Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Anybody catch Sen. Whitehouse's time today talking about all the dark money and addressing the New Repub. side yacking about Dems wanting to "pack the courts". True to form, when ever the Rep. are doing, about ready to do, or have already done something against our democracy for their own power, they blame or accuse the Dems. It has been their constant MO.
I know both parties are guilty of pandering to the big money, but the Repub. has historically been more and lately in the last 5yrs or so have just gone way over any line or any resemblance of "they both do it" theme.
I thought Sen Whitehouse addressed it quite well and at least rebutted what Sen Tillis, and others was trying to push.
Jackson is definitely a real workhorse, a very controlled and intelligent one too. I'm totally exhausted with just listening to the hearings and doing a little research fact checking on it. I've got to go to bed. Can't imagine the energy level she has to maintain.
Here's a decent write up on the points.
Five takeaways as Jackson takes tough questions from GOP
BY JORDAIN CARNEY,JOHN KRUZEL AND ALEXANDER BOLTON - 03/22/22 10:33 PM EDT
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/599322-five-takeaways-as-jackson-takes-tough-questions-from-gop
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson tangled with GOP senators for roughly 13 hours on Tuesday on the first day of questioning in her confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court.
Republicans aren’t expected to be able to sink Jackson’s nomination unless she makes a significant unforced error during the Judiciary Committee hearings — something that did not appear to happen on Tuesday even as GOP senators launched a bevy of attacks.
Jackson will appear before the committee again on Wednesday, where Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) will kick off the hearing and all senators will get a chance to question her for a second time.
Here are the top five takeaways from Jackson’s first day of taking questions.
Jackson was ready for GOP’s questions
Jackson went on offense early in the hearing, using questions from Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) to tackle expanding the Supreme Court, her rulings on sex-related cases and her work on behalf of Guantanamo Bay detainees or outside groups.
The effort appeared aimed at pre-butting some of the main lines of criticism that Republicans raised throughout the first day of questions, giving Jackson a first word before she faced questions from more adversarial GOP senators.
It also came after Jackson sat for more than four hours on Monday and listened as GOP senators, most if not all of whom will oppose her, previewed their case against her and their grievances with recent court fights.
There were tense moments between GOP senators and Jackson, as well as between members of the committee.
And in some cases Jackson declined to lean into the line of questioning from Republicans, including when Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) tried to get her to weigh in rape, murder, crime and if the country needed more law enforcement officials.
“It's not that they're difficult questions, it's that they're not questions for me. I am not the Congress,” Jackson said.
Durbin also stepped in to help at times after senators finished questioning Jackson, and capped off the hearing on Tuesday to respond to GOP claims that were “inaccurate.”
Jackson says her judicial methodology defies easy label
Jackson’s description of her approach was largely a nuts-and-bolts recitation of steps she follows and a sense of their relative weight in her deliberative process but revealed little as to an overarching philosophy.
Shying away from “a particular label” to define her style, Jackson said she hews to a methodology that begins with assuming a position of neutrality, proceeds with various tools toward a transparent ruling “without fear or favor” and studiously abides by judicial constraints.
Jackson put special emphasis on the primacy of legal text. She also acknowledged that the 6-3 conservative Supreme Court has increasingly embraced “the originalist perspective in its interpretations,” and allowed that she agrees with its tenet that “the Constitution is fixed in its meaning.”
But Jackson also noted the limits of such an approach, pointing to legal concepts like “unreasonable search and seizure” and “due process” as examples of when a law’s meaning is difficult to determine from text alone.
“When you look at them in the context of history, you look at the structure of the Constitution, you look at the circumstances that you're dealing with in comparison to what those words meant at the time that they were adopted, and you look at precedents that are related to this topic — all those tools judges use, and I have used,” she said.
Unlike the last Supreme Court confirmation, which saw Justice Amy Coney Barrett embrace the identity of an originalist in the mold of the late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, Jackson offered little help to senators in search of well-worn judicial descriptors.
“If you had to tell the American people who you're closest to, who is that justice?” asked Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.).
Jackson replied: “I must admit that I don't really have a justice that I've molded myself after.”
Graham highlights GOP anger over previous court fights
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) leaned into lingering anger from Republican senators over previous court fights, arguing there is a double standard between the treatment of Republican nominees and those nominated by Democratic presidents.
Graham went on a stemwinder that touched on several GOP flashpoints including previous questions about Barrett’s faith and Bush-era judicial nomination fights.
“The reason I'm bringing all this up is it gives me a chance to remind this committee, in America, there are two standards going on here. If you're an African-American, conservative woman, you're fair game to have your life turned upside down, to be filibustered no matter how qualified you are, and if you express your faith as a conservative, all of a sudden, you're a f-ing nut,” Graham said.
Republicans have repeatedly pointed back to Brett Kavanaugh’s 2018 Supreme Court nomination, which was thrown into chaos after decades-old sexual assault allegations surfaced that Kavanaugh denied.
Graham is one of three GOP senators who voted for Jackson last year to serve on the federal court of appeals for the D.C. circuit. But he’s increasingly signaled that he’s a likely no vote on Jackson’s nomination for the Supreme Court seat.
His opposition can’t sink Jackson’s nomination, but it could all-but guarantee that Jackson faces a tied committee vote on her nomination. Democrats could still bring her up for a vote on the Senate floor, but it would eat up extra time.
2024 GOP White House hopefuls jockey for attention
Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Josh Hawley (Mo.) and Cotton left little doubt that they are eyeing presidential runs in 2024 after aggressively questioning Jackson about critical race theory, child pornography sentences and rising crime.
Each senator focused on an issue likely to score points with the GOP’s base and did so with a dramatic flair likely to get some attention in conservative media.
Cruz grilled Jackson about her views on critical race theory, challenging her about a speech she made at the University of Michigan where she talked about The New York Times’ controversial 1619 project, as well as comments she made at the University of Chicago about how legal work on sentencing marries various the law and critical race theory.
Hawley drilled down on Jackson’s handling of a child pornography case in United States v. Hawkins, in which she sentenced an 18-year-old defendant to three months in prison after federal prosecutors asked for a two-year sentence.
“I just have to tell you, I’m having a hard time wrapping my head about it,” he said.
The tense back-and-forth between Hawley and Jackson provided one of the most dramatic moments of the hearing.
Cotton used part of his time to question her decision to reduce the penalty for a man initially sentenced to 20 years on drug trafficking and firearms charges.
Jackson said she was given flexibility to review the sentence under The First Step Act, which President Trump signed into law, and reduced prison time for nonviolent drug offenders. Cotton opposed the bill.
Cotton, however, told the nominee with a stare: “You twisted the law and you rewrote it so you could cut the sentence of a drug kingpin, that’s what you did, judge.”
Jackson keeps nomination on track
Jackson avoided the sort of major missteps that would throw her nomination into limbo.
GOP senators on the committee pushed Jackson on a host of hot-button issues, including those that light up the party’s base, including critical race theory, her rulings on child pornography bases and violent crime.
Jackson, however, kept her cool in the 13-hour hearing on Tuesday. And her patience garnered social media attention during an exchange with Cruz, where he asked her about “Antiracist Baby,” which argues that babies are taught to be racist or anti-racist and there is no neutrality, being taught at Washington Day School, where Jackson is on the board of trustees.
When Cruz asked Jackson if agreed with this book being taught, Jackson took a long pause before answering.
“I have not reviewed any of those books, any of those ideas,” Jackson said. “They do not come up in my work as a judge, which I am, respectfully, here to address.”
Republicans at times acknowledged that their hours-long grilling wouldn’t ultimately change the outcome of Jackson’s nomination.
Almost half in new poll say Jackson should be confirmed
LIVE COVERAGE: GOP senators grill Jackson in grueling day
Sasse opened his questioning by noting to Jackson that the hearing “very likely the last job interview you’ll ever have.”
Senate Democrats want to confirm Jackson before the chamber starts a two-week break that is scheduled to begin on April 8. Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday that he had “confidence she is on track for final confirmation before the end of this work period.”
Cotton is just supporting and improving on the new GOPs methods of lies and disinformation. He's also an experienced debater, an attorney himself, and has the morals like the rest of the new GOP.
His act was only for political gains and creating sound bites to use against the dems in the upcoming elections. That was his only goal. The cities that he named on crime were all in swing states and where there will be heavy political fights. You think he would say true statistical data that many of the increased crime rates are in Republican controlled areas? Not a chance. The new GOP are looking for anything to get an edge and to harp on. The "dems are soft on crime" was the intended thoughts to impress.
The fast succession of crime data questioning was only to try to get Jackson tripped up and some reactive mistake on her part.
He did get at least one good political sound bite that we will see repeated out of context and manipulated. That was when she answered that there were no victims to contact when Cotton asked her if she contacted the victims before resentencing the particular case. That will be portrayed that she thinks drugs are a victimless crime and just one more crime that she is "soft" on.
There's other sound bites they will use and the GOPs only reason for their attacks and line of questioning. Politicians like Cotton are some of the best on their team to do that. Cotton did the job that was given to him the best that could be done I guess. Obnoxiousness and whiny are just a small part of the degrading traits that the new GOP are and succeeding at using.
Must have been why he was so upset when thinking he couldn't get there in time I guess. The short video is pretty much posted everywhere now.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/mar/21/ted-cruz-supreme-court-hearings-airport
In Washington on Monday, the Texas senator Ted Cruz complained that supreme court confirmation hearings have become increasingly angry and confrontational.
In Bozeman, Montana the previous day, however, the Republican was filmed becoming angry and confrontational with airport staff and an armed police officer.
A short video, appearing to have been shot from behind a check-in desk, was posted to Reddit. It showed the masked senator remonstrating with the two staff members, both women, and the male officer. It was not possible to hear what was said.
A caption said: “Ted Cruz accosting airline employees today at BZN after missing his flight. Law enforcement had to be called when he wouldn’t calm down.”
An airport official told the Daily Mail the senator missed his check-in window for a flight and became “frustrated” as other options were limited due to spring break traffic.
“One of our public safety officers was in the ticket lobby and was asked to assist with a frustrated passenger at the United ticket counter (which is not unusual),” said Scott Humphrey, the Bozeman airport deputy director.
“Once travel options were explained to the passenger, he was rebooked and departed Bozeman later that evening. Our [officer] didn’t realise he was dealing with Senator Cruz until after the fact.”
Cruz made it to Washington for the opening on Monday of hearings for Ketanji Brown Jackson, Joe Biden’s first supreme court nominee.
The senator did not immediately comment about his experience at Bozeman airport. Critics online did.
Rick Wilson, a former Republican operative and co-founder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, said: “Ted Cruz getting aggro with airline counter folks is so very on-brand. ‘Well, sir, if you don’t like your flight options, we can drive you to the train station.’”
Keith Olbermann, a writer and TV host, said: “So Ted Cruz was apparently so out-of-control abusive to airline staff at the airport in Bozeman, Montana, that law enforcement had to get involved. It must’ve been snowing.”
That was a reference to events in Texas and Mexico last year, when Cruz left his state during a lethal big freeze to fly out for a family break in Cancun.
Amid controversy, Cruz admitted his mistake and flew home. Online, some altered Donald Trump’s old nickname for his rival, Lyin’ Ted, to call the senator Flyin’ Ted instead.
Responding to coverage of his Cancun escapade, Cruz said: “Here’s a suggestion. Just don’t be assholes. Just, you know, treat each other as human beings, have to some degree some modicum of respect.”
