90% of the samples that tested positive. The higher infection rates may result in an increase in hospitalizations despite the higher levels of vaccination among the population, said Paul Elliott, director of the React program, and chair in Epidemiology and Public Health Medicine, Imperial College London. Rates of Covid-19 are growing among adults over 55 years driven by higher mobility and waning immunity given that they received their booster shots earlier compared to other age groups, the study said. The latest results are the 19th round of the React-1 study and will be the last as the program comes to an end at the same time the U.K. cuts back on free coronavirus tests. The Imperial College researchers raised concerns that it will become more difficult to detect emerging variants as the government scales back testing. “There are a lot of variants out there and it’s looking at the patterns that helps to identify variants of concerns and make sure that people see what’s coming,” said Christl Donnelly, a professor of statistical epidemiology at Imperial. NN: The scientific evidence is clear. It ain’t over. These studies prove the most effective tool we have is vaccination. And they need to be updated every 4 to 5 months.
LONDON (AP) — The prevalence of COVID-19 in the U.K. has reached record levels, with about 1 in 13 people estimated to be infected with the virus in the past week, according to the latest figures from Britain’s official statistics agency. Some 4.9 million people were estimated to have the coronavirus in the week ending March 26, up from 4.3 million recorded in the previous week, the Office for National Statistics said Friday. The latest surge is driven by the more transmissible omicron variant BA.2, which is the dominant variant across the U.K. Hospitalizations and death rates are again rising, although the number of people dying with COVID-19 is still relatively low compared with earlier this year. Nonetheless, the latest estimates suggest that the steep climb in new infections since late February, when British Prime Minister Boris Johnson scrapped all remaining coronavirus restrictions in England, has continued well into March. The figures came on the same day the government ended free rapid COVID-19 tests for most people in England, under Johnson’s “living with COVID” plan. People who do not have health conditions that make them more vulnerable to the virus now need to pay for tests to find out if they are infected. “The government’s ‘living with COVID’ strategy of removing any mitigations, isolation, free testing and a considerable slice of our surveillance amounts to nothing more than ignoring this virus going forwards,” said Stephen Griffin, associate professor at the University of Leeds’ medical school. “Such unchecked prevalence endangers the protection afforded by our vaccines,” he said. “Our vaccines are excellent, but they are not silver bullets and ought not to be left to bear the brunt of COVID in isolation.” More than 67% of people 12 years old and above in the U.K. have been vaccinated and had their booster or a third dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Beginning Saturday, parents can also book a low-dose vaccine for children between 5 to 12 years old in England. James Naismith, a biology professor at the University of Oxford, said he believed that except for those who are completely shielded or not susceptible to the virus, most people in the country would likely be infected with the BA.2 variant by the summer. “This is literally living with the virus by being infected with it,” he said. Continue reading “UK hits record Covid-levels: nearly 5 million infected…… China Finds New Virus Subtype as Daily Cases Exceed 13,000”
This trade is very aggressive and NOT for everyone but if you’re feeling fat and sassy, we need to add another layer. We got our first USO trade around $82.00 and that was oil around $115.00. We got our second trade around $73.00 and that was oil around $101.00. We now have oil trading around $108.00 and USO around $78.00 so I want to fill in the gap that was created when we stood aside and let oil do its full drop.
This is aggressive as hell for what I call a pocket trade. My opinion is changing and I see oil possibly going to $150. The fucking idiots are not making the moves to ensure supplies. They are so in love with their sanctions that they’re sanctioning themselves by stopping gas and oil flows to Europe. The greenie weenies that are running the White House are still in love with their wind farms and solar panels and are unwilling to unleash the mighty U.S. oil industry. That might have to wait until the Republicans come to town after the midterm elections.
There is going to have to be a lot more pain before they give up the tree hugger fantasy of clean energy now. It might take oil above $150 a barrel to knock some sense into them.
So my specific recommendation is to BUY another 475 shares of the USO. Adjust this trade to your account size and risk tolerance but for me, I am convinced that oil has got more room to run on the upside.
Warning: This is a very volatile, shit market and anything can happen.
The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday authorized a second booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech and the Moderna Covid-19 vaccines for adults ages 50 and older. People are eligible to get the additional dose at least four months after receiving their first booster, the FDA said in a statement. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is expected to release a statement signing off on the additional shot shortly. The FDA had already authorized a fourth shot for immunocompromised individuals. On Tuesday, the FDA also cleared a fifth shot, or second booster, for that group. Previously, immunocompromised individuals were authorized to receive a three-dose primary series of a vaccine followed by a booster. Tuesday’s decision bypasses the independent panel of experts from both the FDA and the CDC, which have issued recommendations to the agencies throughout the pandemic on whether they should clear additional shots, and if so, for which groups. Continue reading “FDA authorizes second booster of Pfizer/BioNTech COVID shot”
We are now below our starting point of $81.70 in our trade which is a $10 drop, reflecting the over $15 drop in oil. This could be described as a peace dividend as low level peace talks have begun in Turkey. Excuse me if I’m not buying this. PR ditties to the side, the reality is Russia has bombed the Ukraine to the dark ages. Systematically, they’ve been cut off from the Black Sea. Their infrastructure is in tatters. 5 million people have left the country. There is no way this can be described as a win. We believe these “peace talks” will break down and no matter what scenario you look at, Russian oil production has dropped. Exports have dropped and nothing changes the fact that there is an oil crisis.
With this view in mind, it’s now time to BUY another 475 shares of the USO which is trading around $72.00. Adjust the number of shares you buy by the size of your account and according to your risk tolerance.
In closing, even if peace comes no one is about to remove the sanctions on Russia. So nothing really changes in the oil equation.
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Senior citizens who received a second booster of the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccination had a 78% lower mortality rate from the disease than those who got one only, a study from Israel showed on Sunday. The country’s largest healthcare provider, Clalit Health Services, said the 40-day study included more than half a million people aged 60 to 100. Some 58% of participants had received a second booster – or two shots in addition to the basic two-shot regimen. The remainder had received only one booster. Researchers recorded 92 deaths among the first group and 232 deaths among the second, smaller group. “The main conclusion is that the second booster is lifesaving,” said Ronen Arbel, Health Outcomes Researcher at Clalit and Sapir College. The report was issued as a preprint and has not been peer-reviewed. The research excluded people who received rival Moderna’s vaccine and those who had taken oral anti-COVID therapy. Israeli health officials have put out a number of studies on vaccine efficacy throughout the pandemic that have impacted policymaking in other countries. NN: If your vaccine is more than 5 months old you have minimal protection. The updated vaccine should be out in September or October… Looks like this one will be a yearly shot. But you got to get from here to there. Say your smart enough to get your booster that the FDA will soon approve in April. Your timing will be perfect for your September/October yearly vaccine.
As you know, I’ve been hot and cold on trading ETFs. The reason is that they changed the rules and at times it makes it untradeable and frankly they get pissed off if we score big bucks from them. You might remember our beloved DWIT which was a product of Swiss Bank. When we screwed them really nice on a trade and took nice profits, they fired their management team and unwound the product.
The USO is an amazing instrument. It seeks to track the spot oil price of WTI. Originally it traded futures contracts and tracked pretty well until they put the kibosh on it. Often times they were 80% of the daily volume in the spot contract and that meant that their trading could bend the market and that meant that club members lost a lot of money. Again, the rule changes. They gave them accountability levels and position limits. Their broker also played a lot of games on their margin requirements and they were untradeable. Continue reading “Trade Reco”
Catherine the Great converted to Christianity and was responsible for forming Russia. The capital was Kiev and she established the Orthodox Church. This war has now gone religious.