The whole south west area is in big time problems. Right where a big agriculture area is, and is going to have a big hit on food supply from that area. Nothing good and an expense galore. Along with the fact that dams like Hoover dam are getting extremely low and risking stoppage of the cheapest and greatly used sources of energy.
The biggest problem with hydro generation for 10s of millions of people and industry is that it creates evaporation and draws down the resource that needs replenishing at a greater rate that currently is happening. And future projections are not looking good. All they've got is to ration, which rations everything else that was directly or indirectly involved and effects the supply and demand curves.
Don't need estimations, just general common sense. When living in a home, owned or rented, cost that is an increasingly larger and larger percentage of income, it's a problem. Then when the costs increasing more and more just to eat, heat, and cool, it's a greatly magnified problem. Resulting to things no longer being "estimated", just realities to deal with.
Mortgage rates are surging faster than expected, prompting economists to lower their home sales forecasts
PUBLISHED TUE, MAR 22 20221:21 PM EDTUPDATED 47 MIN AGO
The average rate on the popular 30-year fixed mortgage hit 4.72% Tuesday, moving 26 basis points higher since just Friday, according to Mortgage News Daily.
As a result of the recent spike in rates, economists are now lowering their home sales forecasts for this year.
Most estimates at the end of last year had the average 30-year mortgage rate hitting 4.5% by the end of 2022, but the war in Ukraine, rising oil prices and inflation have all lit a fire under interest rates.
A home is offered for sale on January 20, 2022 in Chicago, Illinois.
A home is offered for sale on January 20, 2022 in Chicago, Illinois.
Scott Olson | Getty Images
The average rate on the popular 30-year fixed mortgage hit 4.72% Tuesday, moving 26 basis points higher since just Friday, according to Mortgage News Daily.
As a result of the recent spike in rates, economists are now lowering their home sales forecasts for this year.
Most estimates at the end of last year had the average 30-year mortgage rate hitting 4.5% by the end of 2022, but the war in Ukraine, rising oil prices and inflation have all lit a fire under interest rates. Last year at this time, rates were about 3.45%
A shift in the policy outlook from the Federal Reserve, suggesting far more rate increases than expected, is pushing bond yields higher. The 30-year fixed mortgage follows loosely the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury, which is now at the highest level since May of 2019.
“Rates have a small chance to top out before hitting 5% and a good chance of topping out before hitting 6%,” said Matthew Graham, chief operating officer at Mortgage News Daily. “It is a rapidly moving target in this environment, where we legitimately and unexpectedly find ourselves needing to be concerned with inflation for the first time since the 1980's.”
Economists had expected the rate to rise only slightly this year, but now that is changing.
Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, now says he expects the rate to hover around 4.5% this year, after previously predicting it would stay at 4%. NAR’s latest official prediction is for sales to drop 3% in 2022, but Yun now says he expects they will fall 6-8% (NAR has not officially updated its forecast).
The rise in rates comes on top of an already sizzling housing market. Demand remains strong, and supply remains historically low. This has pressured home prices, which were already up 19% in January year over year, the latest read from CoreLogic.
“That is a double whammy that erodes affordability for home buyers, especially first-timers,” said Frank Nothaft, chief economist at CoreLogic. “First-time buyers are a sizable part of prospective shoppers and their share of purchases has slipped from one year ago. We will be revising our home sales forecast a bit lower.”
Home sellers may also be adjusting their expectations. Asking prices slipped slightly last week, according to Realtor.com, despite the competitive market.
“In a potential sign that sellers are mindful of buyers’ tightening budgets as mortgage rates climb, last week’s data showed the first slowdown in asking price growth since January,” wrote Danielle Hale, chief economist for Realtor.com.
Hale said she may revise her sales forecast lower as well but hasn’t yet. She points out that while rising costs could cut into home sales, there are several offsetting factors, like rent.
“Fast-rising rents aren’t offering any relief and may keep some would-be buyers on the hunt for a home, so that they can lock-in the bulk of their housing costs before inflation raises the bar yet again,” said Hale.
“Demographics are also favorable for the housing market this year, with more than 45 million households in the 26-35 age range, which are key years for household formation and first-time home buying. However, the economic considerations for those households are going to be challenging,” she added.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/22/mortgage-rates-are-surging-faster-than-expected-prompting-economists-to-lower-their-home-sales-forecasts.html
Not only is Lake Powell's water level plummeting because of drought, its total capacity is shrinking, too
By Rachel Ramirez, CNN
Updated 3:54 PM ET, Mon March 21, 2022
https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/21/us/lake-powell-capacity-shrinking-drought-climate/index.html
(CNN)Lake Powell, the second-largest human-made reservoir in the US, has lost nearly 7% of its potential storage capacity since 1963, when Glen Canyon Dam was built, a new report shows.
In addition to water loss due to an intense multiyear drought, the US Geological Survey and the Bureau of Reclamation report found, Lake Powell faced an average annual loss in storage capacity of about 33,270 acre-feet, or 11 billion gallons, per year between 1963 and 2018.
That's enough water to fill the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall about 1,600 times.
The capacity of the reservoir is shrinking because of sediments flowing in from the Colorado and San Juan rivers, according to the report. Those sediments settle at the bottom of the reservoir and decrease the total amount of water the reservoir can hold.
As of Monday, Lake Powell was around 25% full, according to data from the Bureau of Reclamation.
Interactive: The Colorado River's shortage is a sign of a larger crisis
It's bad news for a region already facing water shortages and extreme wildfires due to the drought. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration drought experts said last week these conditions are expected to at least continue -- if not worsen -- in the coming months.
Lake Powell is an important reservoir in the Colorado River Basin. Both Lake Powell and nearby Lake Mead, the nation's largest reservoir, have drained at an alarming rate. In August, the federal government declared a water shortage on the Colorado River for the first time after Lake Mead's water level plunged to unprecedented lows, triggering mandatory water consumption cuts for states in the Southwest that began in January.
And last week, Lake Powell dipped below the critical threshold of 3,525 feet above sea level, sparking additional concerns about water supply and hydropower generation millions of people in the West rely on for electricity.
The significance of the dwindling water supply along the Colorado cannot be overstated.
The system supplies water for more than 40 million people living across seven Western states and Mexico. Lakes Powell and Mead provide a critical supply of drinking water and irrigation for many across the region, including rural farms, ranches and native communities.
"It is vitally important we have the best-available scientific information like this report to provide a clear understanding of water availability in Lake Powell as we plan for the future," Tanya Trujillo, assistant secretary for water and science with the US Department of Interior, said in a statement. "The Colorado River system faces multiple challenges, including the effects of a 22-year-long drought and the increased impacts of climate change."
This is only about one main water supply and storage, this is playing out with all of them. A very dangerous situation is happening with the long term drought and the rising world temp and the onslaught of heat waves that are coming, all putting pressure on our water tables and reserves. The populace better get into using only what is absolutely needed and less, soon it will become needing way more than supply and what can be used.
Even normal rains and runoff won't be able to cover for the heat effects through the summer. It would take many yrs of high abnormal rains and snow to even begin to dent the lower water reserves that has happened. But yet they are projecting less than normal wet seasons. 25% capacities at the beginning of warmer seasons in our reservoirs are nothing to ignore.
Drop in Lake Powell could threaten power production as well as water supplies
By Autriya Maneshni/Cronkite News
March 17, 2022
https://cronkitenews.azpbs.org/2022/03/17/lake-powell-water-levels-drop-historically-low-level/
PHOENIX – Water levels on Lake Powell, the second largest reservoir in the U.S., have dropped below 3,525 feet – a critical level that threatens water supplies and hydroelectricity for millions of people. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation had predicted the threshold wouldn’t be reached until August.
The reservoir’s storage capacity of 26.2 million acre-feet is made possible by Glen Canyon Dam – a 710-foot tall concrete wedge that began pooling the Colorado River behind it in 1963. It took 17 years to fully fill Lake Powell. In addition to irrigating fields and cities, the water turns the dam’s eight generators, which can produce 5 billion kilowatts of power a year to residents in seven states.
The lake level puts hydropower electricity at risk because the water has to be high enough to turn the turbines.
“We’re 35 feet away from not being able to generate power at Glen Canyon,” said Bob Martin, the bureau’s deputy power manager for the Upper Colorado River Basin. “So that’s kind of a warning sign that we’re getting closer to that no-generation point that we’re trying to avoid.”
(Audio by Evan Lis/Cronkite News)
Electricity produced by the Glen Canyon Power Plant goes to Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and Nebraska, according to the Bureau of Reclamation. But that depends on Lake Powell holding enough water to keep the turbines spinning.
Martin said a steady decline in yearly snowfall has contributed to the decline.
“Last year was really bad,” he said. “We only came up about two or three feet (with snowmelt). And kind of what we’re seeing now is the effects of that poor runoff from last summer.”
The megadrought that has gripped Arizona and the Southwest since 2000 has contributed to the dwindling levels. The region is the driest it’s been in more than 1,200 years, and that will likely continue, according to the journal Nature Climate Change.
As temperatures rise and precipitation declines, help could come from the Drought Contingency Plan signed in 2019 by representatives of the seven Colorado River Basin states, the Department of Interior and the Bureau of Reclamation.
Glen Canyon Dam pools the Colorado River behind it to generate hydroelectric power. “We’re 35 feet away from not being able to generate power at Glen Canyon,” says Bob Martin, the bureau’s deputy power manager for the Upper Colorado River Basin. (Photo by Sadie Babits)
It involves voluntary reductions and conservation of the Colorado River during water shortages to ensure that Lake Mead, which straddles the Arizona-Nevada line, and Lake Powell can remain functional.
For example, without the plan, chances of Mead dropping to 1,025 feet are 43% by 2026, but with the plan in place, that risk falls to 8%, according to the Central Arizona Project, which delivers water from the Colorado River.
The Bureau of Reclamation in August declared the first water shortage in the Colorado River Basin, triggering reductions in deliveries to users in Arizona and elsewhere, and further cuts will be required if Mead drops below that 1,025-foot benchmark.
Arizona’s participation in the contingency plan could bring the state more water security, but it comes at a cost.
“If Lake Powell is at these critical levels, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation could decide to hold back water from Lake Mead, which in turn means that whatever level Lake Mead is at could mean bigger cuts for Arizona and bigger cuts for the other lower basin water users as well,” said Sarah Porter, who directs the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University.
The upper basin states – Wyoming, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado – will take additional measures to shore up Lake Powell based on the Drought Contingency Plan, Porter said. These measures could take a variety of forms, such as voluntary conservation where water users agree to not take water from the lake, she said.
Although the latest drop at Lake Powell is concerning, Martin said there is still a chance for the water to rise.
“Water is going to come up as we start seeing runoff,” Martin said. “We saw opportunities for precipitation for higher elevations that can change our outlook.”
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, snow-water equivalent conditions as a percentage of normal have remained steady since mid-February, with mid-March conditions ranging from 85% to 115% of normal across the upper basin and 20% to 145% across the lower basin.
Along with more snow and rain, Martin said, conservation can help.
“The time to conserve water is now and it was probably yesterday,” he said. “This isn’t something that we can just turn a blind eye to.”
The water shortages, supply problems is going to have it's effects in so many things (including investments) this yr and future yrs. Inflation will continue to be a problem, especially with food and energy. Companies like DE and CAT are projected to have gains due to the shortages of grains, etc and having more agriculture involvement, but it will be hard to do if the fields they are trying to cultivate are a dust bowl with rationing of water that will have to be done and already being done now. The machinery of today are also now so dependent of chip shortages and certain metal supply problems that the cost of that machinery and it's maintenance will have to increase effecting even more the continued inflation.
And as the same with oil, if higher prices can be had with fertilizers to other countries, the price will be subject to that here in the US.
With less and less water for irrigation, energy creation, and public use, will negate the statement somewhat in the article at the bottom. We also have a lot of importing of food that shortages of supplies have a greater impact on than the US.
Without water and lower energy prices than what's coming for processing and getting that food to our groc stores, we might not be able to sustain the current food production, let alone increasing for the increased demand vs supply factors. Everybody should keep these indications in mind and plan accordingly.
Fertilizer prices are at record highs. Here’s what that means for the global economy
PUBLISHED TUE, MAR 22 20228:28 AM EDTUPDATED 3 HOURS AGO
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/22/fertilizer-prices-are-at-record-highs-heres-what-that-means.html
Prices for raw materials that constitute the fertilizer market — ammonia, nitrogen, nitrates, phosphates, potash and sulphates — are up 30% since the turn of the year.
Russia and Ukraine are among the most important producers of agricultural commodities in the world, with exportable supplies in global foodstuff and fertilizer markets concentrated in a small number of countries.
LONDON — Supply shortages fueled by the Ukraine-Russia conflict, along with a host of pre-existing factors, have driven fertilizer prices to record highs.
Prices for raw materials that constitute the fertilizer market — ammonia, nitrogen, nitrates, phosphates, potash and sulphates — are up 30% since the turn of the year and now exceed those seen during the food and energy crisis in 2008, according to British commodity consultancy CRU.
Russia and Ukraine are among the most important producers of agricultural commodities in the world, with exportable supplies in global foodstuff and fertilizer markets concentrated in a small number of countries.
In 2021, Russia was the world’s top exporter of nitrogen fertilizers and the second-largest supplier of both potassic and phosphorous fertilizers, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.
Trade between Russia and the rest of the world has not stopped, but has been severely disrupted as importers and vessel charterers steer clear of the country in light of the invasion of Ukraine, CRU Head of Fertilizers Chris Lawson said on Tuesday.
Russia, which accounts for around 14% of global fertilizer exports, has temporarily suspended outgoing trade, which is expected to have a strong ripple effect across global food markets.
“Furthermore, gas is a key input for fertilizer production. High gas prices have resulted in a curtailing of production in regions such as Europe, further constricting an already tight market,” Lawson said.
VIDEO02:56
‘A lot of opportunity’ in agricultural commodities, says WisdomTree
Meanwhile, sanctions on Russian-ally Belarus have substantial implications for the potash market, with Russia and Belarus contributing a combined 40% of annual traded volumes.
“Since the beginning of 2020, nitrogen fertilizer prices have increased fourfold, while phosphate and potash prices over threefold,” Lawson explained.
“While farmers in developed markets have benefitted from high agricultural commodity prices, helping to partly offset high input prices, demand destruction is increasingly likely due to high prices and supply shortfalls.”
Economies around the world are already dealing with historically high inflation driven largely by soaring food and energy prices. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Index shows food prices are at an all-time high, and Lawson suggested that a prolonged period of fertilizer shortage will affect longer-term farming yields.
“Given the already tight grains and oilseeds market, and the importance of both Russia and Ukraine in those markets, food price inflation is an increasingly prominent risk,” he added.
Prior to the threat of reduced supplies from Russia and Belarus, fertilizer prices had already been facing upward pressure from global supply chain disruptions, a Chinese export ban and a Canadian rail strike.
‘More severe consequences’
While much of the focus of discussions around price spikes in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been dominated by energy, the supply shock to fertilizer, wheat and other grains is expected to compound the problem.
In a research note earlier this month, Barclays Chief U.K. and Senior European Economist Fabrice Montagné and Head of Economics Research Christian Keller suggested that “the breadth and intensity of this supply shock could have more severe consequences than previous commodity price spikes, by broadening inflationary pressure.”
“Food and fertiliser production have a high energy content owing to mechanisation, industrialisation and transport, but they also compete with other industries for raw inputs: the production of biofuel, for example, diverts crops away from agri-food while the production of lithium-ion batteries requires chemicals used in the production of P-fertiliser,” they said.
“Finally, renewed shipping and transportation difficulties and, more importantly, the impact of Russian sanctions on global supply are set to stretch global markets even further, akin to the 2008 global food crisis.”
Global food prices increased sharply in 2007 and into the first quarter of 2008, triggering economic and political instability and social unrest across nations, both in developed and emerging economies.
WATCH NOW
VIDEO02:12
Focus on energy and fertilizer, says Jon Najarian
The impact, Barclays suggested, will be “extremely asymmetrical” with most emerging market economies disproportionately affected by food and fertilizer supply risks.
However, that is not to say that developed economies and investors will not be affected, with punitive Russian and Western economic sanctions inevitably reducing supplies of energy, grain and fertilizer.
In a note Friday, Wells Fargo Head of Global Real Assets John LaForge and Global Strategist Gary Schlossberg said given the weight of Russian supply, other countries will only be able to “partially” fill global supply gaps.
Wells Fargo expects the food impact to be felt globally, becoming particularly troublesome for select emerging countries.
“Overall, the current commodity wars, we believe, will lead to higher and more persistent inflation around the world, including in the U.S.,” they said.
“However, we think a U.S. recession is unlikely because low trade volumes with Russia should leave the U.S. in a comparatively stronger economic position.”
DOE Announces $5 Million to Launch Lithium-Battery Workforce Initiative
Industry and Labor will Partner on Five Pilot Programs to Train Battery Manufacturing Workers and Bolster the Domestic Battery Supply Chain
https://www.energy.gov/eere/amo/articles/doe-announces-5-million-launch-lithium-battery-workforce-initiative
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), in coordination with the U.S. Department of Labor and the AFL-CIO, today announced the launch of a national workforce development strategy for lithium-battery manufacturing. As part of a $5 million investment, DOE will support up to five pilot training programs in energy and automotive communities and advance workforce partnerships between industry and labor for the domestic lithium battery supply chain. Lithium batteries power everything from electric vehicles to consumer electronics and are a critical component of President Biden’s whole-of-government decarbonization strategy. This workforce initiative will support the nation’s global competitiveness within battery manufacturing while strengthening the domestic economy and clean energy supply chains.
“American leadership in the global battery supply chain will be based not only on our innovative edge, but also on our skilled workforce of engineers, designers, scientists, and production workers,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm, “President Biden has a vision for achieving net zero emissions while creating millions of good paying, union jobs — and DOE’s battery partnerships with labor and industry are key to making that vision a reality.”
“President Biden has made the creation of good union jobs a cornerstone of his climate strategy,” said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler. “We applaud DOE for being proactive in pulling labor and management together as the domestic battery industry is being established, and we look forward to working with DOE and DOL to develop high-road training standards for the entire battery supply chain.”
“I am glad to see the Department of Energy collaborating with our industry partners to invest in the next generation of our clean energy workforce,” said U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. “While I remain concerned about our dependence on China and other foreign countries for key parts of the lithium-ion battery supply chain, engaging our strong and capable workforce to manufacture batteries domestically is a critical step toward reducing our reliance on other countries and ensuring we are able to maintain our energy security. I look forward to seeing this initiative grow, and we will continue to work closely together to ensure we can onshore the rest of the battery supply chain.”
The pilot training programs will bring together manufacturing companies, organized labor, and training providers to lay the foundation for the development of a broad national workforce strategy. The pilots will support industry-labor cooperation and will provide sites for job task analyses and documenting worker competencies. Insights gained will support the development of national industry-recognized credentials and inform the development of broader training programs to support the overall battery supply chain.
This initiative comes as part of suite of announcements from President Biden’s Interagency Working Group (IWG) on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization—a partnership among the White House and nearly a dozen federal agencies committed to pursuing near- and long-term actions to support coal, oil and gas, and power plant communities as the nation transitions to a clean energy economy.
This announcement follows DOE’s recent release of two Notices of Intent authorized by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to provide $3 billion to support projects that bolster domestic battery manufacturing and recycling. The funding, which will be made available in the coming months, will support battery-materials refining, which will bolster domestic refining capacity of minerals such as lithium, as well as production plants, battery cell and pack manufacturing facilities, and recycling facilities.
It also builds on progress the Biden-Harris Administration and DOE have driven to secure a sustainable, reliable domestic supply of critical minerals and materials necessary for clean energy supply chains, including lithium. This includes $44 million in funding through the DOE Mining Innovations for Negative Emissions Resource Recovery (MINER) program to fund the technology research that increases the mineral yield while decreasing the required energy, and subsequent emissions, to mine and extract critical minerals such as lithium, copper, nickel, and cobalt.
Recent reports underscore the need for America to develop and sustain a robust workforce for the domestic battery supply chain, including the President’s 100-Day Supply Chain Review and DOE’s recently released Supply Chain Review for the Energy Sector Industrial Base. Last year, the Federal Consortium for Advanced Batteries published the National Blueprint for Lithium Batteries 2021-2030, which calls for the United States and its partners to establish a secure battery materials and technology supply chain by 2030.
Hitting Ford’s EV Goal Won’t Be Easy. ‘There Isn’t Enough Metal.’
https://www.barrons.com/articles/hitting-fords-ev-goal-wont-be-easy-there-isnt-enough-metal-51647876971?siteid=yhoof2
By Al Root
March 21, 2022 11:36 am ET
A lot of auto makers have plans to build and sell a lot of electric vehicles. Goals might be harder to meet than investors expect.
Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas wrote Monday that he has grown “increasingly concerned at the ever-widening gap of company EV targets and the actual physically available/refined capacity of battery metals….to supply them.”
I suspect that higher oil or pump price will continue and that will just increase LAC pps and support upward.
If you look at who controls the oil price and the output and the fact they want and need the price to be up and stay up is quite telling. Also telling which side of the isle gets more support in the donations and which side is more connected to big oil.
Give a hint, with Texas being the major percentage of oil produced in the US and major exporting of oil and oil products there, and where the biggest reserve is, where the oil pipe line and money to politicians would have been transported to, is also quite telling. But even in a more left side smaller oil producing state, you micro look at the area of oil production and control of the output within that state, also tells you a lot.
Another hint; the side that has most control of oil supply then in turn effecting prices at the pump in the US hasn't got the name Biden in it.
It's really the world oil market that sets the price, but here in the US there is flow that could increase with the push of a keyboard with already flowing wells, then they could uncap other already drilled wells and put so much output that it would supply us and exports.
But that would decrease profits for the oil cartel (and decrease price at the pump) and the one side most connected to big oil couldn't blame the other side so conveniently (also all the money that gets put in the pockets of politicians has to be earned somehow).
Given all those facts, it really bodes well for LAC.
I've been trading others also, but FCEL is a good old solid ATM on a regular basis. I'm lucky if I keep any over night (or owe any), sometimes I do, but more often not. I do own Exxon long, about as long as I've traded FCEL. FCEL is just a little pimple on a knat with how much Exxon deals with carbon credits and the companies involved. With no fee trading, it's really no comparison between a company like XOM vs FCEL of where my money goes with long term investing.
Makes one wonder.
Cosmonauts arrive at ISS in colours of Ukraine flag
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/cosmonauts-arrive-at-iss-in-colours-of-ukraine-flag-6rwcltmjt
Jacqui Goddard, Miami
Saturday March 19 2022, 12.01am, The Times
Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev and Sergey Korsakov drew gasps as they emerged
Three Russian cosmonauts arrived at the International Space Station last night in flight suits made in the yellow and blue of the Ukrainian flag, in what appeared to be a daring statement against the war.
Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev and Sergey Korsakov blasted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for a six-month stay aboard the orbiting laboratory yesterday, joining the crew of two Russians, four Americans and one German.
In an extraordinary move, the three new arrivals emerged from their Soyuz capsule after docking with the space station wearing bright yellow jumpsuits with blue stripes, instead of the standard-issue blue uniform.
The uniforms were a departure from their preprepared standard clothing
Another source with pics:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cosmonauts-launch-to-international-space-station-nasa-chief-touts-us-russia-cooperation/
They left Russia with a different attire:
https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/18/world/russian-soyuz-space-station-launch-scn/index.html#:~:text=(CNN)%20A%20trio%20of%20Russian,ET.
First map is plates, second shows more fault lines plus the volcanic activity. I put the plate map up because Japan was covered over by the volcanic activity. Sorry, didn't specify correctly. LOL
Toyota and semiconducter suppliers suspend operations following earthquake in Japan
BY LEXI LONAS - 03/18/22 03:46 PM EDT
https://thehill.com/policy/transportation/598800-toyota-and-semiconducter-suppliers-suspend-operations-following
Toyota and other semiconductor-using companies are suspending operations in Japan after a massive earthquake hit the country this week.
“Due to the parts shortage resulting from suppliers affected by the earthquakes, additional adjustments will be made to production operations in some plants in Japan,” Toyota announced on Friday.
The production lines will be down for three weeks.
A Tokyo-based semiconductor supplier, Renesas, is attempting to get its three plants back to volume production seen before the earthquake hit by Wednesday, CNBC reported.
The plants were close to the epicenter of the 7.3-magnitude earthquake, the company said.
Renesas is responsible for almost a third of the microcontroller chips that are used in cars around the world.
One Japanese automobile company, Subaru Corporation, said they have to cut production for the next few days due supply issues caused by the earthquake, according to CNBC.
“Subaru Corporation will temporarily suspend production at its automobile manufacturing facilities due to interruptions in the supply of certain parts, as operations of the supplier factories for those parts have been affected by the earthquake,” Subaru said.
The natural disaster and suspension of operations come as the globe has already been suffering from a semiconductor shortage for months.
The problem will continue to hit automobile companies who’ve struggled with their supply chains throughout the pandemic.
TAGS TOYOTA JAPAN CHIP SHORTAGE
Yes obviously all faster period MAs would come first before the slower 200 being that they are all lower than the 200. Need to look for faster MA's crossing upwards over the slower ones like the 20 has done to the 50 due to the shorter term trend and of course the big kahuna "golden cross" 50 through the 200 would be a definite positive for a solid upward long term trend.
You also need to have the pps stay and continue upwards above that long term trend line for at least a week looking at FCEL's previous history shorter term trends and spikes with that respect. All that will hold true whether the pps goes above the 200 today or next week or two. When FCEL has reached it's peaks before, the shorting/selling really intensified and brought it back down.
Just have to wait and see, past charting does not necessarily predict the future, but it does give better probabilities to take into account.
The 200 has the stronger effect over the faster MA's, so even if the faster MA's are going up, the 200 down will put a lot of pressure on the pps movement. What one would like to see is the shorter and longer term MA's to be in the same direction, up.
We have some strong head winds putting pressure on most stocks in the medium and long term market environment and that will have it's effects. Also FCEL still has a gap below to fill. Now all gaps don't necessarily have to be filled, but in the last yr or more, FCEL has always filled them. So who knows, just things to keep in mind.
That two bit raise was pretty much a slap in the face for everyday people and most of the populace that's suffering and will suffer more from the current and rising inflation rate. The Fed should have been on this long ago, pretty much everyone saw this coming. When something is done half-assed, it can be worse, and many times is, than doing nothing at all.
But I guess profits have to come from somewhere with rising supply and labor costs.
FEDERAL RESERVE
Fed Governor Waller says half-point rate hikes could be needed as ‘inflation is raging’
PUBLISHED FRI, MAR 18 20228:56 AM EDTUPDATED 22 MIN AGO
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/18/fed-governor-waller-says-half-point-rate-hikes-could-be-needed-to-tame-inflation.html
KEY POINTS
Fed Governor Christopher Waller told CNBC that the central bank may need to enact one or more half-percentage-point rate hikes in the months ahead.
“Inflation is raging,” he said, as he pushed for aggressive moves that include balance sheet reduction soon.
WATCH NOW
VIDEO03:31
Half-point rate hikes could be needed because of ‘raging’ inflation, says Fed Governor Waller
Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller told CNBC on Friday that the central bank may need to enact one or more 50-basis-point interest rate hikes this year to tame inflation.
Though he voted this week for just a 25-basis-point move due to uncertainty from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Waller said he thinks the Fed may need to be more aggressive soon.
“I really favor front-loading our rate hikes, that we need to do more withdrawal of accommodation now if we want to have an impact on inflation later this year and next year,” he told CNBC’s Steve Liesman during a live “Squawk Box” interview. “So in that sense, the way to front-load it is to pull some rate hikes forward, which would imply 50 basis points at one or multiple meetings in the near future.”
In addition to the rate hikes, Waller said he thinks the Fed needs to start reducing its bond holdings soon.
The central bank balance sheet has ballooned to just over $9 trillion, and officials are preparing the process to start rolling off some of their holdings. Waller said that process should start “in the next meeting or two.”
“We’re in a different place than we were before,” he said. “We have a much bigger balance sheet, the economy’s in a much different position. Inflation is raging. So, we’re in a position where we could actually draw down a large amount of liquidity out of the system without really doing much damage.”
Waller’s comments came less than two hours after one of his colleagues, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, said the Fed should raise rates in total at least 300 basis points this year. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.
Bullard was one only policymaker this week to vote against the quarter-point increase, saying the Fed should have gone by half a point as part of a deliberate policy aimed at curbing inflation running at 40-year highs.
Prior to the meeting, Waller also had been pushing for a 50 basis point move, but said he had a change of heart for now.
“The data’s basically screaming at us to go 50, but the geopolitical events were telling you to go forward with caution,” he said. “So those two factors combined pushed me off of advocating for a 50-basis-point hike and supporting the 25-point hike that we enacted.”
The full Federal Open Market Committee also pointed to rate hikes that would push the benchmark fed funds rate, which banks charge each other for overnight lending, to 1.75% by year’s end.
Waller said he believes the Fed should shoot a little higher than that. He did not specify by how much but said he thinks the “neutral rate” that is neither stimulative nor restrictive is between 2%-2.25% and the Fed should “try to be above that by the end of the year.”
The rate hike approved this week was the Fed’s first in more than three years.
FCEL is in a critical juncture right now and needs to go up above the 200 day and continue upwards, not just pop above for a week and fall down again below like it has done the last couple of times the pps has crossed above it and then promptly fell below and continued the downward trend.
Both 200 SMA & EMA are continuing downward. It was at 7 last week when it tried and failed to go above it making a new lower high after a new lower low in the long term trend. Now it is at 6.92 still in a downward long term trend.
We have had a shorter term upward trend and a slight turn on the 50 day in the last few days and maybe a chance to change the longer term trend but it is only a shorter term trend and a few days or a week does not change the longer term trend.
That is being mixed up with longer (much longer) forward looking statements and the statements are getting longer and longer out there way past the ability to accurately predict the future. The next 200, 400 trading days in the future does not foresee such positive outlook.
If FCEL does not permanently break that long term 200 day and it continues down, the chart will turn to a negative indication and probably end the shorter term trend. FCEL needs a lot more new investor money, not just old money, traders, and wash manipulation.
The peak of interest has been done with the earnings and subsequent "investor day" and now has been priced in. The strength of the shorter term trend is abating and slowing, taking FCEL to the point it is in now. Can it continue it's trek upwards with only the future statements of profitability many, many yrs out? Or will it need more catalysts with actual results for profitability within the next 200, 400, even 600 trading days for a true long term trend change?
https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/013015/why-200-simple-moving-average-sma-so-common-traders-and-analysts.asp
TECHNICAL ANALYSIS TECHNICAL ANALYSIS BASIC EDUCATION
What Is the 200-Day Simple Moving Average?
By J.B. MAVERICK Updated March 01, 2022
Reviewed by SAMANTHA SILBERSTEIN
Fact checked by KATRINA MUNICHIELLO
The 200-day simple moving average (SMA) is considered a key indicator by traders and market analysts for determining overall long-term market trends. The indicator appears as a line on a chart and meanders higher and lower along with the longer-term price moves in the stock, commodity, or whatever instrument that is being charted.
The 200-day SMA seems, at times, to serve as an uncanny support level when the price is above the moving average or a resistance level when the price is below it.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The 200-day moving average is represented as a line on charts and represents the average price over the past 200 days (or 40 weeks).
The moving average can give traders a sense regarding whether the trend is up or down, while also identifying potential support or resistance areas.
The 200-day and 50-day moving averages are sometimes used together, with crossovers between the two lines considered technically significant.
These crossovers may indicate a golden cross or a death cross.
While the simple moving average is the average of prices over time, the exponential moving average (EMA) gives greater weight to the most recent data.
The 200-Day SMA
The 200-day SMA, which covers roughly 40 weeks of trading, is commonly used in stock trading to determine the general market trend. As long as a stock price remains above the 200-day SMA on the daily time frame, the stock is generally considered to be in an overall uptrend. One frequently used alternative to the 200-day SMA is a 255-day moving average that represents the trading for the previous year.
As a very long-term moving average, the 200-day SMA is often used in conjunction with other, shorter-term moving averages to show not only the market trend but also to assess the strength of the trend as indicated by the separation between moving average lines. For example, comparing the 50-day SMA and 200-day is relatively common.
When moving average lines converge, this sometimes indicates a lack of definitive market momentum, whereas the increasing separation between shorter-term moving averages and longer-term moving averages typically indicates increasing trend strength and market momentum.
Death Crosses and Golden Crosses
The 200-day simple moving average is considered such a critically important trend indicator that the event of the 50-day SMA crossing to the downside of the 200-day SMA is referred to as a "death cross," signaling an upcoming bear market in a stock, index, or other investment.
Death Cross
Death Cross.
Image by Sabrina Jiang © Investopedia 2021
In like fashion, the 50-day SMA crossing over to the upside of the 200-day SMA is sometimes called a "golden cross," referring to the fact that a stock is considered "golden," or nearly sure to rise in price once that happens.
Golden Cross
Golden Cross.
Image by Sabrina Jiang © Investopedia 2021
An article in The Wall Street Journal once questioned the widespread use of 200-day SMA by so many traders in so many types of strategies, arguing that such predictions could become self-fulfilling and limit price growth.1
SMAs vs. EMAs
It is possible that there is also something of a self-fulfilling prophecy aspect to the 200-day SMA; markets react strongly in relation to it partially just because so many traders and analysts attach so much importance to the indicator.
Some traders, however, prefer to follow the exponential moving average (EMA). While the simple moving average is computed as the average price over the specified time frame, an EMA gives greater weight to the most recent trading days. That is, the exponential moving average gives a higher value to recent prices, while the simple moving average assigns an equal weighting to all values. Despite the difference in calculations, technical analysts use EMAs and SMAs in similar ways to spot trends and identify overbought or oversold markets.
Lithium Americas Reports 2021 Full Year and Fourth Quarter Results
VANCOUVER, British Columbia , March 17, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lithium Americas Corp. (TSX: LAC) (NYSE: LAC) (" Lithium Americas " or the "Company") has reported financial and operating results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2021 .
HIGHLIGHTS
Argentina
Caucharí-Olaroz
-- Construction continues to advance with a revised timeline; currently the
project is approximately 85% complete and commissioning is targeted to
commence in H2 2022.
-- 1,500 workers are on site with 100% of the workforce having
received at least two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.
-- Around the end of 2021, construction activities were impacted by
COVID-19 Omicron disruptions impacting supply chains and
availability of the main contractor. Activities have returned to
normal and the Company continues to monitor the situation closely.
-- Additional resources have been added to accelerate and de-risk
commissioning and ramp-up timeline.
-- Total capital cost estimates have been revised to $741 million (on a 100%
basis), up 16% from $641 million , to reflect additional resources and
manpower, engineering modifications and inflationary cost pressures.
-- As of December 31, 2021 , 76%, or $565 million , of the $741 million
budget has been spent.
-- Progress on the second stage expansion of at least 20,000 tonnes per
annum ("tpa") of lithium carbonate equivalent ("LCE") continues to
advance with additions to the technical leadership team and drilling
program underway.
Pastos Grandes
-- In January 2022 , the Company completed the acquisition of Millennial
Lithium Corp. and the 100% owned Pastos Grandes for total consideration
of approximately $390 million .
-- In February 2022 , the Company hired Carlos Galli as Senior Director,
Project Development , Latin America , to oversee the development planning
for Pastos Grandes and integration and expansion of a team of over 50
workers based in Salta, Argentina .
Arena Minerals
-- In November 2021 , the Company increased its strategic investment in Arena
Minerals Inc. (TSX-V: AN) to approximately 17.4% for $10 million .
United States
Thacker Pass
-- In October 2021 , Measured and Indicated ("M&I") Resource estimates were
updated to 13.7 million tonnes ("Mt") LCE at 2,231 parts per million
lithium ("ppm Li"). See the Company's news release dated October 7, 2021
-- The Company continues to advance the Feasibility Study with an increased
targeted capacity of 40,000 tpa lithium carbonate and incorporating a
second phase expansion to reach a targeted total capacity of 80,000 tpa
lithium carbonate. Results of the Feasibility Study are expected in H2
2022.
-- The Company is continuing to optimize engineering to complete capital and
operating estimates. Capital costs are expected to substantially increase
due to the incorporation of increased scale, additional processing and
related infrastructure changes, and the results of engineering and
testing, as well as to account for external factors such as inflationary
pressures and supply chain considerations
-- The Lithium Technical Development Center is expected to be operational in
Q2 2022 to support ongoing optimization work and to provide product
samples for potential customers and partners.
-- In February 2022 , the Nevada Department of Environmental Protection
("NDEP") issued the final key state-level environmental permits: Water
Pollution Control Permit, Class II Air Quality Operating Permit and
Exploration and Mine Reclamation Permits.
-- An appeal on the Record of Decision continues to advance through Federal
court process with a ruling expected in Q3 2022.
-- In February 2022 , the Company announced that it submitted a draft
application to the US Department of Energy for funding to be used at
Thacker Pass through the Advanced Technologies Vehicle Manufacturing Loan
Program.
-- Discussions continue with potential strategic partners and customers.
Corporate
-- As at December 31, 2021 , the Company had $511 million in cash and cash
equivalents with an additional $75 million in available credit.
-- In December 2021 , the Company completed a convertible senior note
offering of $259 million at 1.75% due in 2027. Net proceeds were
primarily used to repay the $205 million senior secured credit facility
and remove security over Thacker Pass , and to repay in early 2022 $25
million outstanding on its subordinate loan facility.
-- In January 2022 , the Company began to work with IRMA (Initiative for
Responsible Mining Assurance) to pilot their new draft IRMA -Ready
Standard for Responsible Mineral Exploration and Development.
-- In February 2022 , Richard Gerspacher joined as Senior Vice President
Capital Projects to oversee execution of the Company's development
projects. Most recently, Mr. Gerspacher served as Vice President and
Projects Director for Fluor Corporation leading the development of an
advanced stage lithium chemical project in Australia .
-- In February 2022 , the Company commenced the process to explore a
separation of its US and Argentina operations, through the creation of a
standalone public company focused on the development of Thacker Pass .
TECHNICAL INFORMATION
The Technical Information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Rene LeBlanc , PhD, SME, Chief Technical Officer of Lithium Americas , and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.
FINANCIAL RESULTS
Selected consolidated financial information is presented as follows:
(in US$ million except per share
information) Year ended December 31,
2021 2020
$ $
-------------------------------------------- ------------- -----------
Expenses (46.1) (30.6)
Net loss (38.5) (36.2)
(Loss)/income per share -- basic (0.32) (0.39)
As at December 31,
(in US$ million) As at December 31, 2021 2020
$ $
----------------------- ----------------------- ----------------------
Cash and cash
equivalents 510.6 148.1
Total assets 817.3 326.7
Total long-term
liabilities (272.8) (127.3)
During the year ended December 31, 2021 , total assets and cash increased primarily due to the $377.4 million net proceeds raised from the underwritten public offering of common shares, partially offset by expenditures in the period. Total long-term liabilities increased primarily due to drawdowns on the Company's $205 million senior credit facility and the $250 million in net proceeds raised from the convertible senior notes, which was used to fully repay the $205 million senior credit facility at the end of 2021.
The higher net loss in 2021 compared to 2020 is primarily attributable to higher Thacker Pass expenditures.
This news release should be read in conjunction with Lithium Americas' consolidated financial statements and management's discussion and analysis for the year ended December 31, 2021 , which are available on the Company's website and SEDAR. All amounts are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise indicated.
ABOUT LITHIUM AMERICAS
Lithium Americas is focused on advancing lithium projects in Argentina and the United States to production. In Argentina , Caucharí-Olaroz is advancing towards first production and Pastos Grandes represents regional growth. In the United States , Thacker Pass has received its Record of Decision and is advancing towards construction. The Company trades on both the Toronto Stock Exchange and on the New York Stock Exchange , under the ticker symbol "LAC".
For further information contact:
Investor Relations
Telephone: 778-656-5820
Email: ir@lithiumamericas.com
Website: www.lithiumamericas.com
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This news release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (which we refer to collectively as forward-looking information) under the provisions of applicable securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking information. Examples of forward-looking information in this news release include, among other things, statements related to: successful development of the Caucharí-Olaroz project and the Thacker Pass project, including timing, progress, construction, milestones, expansion plans, scale, anticipated production and results thereof; expectations and anticipated impact of COVID-19 on the Company and its projects; timing for commissioning, and plans to accelerate the commissioning and timeline for the Caucharí-Olaroz project; estimates of capital and operating expenditures and substantial changes thereto for any project, including factors expected to contribute to such changes; the Company's ability to fund its development programs through debt or equity financing, including through government loan programs; timing, capacity, expansion plans, completion of a feasibility study and sufficiency of water rights for the Thacker Pass project; Company expectations as to timing for technical development center operations for Thacker Pass , the outcome of such
(MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires
03-17-22 0735ET
operations and production of samples; government regulation of mining operations and treatment under governmental and taxation regimes; expected timing and outcome of litigation or regulatory processes concerning the Thacker Pass project; the estimated amount and grade of mineral resources for the Thacker Pass project; expected outcome and timing of environmental surveys and analysis, permit applications and other environmental matters; expected environmental impacts of the Company's projects; expected expenditures to be made by the Company on its properties; the timing, cost, quantity, capacity, product quality of production and sufficiency of brine inventory of the Caucharí-Olaroz project, which is held and operated through an entity in Argentina co-owned by the Company, Ganfeng Lithium Co. Ltd. (" Ganfeng") and Jujuy Energia y Mineria Sociedad del Estado (JEMSE); successful operation of the Caucharí-Olaroz project under the co-ownership structure, and expectations concerning proposed expansion plans for the project; results of the Company's engineering, design and permitting program at the Thacker Pass project, including the Company meeting deadlines and receiving and maintaining permits as anticipated; the Company's share of the expected capital expenditures for the construction of the Caucharí-Olaroz project; expected benefits of acquisitions and investments in third parties made by the Company; the potential for partnership and financing scenarios for the Thacker Pass project; and the proposed separation of the Company's business, the completion thereof and its structure.
Forward-looking information is based upon a number of factors and assumptions that, if untrue, could cause the actual results, performances or achievements of the Company to be materially different from future results, performances or achievements expressed or implied by such information. Such information reflects the Company's current views with respect to future events and is necessarily based upon a number of assumptions that, while considered reasonable by the Company today, are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies. These assumptions include, among others, the following: current technological trends; a cordial business relationship between the Company and Ganfeng for the Caucharí-Olaroz project; ability of the Company to fund, advance and develop the Caucharí-Olaroz project and the Thacker Pass project, and raise additional capital as needed; the Company's ability to operate in a safe and effective manner; uncertainties relating to receiving and maintaining mining, exploration, environmental and other permits or approvals in Nevada and Argentina , and resolving any complaints or litigation concerning such environmental permitting processes; realizing on the expected benefits from previous transactions with existing or new partners, or for debt financing; demand for lithium, including that such demand is supported by growth in the electric vehicle market; the Company's ability to produce high purity battery grade lithium products; the impact of increasing competition in the lithium business, and LAC's competitive position in the industry; currency exchange and interest rates; general economic conditions; stable and supportive legislative, regulatory and community environments in the jurisdictions where the Company operates; stability and inflation of the Argentinian peso, including any foreign exchange or capital controls which may be enacted in respect thereof, and the effect of current or any additional regulations on the Company's operations; the impact of unknown financial contingencies, including costs of litigation and regulatory processes, on the Company's operations; gains or losses, in each case, if any, from short-term investments in Argentine bonds and equities; estimates of and unpredictable changes to the market prices for lithium products; exploration, development and construction costs for the Caucharí-Olaroz project and the Thacker Pass project; the timing, cost, quantity, capacity and product quality of production at the Thacker Pass project, and any expansion scenario; successful results from the Company's testing facility and third-party tests related thereto for the Thacker Pass project; capital costs, operating costs, and sustaining capital requirements of the Caucharí-Olaroz project and the Thacker Pass project; technological advancements and changes; estimates of mineral resources and mineral reserves, including whether mineral resources will ever be developed into mineral reserves; reliability of technical data; anticipated timing and results of exploration, development and construction activities, including the impact of COVID-19 on such timing; timely responses from governmental agencies responsible for reviewing and considering the Company's permitting activities at the Thacker Pass project; the Company's ability to obtain additional financing to fund the development of its projects, including pursuant to government loan applications; the ability to develop and achieve production at any of the Company's mineral exploration and development properties; the impact of COVID-19 on the Company's operations, timelines and budgets; that pending patent applications are approved; the Company's anticipated ownership interest in holdings of shares, warrants and other securities issued by third parties; accuracy of development budget and construction estimates; preparation of a development plan and feasibility study for lithium production at the Thacker Pass project; changes to the Company's current and future business plans and the strategic alternatives available to the Company; and general economic and stock market conditions.
Forward-looking information also involves known and unknown risks that may cause actual results to differ materially. These risks include, among others, inherent risks in the development of capital intensive mineral projects (including as co-owners), variations in mineral resources and mineral reserves, changes in budget estimation, global demand for lithium, recovery rates and lithium pricing, risks associated with successfully securing adequate financing, changes in project parameters and funding thereof, risks related to growth of lithium markets and pricing for products thereof, changes in legislation, governmental or community policy, changes in public perception concerning mining projects generally and opposition thereto, political risk associated with foreign operations, permitting risk, including receipt of new permits and maintenance of existing permits, outcomes of litigation and regulatory processes concerning the Company's projects, title and access risk, cost overruns, unpredictable weather and maintenance of natural resources, unanticipated delays, intellectual property risks, currency and interest rate fluctuations, operational risks, health and safety risks, cybersecurity risks, economic conditions, and general market and industry conditions. Additional risks, assumptions and other factors are set out in the Company's most recent annual management discussion analysis and annual information form, copies of which are available under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the SEC website at www.sec.gov.
Although the Company has attempted to identify important risks and assumptions, given the inherent uncertainties in such forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results to differ materially. Forward-looking information is made as of the date hereof and the Company does not intend, and expressly disclaims any obligation to, update or revise the forward-looking information contained in this news release, except as required by law. Accordingly, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking information.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
03-17-22 0735ET
Even if they do, I can't see those ones being too profitable and I suspect delays forthcoming. Last count Ford was putting 50 billion into EV production. That number has risen several times over the last few months and due to rising cost's of supply, it will probably go up again. Nobody really knows the total extent of supply cost issues the next yr or two. We just know they are going to go up in expense and several big elephants coming to deal with. Problems to get worse before it gets better.
Sold mine about a month ago right before the second bad drop in pps, but haven't bought back yet. Just kind of watching for now. An article below states that EV vehicles don't have any direct exposure to the war, but I think they have enough indirect things to make up for it.
Besides food and energy, Ukraine and Russia have quite a bit of metals they export plus an array of other things. All of it is going to have a domino effect. Some effects more delayed than others, but a lot that's already on its way that can't be avoided at this point even if they stop the war tomorrow.
Musk has already stated that his supply was going to get tighter and costs were projected to increase. Plus all of these debates between EV vs ICE forget that ICE has long been hybrid into so much electrical that it won't be made, sold, drove, or repaired without that electrical supply and everything that makes that supply. The vehicles price is determined on how many algorithmic bells and whistles it has to offer.
Sure, the auto makers can increase prices over their cost's making up for some of the more limited production, but that can only go so far. Kind of like the Laffer Curve, you know two points on the graph, first one if they don't charge anything, they make nothing, the other if they charge way too much, they won't make anything either because nobody will want or be able to buy. I can't really see any auto maker anywhere not to have profits down considerably in the near future.
https://theconversation.com/five-essential-commodities-that-will-be-hit-by-war-in-ukraine-177845
4. Metals
Russia and Ukraine lead the global production of metals such as nickel, copper and iron. They are also largely involved in the export and manufacture of other essential raw materials like neon, palladium and platinum.
Fears of sanctions on Russia have increased the price of these metals. With palladium, for example, the current trading price of almost US$2,700 per ounce, up over 80% since mid-December. Palladium is used for everything from automotive exhaust systems and mobile phones to dental fillings. The prices of nickel and copper, which are used in manufacturing and building respectively, have also also been soaring.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will lower car production by millions of units over two years, S&P says
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/16/russian-ukraine-war-to-lower-car-production-by-millions-of-units.html
PUBLISHED WED, MAR 16 20222:18 PM EDTUPDATED WED, MAR 16 20227:31 PM EDT
Michael Wayland
@MIKEWAYLAND
S&P Global Mobility on Wednesday downgraded its 2022 and 2023 global light vehicle production forecast by 2.6 million units for both years.
The conflict has caused logistical and supply chain problems as well as parts shortages of critical vehicle components.
European auto production is expected to experience the most disruption, according to S&P.
In this article
BMW3-FF
-2.65 (-3.78%)
A worker attaches a wiring harness to the chassis of an X model SUV at the BMW manufacturing facility in Greer, South Carolina, November 4, 2019.
A worker attaches a wiring harness to the chassis of an X model SUV at the BMW manufacturing facility in Greer, South Carolina, November 4, 2019.
Charles Mostoller | Reuters
DETROIT – The war in Ukraine is expected to lower global light-duty vehicle production through next year by millions of units, according to S&P Global Mobility.
The automotive research firm, formerly known as IHS Markit, on Wednesday downgraded its 2022 and 2023 global light vehicle production forecast by 2.6 million units for both years, to 81.6 million for 2022 and 88.5 million units for 2023.
The conflict has caused logistical and supply chain problems as well as parts shortages of critical vehicle components. Most notably, many automakers source wire harnesses, which are used in vehicles for electrical power and communication between parts, from Ukraine. The problems add to an already strained supply chain due to the coronavirus pandemic and an ongoing shortage of semiconductor chips.
European auto production is expected to experience the most disruption, according to S&P. The firm cut 1.7 million units from its forecast for Europe, including just under 1 million units from lost demand in Russia and Ukraine. The rest of the cuts are from parts shortages involving chips and wiring harnesses caused by the war.
That compares to S&P cutting its North America light-duty vehicle production by 480,000 units for 2022 and by 549,000 units for 2023.
About 45% of Ukraine-built wiring harnesses are normally exported to Germany and Poland, placing German carmakers at high exposure, according to S&P. Automakers such as Volkswagen and BMW have been among the most impacted since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine about three weeks ago.
WATCH NOW
VIDEO07:48
President Biden: We’re authorizing additional $800M in security aid for Ukraine
Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess earlier this week said the war has put the company’s 2022 outlook into question, as the automaker experiences parts problems. He said the company was moving some of its production out of Europe to North America and China in response to war-related supply-chain disruptions.
BMW cut its car division’s 2022 profit margin forecast on Wednesday from 8%-10% to 7%-9%, due to the impact of the unfolding Ukraine crisis.
BMW’s plants will be back to full production next week following the luxury automaker halting or lowering production output at some German plants after the invasion, said the company’s chief technology officer, Frank Weber.
Read more about electric vehicles from CNBC Pro
Deutsche Bank says these EV-related stocks have no direct exposure to Russia
Goldman picks Tesla, Buffett-backed BYD and more to play rising commodity prices
Most Wall Street analysts are still bullish on Rivian after disappointing earnings – but not all
Weber said the company has worked with suppliers to duplicate, not relocate, the wire harnessing production to attempt to keep jobs in the country.
“When you look at Ukraine, this wire harnessing industry gives work to maybe 20,000 people,” Weber told reporters Wednesday during a remote roundtable. “We didn’t just want to take away the work there.”
In total, S&P on Wednesday said it removed nearly 25 million units from global light-duty vehicle production from its forecast between now and 2030.
It has some effectiveness for sure. The measurement would be hard to establish. But it definitely does it's damage. Here in the US cybercrime cost's us about $100 billion a yr with large business paying out millions and millions a year, along with gov and institutions, and creating about a half million lost jobs and wages.
That's just money, the disruption to basic services, communication, organization and supply that we deal with has to be a giant inconvenience to Russia and really can be a counter attack in the Putin's war against Ukraine.
Cyber warfare is definitely very dangerous and costly in many more ways than one.
‘It’s the right thing to do’: the 300,000 volunteer hackers coming together to fight Russia
Hundreds of thousands of people have formed a group of hackers that are designated tasks to fight Vladimir Putin digitally.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/15/volunteer-hackers-fight-russia
Ukraine appealed for a global army of IT experts to help in the battle against Putin – and many answered the call. We speak to people on the digital frontline
Russia-Ukraine war: latest updates
Chris Stokel-Walker and Dan Milmo
Tue 15 Mar 2022 06.00 EDT
Kali learned how to use technology by playing with his grandfather’s phone. Now, the Swiss teenager is trying to paralyse the digital presence of the Russian government and the Belarussian railway.
Kali – and many others who contributed to this article – declined to share his real name because some of the action he is taking is illegal and because he fears Russian retaliation. He is one of about 300,000 people who have signed up to a group on the chat app Telegram called “IT Army of Ukraine”, through which participants are assigned tasks designed to take the fight to Vladimir Putin. In so doing, they are trying to level the playing field between one of the world’s superpowers and Ukraine as it faces bombardment and invasion.
The sprawling hacker army has been successful in disrupting Russian web services, according to NetBlocks, a company that monitors global internet connectivity. It says the availability of the websites of the Kremlin and the Duma – Russia’s lower house of parliament – has been “intermittent” since the invasion started. The sites for state-owned media services, several banks and the energy giant Gazprom have also been targeted.
“The crowdsourced attacks have been successful in disrupting Russian government and state-backed media websites,” says Alp Toker, the director of NetBlocks. He adds that Russia has attempted to mitigate the attacks and deter hackers by filtering access to certain websites, which has caused further disruption.
Like many of his peers, Kali was directed to the Telegram group, which has Ukrainian- and English-language versions, by Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s vice prime minister and minister for digital transformation. Fedorov, 31, has been using his vastly expanded Twitter profile to plead with executives at the world’s biggest tech firms to cut ties with Russia. On 26 February, he posted a link to the Telegram group, which was set up by his ministerial department. “We need digital talents,” he said. “There will be tasks for everyone.”
While his home country has long maintained a policy of military neutrality, Kali was spurred to action when he saw Fedorov’s tweet. “I wanted to help and use my attacking skills to help Ukraine,” he says via Telegram. “I’m from Switzerland, but I’m a strong hacker and I’m so sorry for every Ukrainian. I do it because I stand with Ukraine and I want to help somehow. I think if we hack Russia’s infrastructure they will stop, maybe, because nothing will work any more.”
Kali says his parents aren’t especially keen on what he is doing, although he tries not to tell them much about it. And he is not the only one.
Caroline, a twentysomething from the New York metropolitan area, told her parents she had enlisted into the IT army just hours before we speak on the phone. “They’re starting to get concerned,” she says.
Having watched in horror as Twitter and Instagram videos revealed the devastating impact the conflict is having on Ukrainian civilians, Caroline felt compelled to act when she saw Fedorov’s tweet. She had seen how destructive the spread of disinformation had been during Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. “The 2016 election was an eye-opener to the unfortunate effects of these things, and how it really does affect some of our relationships out in the real world.”
Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s vice prime minister and minister for digital transformation.
Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s vice prime minister and minister for digital transformation. Photograph: Ukrinform/Rex/Shutterstock
There was just one problem: she didn’t know what Telegram was. Unlike Kali, the former preschool teacher isn’t much of a hacker. At first, she was concerned that the app – which was founded by the exiled Russian billionaires Pavel and Nikolai Durov – was a trap. But, after some research, she downloaded it and joined the group.
She felt out of her depth when the group’s administrators asked for hackers to bombard Russian state websites with distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, by which websites are bombarded with traffic to make them unreachable. This is how many Russian government websites have been disabled since the invasion began.
But Caroline realised things were getting lost in the torrent of information. Messages in the Ukrainian-language version of the group, for instance, can rack up hundreds of comments in less than an hour. So, she has been helping the English-language group by collating information for a website on how to support Ukraine and fight Russian disinformation campaigns. “I enjoy acting as that filter – as that wind to push the sails in the right direction,” she says.
She spends hours every day sharing information in the Telegram chat to help the masses of subscribers. “I can’t explain it,” she says. “It’s just something that’s so innately human that has been inspiring me, the more involved I get. I recognise I’m not special by any means, so all I’m doing is gathering all this information to try to dismantle these campaigns of disinformation that are going on.”
Enrique is a Lithuanian IT expert in his mid-30s. He felt that joining the Telegram group was “the right thing to do”. “Growing up with your parents telling you stories about how they were exiled to Siberia lives with you your whole life,” he says. “We are scared that we will be next.”
He had largely overlooked the Russian occupation of the Donbas, an area in eastern Ukraine that Putin’s army invaded in 2014 and claimed as Russian territory. But as the news became more urgent on Lithuanian television, he couldn’t ignore the situation any longer. He is less focused on wrecking the Russian internet and more on co-opting ordinary Russians to rise up against their dictator.
“I hope the world can put pressure on Russian people so much that they would be willing to re-evaluate their upbringing, understand that people are asking them to help, look at what is really happening and perhaps they will rise up that way,” he says.
Enrique has been inspired by the bravery of the Ukrainian people. That includes those who have taken to the streets to defend their country – and those who have taken to their keyboards. Ukraine has 290,000 people who work in IT and is the world’s outsourcing tech desk. While many of them have given up their day jobs to fight for the army, others have signed up to the IT army.
I enjoy acting as a filter – as that wind to push the sails in the right direction
That includes Sam, who works for a global advertising-technology company. He has been using his expertise to send what he calls “counter-propaganda” to Russians through advertising platforms. “We’ve been in a hybrid war and a direct war with Russia since 2014,” he says. “It was the same, but on a smaller scale. We understand how Russia acts: they do propaganda here, then inside their country, then try to share their vision to the global community.”
The Ukrainian advertising industry has sent what Sam calls “aggressive” videos that show captured Russian soldiers pleading with their mothers and trying to convince them about the reality of war in Ukraine. Others highlight the impact of sanctions on Russia and the strength of the Ukrainian army. “They will move everyone to act,” says Sam.
About 100 advertising specialists from 50 agencies are designing and disseminating adverts to try to raise awareness within Russia and Belarus of what Russia is doing, ducking and diving around advertising bans and platform closures.
Enrique has been impressed by the teamwork of the volunteer IT army. “I have never seen so many people wanting to do something in my whole life,” he says. “You ask for participants to crash something [break it] or run something and you have it.” The immediacy of social media – and the thrill of seeing instantaneous results – has become intoxicating. “Everything is live,” he says. “Everything is being streamed to everybody. Everything is online and easy to understand how to damage.”
Alex, a Ukrainian software engineer, says the Telegram group is mostly used for DDoS attacks. “I wish there were more things to do in terms of helping the IT part [of the war].” He doesn’t want to cut off Russia from the internet, but rather find a way of showing Russians images of the war.
This is what Anonymous, a hacking collective, claimed to have done with Russian TV channels this month. “My ideal way would be to do something that will demonstrate the truth for [Russians],” says Alex. However, suggestions for DDoS attacks are eagerly carried out. When links for target websites go up in the Telegram group, he says, “all of them are down” within half an hour.
Some cybersecurity experts are worried, though. “There are some risks in having this volunteer army,” says Alan Woodward, a professor of cybersecurity at the University of Surrey. He is concerned about the lack of accountability regarding who is directing the battle plan and the overarching strategy. “At best, what they’re doing is running interference,” he says. “It may be a nuisance to the Russians, but the attacks we’ve seen so far haven’t really affected the Russian fighting capability to any decisive effect.”
Woodward says an army of 300,000 hackers will invariably include some bad seeds. “These volunteers might start attacking targets that are not really what the Ukrainian government wants,” he says. “This could be accidental. How often has ransomware spilled over and affected, say, a hospital? I don’t think anyone wants that.”
There is also a risk that such an open call could easily be co-opted by the Russians to generate negative headlines. “You never quite know who is in a volunteer group,” he says. “Not only could they do something unwanted in the name of Ukraine, but they could also do something that plays directly into the Russians’ rhetoric.”
The fear of infiltration is something that also concerns Agnes Venema, a national security and intelligence academic at the University of Malta. “How useful they are depends on how well you can vet them, how well you can coordinate them and how skilled they are,” she says. “Renaming Putin’s yacht is cute, but does the hacking of Russian television stations to play the Ukrainian anthem help the Ukrainians achieve their strategic goals?”
Despite her misgivings, Venema finds the corralling of volunteer forces remarkable. “I’m not one for throwing superlatives around, but I would say this level of civic engagement is unprecedented,” she says. Nonetheless, she says, it could quickly backfire. As soon as hackers start taking orders from the Ukrainian army, they drop their status as civilians and could be considered combatants, she says. “That means that these people are legitimate military targets,” she says.
Whether those defending Ukraine’s right to exist know or worry about that is another question. “I don’t care about it,” says Kali, who as we spoke was trying to DDoS a Russian news website that the Ukrainian IT army administrators had flagged as a source of disinformation. “I’ve never worried about it.”
Anonymous declared a ‘cyber war’ against Russia. Here are the results
PUBLISHED WED, MAR 16 20221:32 AM EDTUPDATED WED, MAR 16 20222:04 AM EDT
Monica Buchanan Pitrelli
@MONICAPITRELLI
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/16/what-has-anonymous-done-to-russia-here-are-the-results-.html
More than three weeks ago, a popular Twitter account named “Anonymous” declared that the shadowy activist group was waging a “cyber war” against Russia.
Since then, the account has claimed responsibility for disabling prominent Russian government, news and corporate websites and leaking data from entities such as Roskomnadzor, the federal agency responsible for censoring Russian media.
Though a flood of claims by hacking groups followed Russia's invasion of Ukraine, one study shows most made by Anonymous check out.
Though a flood of claims by hacking groups followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, one study shows most made by Anonymous check out.
Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images
More than three weeks ago, a popular Twitter account named “Anonymous” declared that the shadowy activist group was waging a “cyber war” against Russia.
Since then, the account — which has more than 7.9 million followers, with some 500,000 gained since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — has claimed responsibility for disabling prominent Russian government, news and corporate websites and leaking data from entities such as Roskomnadzor, the federal agency responsible for censoring Russian media.
But is any of that true?
It appears it is, says Jeremiah Fowler, a co-founder of the cybersecurity company Security Discovery, who worked with researchers at the web company Website Planet to attempt to verify the group’s claims.
“Anonymous has proven to be a very capable group that has penetrated some high value targets, records and databases in the Russian Federation,” he wrote in a report summarizing the findings.
Hacked databases
Of 100 Russian databases that were analyzed, 92 had been compromised, said Fowler.
They belonged to retailers, Russian internet providers and intergovernmental websites, including the Commonwealth of Independent States, or CIS, an organization made up of Russia and other former Soviet nations that was created in 1991 following the fall of the Soviet Union.
Many CIS files were erased, hundreds of folders were renamed to “putin_stop_this_war” and email addresses and administrative credentials were exposed, said Fowler, who likened it to 2020's malicious “MeowBot” attacks, which “had no purpose except for a malicious script that wiped out data and renamed all the files.”
WATCH NOW
VIDEO03:07
‘Hacktivists’ have declared a cyber war against Russia
Another hacked database contained more than 270,000 names and email addresses.
“We know for a fact that hackers found and probably accessed these systems,” said Fowler. “We do not know if data was downloaded or what the hackers plan to do with this information.”
Other databases contained security information, internal passwords and a “very large number” of secret keys, which unlock encrypted data, said Fowler.
As to whether this was the work of Anonymous, Fowler said he followed Anonymous’ claims “and the timeline matches perfect,” he said.
Hacked TV broadcasts and websites
The Twitter account, named @YourAnonNews, has also claimed to have hacked into Russian state TV stations.
“I would mark that as true if I were a factchecker,” said Fowler. “My partner at Security Discovery, Bob Diachenko, actually captured a state news live feed from a website and filmed the screen, so we were able to validate that they had hacked at least one live feed [with] a pro-Ukrainian message in Russian.”
A picture taken on Oct. 5, 2021 in Toulouse shows the logo of RT (Russia Today) TV channel displayed by a tablet.
The English-language Russian news website RT “is for a western audience, and so what what’s being shown on RT is not what’s being told in Russia,” said Security Discovery’s Jeremiah Fowler.
Lionel Bonaventure | AFP | Getty Images
The account has also claimed to have disrupted websites of major Russian organizations and media agencies, such as the energy company Gazprom and state-sponsored news agency RT.
“Many of these agencies have admitted that they were attacked,” said Fowler.
He called denial of service attacks — which aim to disable websites by flooding them with traffic — “super easy.” Those websites, and many others, have been shuttered at various points in recent weeks, but they are also reportedly being targeted by other groups as well, including some 310,000 digital volunteers who have signed up for the “IT Army of Ukraine” Telegram account.
False claims by other groups
Fowler said he didn’t find any instances where Anonymous had overstated its claims.
But that is happening with other hacktivist groups, said Lotem Finkelstein, head of threat intelligence and research at the cybersecurity company Check Point Software Technologies.
In recent weeks, a pro-Ukrainian group claimed it breached a Russian nuclear reactor, and a pro-Russian group said it shut down Anonymous’ website. Check Point concluded both claims were false.
“As there is no real official Anonymous website, this attack … appears to be more of a morale booster for the pro-Russian side, and a publicity event,” CPR said, a fact which did not go unnoticed by Anonymous affiliates, who mocked the claim on social media.
Groups are making fake claims by posting old or publicly available information to gain popularity or glory, said Finkelstein.
Fowler said he feels Anonymous is, however, dedicated more to the “cause” than to notoriety.
“In what I saw in these databases, it was more about the messaging than saying ‘hey, you know, Anonymous troop No. 21, group five, did this,’” he said. “It was more about the end result.”
A cyber ‘Robin Hood’
Hacktivists who conduct offensive cyber warfare-like activities without government authority are engaging in criminal acts, said Paul de Souza, the founder of the non-profit Cyber Security Forum Initiative.
Despite this, many social media users are cheering Anonymous’ efforts on, with many posts receiving thousands of likes and messages of support.
“They’re almost like a cyber Robin Hood, when it comes to causes that people really care about, that no one else can really do anything about,” said Fowler. “You want action now, you want justice now, and I think groups like Anonymous and hacktivists give people that immediate satisfaction.”
Many hacktivist groups have strong values, said Marianne Bailey, a cybersecurity partner at the consulting firm Guidehouse and former cybersecurity executive with the U.S. National Security Agency. Cyber activism is a low-cost way for them to influence governmental and corporate actions, she said.
“It is protesting in the 21st century,” said Bailey.
Read more
‘For the first time in history anyone can join a war’: Volunteers join Russia-Ukraine cyber fight
'For the first time in history anyone can join a war': Volunteers join Russia-Ukraine cyber fight
Global hacking group Anonymous launches ‘cyber war’ against Russia
Global hacking group Anonymous launches ‘cyber war’ against Russia
Yet cheering them on can be dangerous in the “fog of war,” she said.
“A cyberattack has the potential for such an immediate impact, in most cases well before any accurate attribution can be determined,” she said. “A cyber strike back or even kinetic strike back could be directed to the wrong place. And what if that misattribution is intentional? What if someone makes the attack appear from a specific country when that’s not true?”
She said cyber warfare can be cheaper, easier, more effective and easier to deny than traditional military warfare, and that it will only increase with time.
“With more devices connected to this global digital ecosystem the opportunity for impact continues to expand,” she said. “It will undoubtedly be used more often in future conflicts.”
BMW, VW warn of shortages from part suppliers in Ukraine
BMW and Volkswagen have warned that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is causing shortages of some vital components, forcing them to reduce vehicle production in Europe
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/bmw-vw-warn-shortages-part-suppliers-ukraine-83483013
ByThe Associated Press
March 16, 2022, 10:24 AM
• 3 min read
LONDON -- BMW and Volkswagen warned this week that Russia's invasion of Ukraine is causing shortages of some vital components, forcing them to reduce vehicle production in Europe.
The two German carmakers said the war is having a “negative" effect on auto supply chains, which have already been battered by shortages of semiconductors.
BMW said Wednesday that bottlenecks at its suppliers in Ukraine have forced the automaker to adjust or interrupt production at a number of factories, which is likely to have a negative impact on vehicle sales figures.
“Ukraine is, of course, home to many suppliers, hence we too will have to face production interruptions and supply disruptions for important components," Maximilian Schoeberl, BMW’s director of corporate affairs, said in an earnings webcast.
Executives from both companies said wiring harnesses, which bundle and organize wires or cables, were in short supply because their main suppliers were in western Ukraine.
BMW said the war forced its suppliers to reduce or suspend production of the harnesses, which in turn forced the automaker to cut its own output. The company said it's resuming production at two factories in Germany this week, while its Mini factory in Oxford, England, is expected to start up again next week.
“But what is clear is that the situation will remain volatile," Schoeberl said.
BMW finance chief Nicolas Peter said raw material prices are expected to cost the company hundreds of millions of euros. The invasion sent commodity prices soaring over worries it would restrict supplies from Russia, a major producer of metals like nickel and palladium that are used in auto production.
Volkswagen said Tuesday that it's supporting its Ukrainian suppliers of wiring harnesses as they try to keep up operations.
“The dominant constraint is indeed wiring harnesses,” CEO Herbert Diess said. The company sources them from up to 11 plants in Ukraine, nine of which are working at “reduced capacity."
“We cannot expect that this continues," he said, so VW is working on relocating production, which will take some time.
Volkswagen said it's also shifting some auto production out of Europe to other regions including China and South America.
Both companies paused production of cars in Russia as well as exports to the country after the war erupted.
Russia could lose 30% of its oil output within weeks, IEA warns
By Charles Riley, CNN Business
Updated 11:32 AM ET, Wed March 16, 2022
https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/16/energy/russia-oil-output-opec/index.html
Russia could soon be forced to curtail crude oil production by 30%, subjecting the global economy to the biggest supply crisis in decades — that is, unless Saudi Arabia and other major energy exporters start pumping more.
The world's second-largest crude oil exporter could be forced to limit output by 3 million barrels per day in April, the International Energy Agency warned on Wednesday, as major oil companies, trading houses and shipping companies shun its exports and demand in Russia slumps. Russia was pumping about 10 million barrels of crude per day, and exporting about half of that, before it invaded Ukraine.
"The implications of a potential loss of Russian oil exports to global markets cannot be understated," the IEA said in its monthly report. The crisis could bring lasting changes to energy markets, it added.
Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia have banned imports of Russian oil, affecting roughly 13% of Russia's exports. But moves by major oil companies and global banks to stop dealing with Moscow following the invasion are forcing Russia to offer its crude at a huge discount.
Big Western oil companies have abandoned joint ventures and partnerships in Russia, and halted new projects. The European Union on Tuesday announced a ban on investment in Russia's energy industry.
The IEA, which monitors energy market trends for the world's richest nations, said that refiners are now scrambling to find alternative supply sources. They could be forced to reduce their activity just as global consumers are hit with higher gasoline prices.
So far, there's little sign of relief. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are the only producers with significant spare capacity. Both countries are part of the 23-member OPEC+ coalition, which also includes Russia. OPEC+ has been increasing its collective output by a modest 400,000 barrels per day in recent months, but often fails to meet its own targets.
The UAE's ambassador to the United States said last week that his country supported pumping more, but other officials have since said it is committed to the OPEC+ agreement. Neither the UAE nor Saudi Arabia has so far shown a "willingness to tap into their reserves," according to the IEA.
"The long-running inability of the bloc to meet its agreed quotas, mostly due to technical issues and other capacity constraints, has already led to sharp draws in global inventories," the IEA said. If major producers do not change course and open the taps wider, global markets will be under supplied in the second and third quarters of 2022, the agency warned.
The West is trying to persuade Saudi Arabia and the UAE to change course. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was visiting the Gulf Wednesday to discuss ways of increasing diplomatic and economic pressure on Russia with the leaders of both countries.
The UK government said in a statement that the leaders are expected to discuss "efforts to improve energy security and reduce volatility in energy and food prices."
Wild markets
Global energy markets have been extremely volatile in the wake of Russia's invasion.
Just over a week ago, Brent crude leaped above $139 per barrel. Analysts warned prices could touch $185, then $200 as traders shunned Russian oil, pushing inflation even higher and adding huge strain to the global economy.
But there's been a rapid reversal since then. Brent crude futures, the global benchmark, have cratered almost 30% from their peak. They settled below $100 per barrel for the first time this month after shedding another 6.5% on Tuesday.
The crisis could help drive huge changes in global energy markets.
Additional supply could eventually come online from Iran and Venezuela if the United States and its allies ease sanctions on the two countries. Talks over a nuclear deal with Iran appear to have stalled, but an agreement could still be reached.
Last week, the European Union outlined plans to slash gas imports from Russia this year by finding alternative suppliers, speeding up the shift to renewable energy, reducing consumption through energy efficiency improvements and extending the life of coal and nuclear power plants.
Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, is in talks with Beijing to price some of its oil sales in yuan, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. That would erode the US dollar's dominance in global energy markets and deepen Riyadh's ties in the east.
— Mark Thompson and Julia Horowitz contributed reporting.
Pundit ripped for criticizing Zelensky's attire for address
BY JUDY KURTZ - 03/16/22 10:52 AM EDT
https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/598424-pundit-ripped-for-criticizing-zelenskys-attire-for-address?rl=1
A pundit is facing fierce backlash for knocking Volodymyr Zelensky’s casual look during the Ukrainian president’s wartime address to Congress.
Peter Schiff, a former GOP Senate candidate in Connecticut and chief economist at Euro Pacific Capital, wrote Wednesday following Zelensky’s impassioned plea to lawmakers that he understood “times are hard” but questioned the Ukraine leader’s choice of appearing in an army-green T-shirt.
Zelensky was speaking from Kyiv, which is under bombardment by the Russian military. He has frequently worn the army-green shirt in a series of appearances, including while speaking to other foreign governments.
Schiff faced intense blowback for the remark, with critics dubbing it one of his “worst all time takes.”
“The guy is in the middle of a war zone ducking mortars, Peter, he's not going to be rolling around his garment rack with him,” one Twitter user wrote.
Another user responded, “Unfortunately the Kyiv Men’s Warehouse was closed for bombing repairs.”
Schiff appeared to double down on his remarks following the criticism, suggesting Zelensky could have opted for a collared shirt.
Zelensky has often been seen sporting T-shirts and hoodies as he’s won widespread praise for his response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that began last month.
twitter.com/PeterSchiff/status
Nothing like boosting the supply problems we already have. Looks like the company needs better captains. Maybe they need to start a new training course. At least new names for their ships.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/cargo-ship-grounded-maryland-year-ship-run-company-blocked-suez-canal-rcna20216y-blocked-suez-canal-rcna20216
Cargo ship grounded near Maryland, year after ship run by same company blocked Suez Canal
The Coast Guard says the ship is grounded outside of the canal and is not blocking the traffic of other container ships.
Coast Guard trying to free container ship stuck in Chesapeake Bay
March 15, 2022, 11:24 PM MDT / Source: Reuters
By Reuters
The Ever Forward container ship is grounded in the Chesapeake Bay near Baltimore, according to the U.S. Coast Guard, nearly a year after another ship run by the same company blocked the Suez Canal for six days.
The container ship is operated by Evergreen Marine Corp Taiwan Ltd (2603.TW), the same Taiwanese transportation company that operates the Ever Given. The Ever Given ran aground last March, blocking traffic in the Suez Canal, one of the world’s busiest waterways and the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia.
The Coast Guard received reports on Sunday that the Ever Forward was grounded and is now conducting checks every four hours to ensure the safety of the crew on board and marine life, according to Petty Officer 3rd Class Breanna Centeno.
The Coast Guard says the ship is grounded outside of the canal and is not blocking the traffic of other container ships.
Recommended
RUSSIA-UKRAINE CONFLICT
Papa John's faces backlash after American Russia franchisee refuses to close 190 stores
U.S. NEWS
Multiple dead after crash involving New Mexico university's golf teams in West Texas
Evergreen Marine said in an emailed statement that the incident had not caused a fuel leakage, and did not block the navigation channel or disrupt traffic entering or leaving the port.
“Evergreen is arranging for divers to conduct underwater inspections to confirm any damage to the vessel, and is coordinating with all the concerned parties to refloat the ship as soon as possible,” it said.
“The cause of the incident is under investigation by the competent authority.”
Putin is just China's bitch now. Putin is asking any non West gov that will deal with him to bail him out or back him. China and Putin already made deals before he started, but I don't think either one of them expected such resistance or the West to be unprecedented in the sanctions, with the geo-politics and geo-economics changed for ever.
And now Putin is in a quagmire trying to consolidate more power and recognition only to lose that goal having to depend on China as much as he has to now with China coming out on top so much. Instead of being equal partners as he probably planned, he's stuck with being China's bitch pretty much the rest of his life (which I hope isn't long).
But this war is far from over (really barely started) and won't be even when Ukraine finally falls except the tiny chance it doesn't. This war has to continue, and there is no way to return to status quo and will be a world economic and political war.
Just horrific that it had to violate a whole country and annihilate it's innocent people just for the whims of a few thirsting for total control. Consequences to criminality and changes must be made and it's going to take some sacrificing on all our parts for awhile to do it. But it will be nothing even mentionable compared to what the Ukrainians have had to endure.
But this is so much larger than just Ukraine now and needs to be. It's a world battle between democracy and tyranny, between good and evil, and between what is right and what is just plain wrong. It is time, long past time actually, to make a world closer to what it should be.
Don't know if the world has the strength and will to change for the good, but we better give it all we've got to try, and accept the challenge at least.
If we don't, it still will be a drastic change from what we're used to, just not anything that's got any worth and wasteland of demise.
Well it's a large combination of things, but it does fall more to the top 1% and their control over the almighty $ and our economic system. Their power (money) pays for the gov of choice either directly or indirectly, seen and unseen and pays for which spending goes where and who does it benefit (usually not us, but them), then all of us pay for their mistakes and greed.
Then mother earth is coming in with a vengeance and going to do her damage with another magnitude of expenses exasperating the other factors.
Just venting and a little ot, but not really, faults can be argued but the results is what we still have to deal with which includes all the effects on the market with our trading and investing. And effect it will, no getting around it.