06-04-b-Market Wires

Details of new US bank capital rules still uncertain with election looming – Reuters
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WASHINGTON, Sept 11 (Reuters) – U.S. bank investors, analysts and executives were trying to figure out on Wednesday how lenders would fare under revised hikes in capital requirements, with considerable uncertainty over what specifics will emerge from the Federal Reserve and other regulators, and the presidential election a looming wild card.

The Fed’s regulatory chief Michael Barr on Tuesday outlined a plan to raise big bank capital by 9%, easing an earlier proposal to hike capital 19%. It was a major concession to Wall Street banks that had lobbied to water down the “Basel” draft.

 

US inflation rate slows as Federal Reserve prepares to lower interest rates – MSN
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The consumer price index, the top measure for inflation in the U.S., slowed in August to 2.5% in the 12-month period ending in August, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics who released the updated consumer price index on Wednesday.

The new data shows that inflation is now below recent norms. In the last decade, prices generally increase at a rate of 3.2% per year. In the last 20 years, consumer inflation has generally increased 3% annually.

The consumer price index weighs the costs of goods based on their importance. Items like food, shelter and energy tend to be weighted more heavily.

After annual inflation reached 9% in the middle of 2022, the Federal Reserve implemented a series of interest rate hikes in 2022 and 2023 to combat high inflation. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has stated the Federal Reserve’s goal is to reduce inflation to an annualized rate of 2%.

CEO of World’s Largest Bank Hints at Historic Crash– www.breitbart.com
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The world’s most powerful CEO just issued a grave warning to Americans: “This may be the most dangerous time the world has seen in decades.”

His comment is especially disturbing because as the CEO of JPMorgan, the world’s largest bank, Jamie Dimon has access to more financial information than anyone. And he didn’t rise to power as a hot-head or doom-and-gloomer. He is calm, calculating, and knows the gravity of his words.

So, if he believes political instability is reaching a boiling point, one that could even hurt the world’s largest bank, smart investors know to take evasive action.

Dimon later got more specific when he said, “The danger is government debt and inflation.”

US appeals court voids $564 million verdict against Bank of Montreal in Ponzi case – MSN
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Bank of Montreal persuaded a U.S. appeals court on Thursday to throw out a $564 million jury verdict against a subsidiary over its role in an approximately $3.65 billion Ponzi scheme run by convicted Minnesota businessman Tom Petters.

Citing a similar case involving Bernard Madoff, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said a court-appointed trustee for the now-bankrupt Petters Co could not recover on behalf of its creditors because that firm had helped orchestrate the fraud.

The 3-0 decision by the St. Paul, Minnesota-based court overturned a November 2022 jury verdict, and directed that trustee Douglas Kelley’s case against BMO be dismissed.

Klaus Schwab says world is on ‘the cusp of a profound systemic transformation’– www.lifesitenews.com
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In the introduction to the WEF Annual Report 2023-2024, the WEF founder said that we were living in transformative times and that there were a handful of factors driving this systemic transformation:

We are on the cusp of a profound systemic transformation driven by interconnected shifts in a rapidly changing world

The five “interconnected shifts” include:

  • Transition from the industrial to the intelligent age,
  • Conflictual transition from a unipolar to a multipolar world,
  • Need to transition to a green economy,
  • Demographic shifts from a young to an ageing world,
  • Societal polarization and rise of misinformation.

Biden-Harris Admin Slated To Launch New Tax On American Businesses– americanactionnews.com
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The Biden-Harris administration released new draft rules Thursday that could hike taxes on roughly 100 companies in the White House’s latest push to increase government tax revenues, according to the Washington Post.

The new guideline would establish a 15% minimum tax on profitable companies with more than $1 billion in income in an effort to thwart corporations’ attempts to use accounting techniques to reduce their tax bills, the outlet reported. The policy, referred to as the corporate alternative minimum tax (CAMT), ties taxation to “book income” — the income companies report to their investors on financial statements — rather than taxable income, and is expected to increase taxes by $20 billion in 2025.

 

Boeing Workers Vote to Strike After Rejecting Pay Deal – Republic World
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Boeing workers have voted to go on strike after the members of the aircraft maker’s largest union overwhelmingly rejected a contract offer on Thursday. The vote by machinists, who construct Boeing’s 737, 777, and 767 jets, comes as their current contract is set to expire at midnight Friday local time.

The strike vote is significant because it affects a substantial portion of Boeing’s workforce in the Seattle area, totaling 33,000 machinists. This action could impact the company’s efforts to ramp up production and improve its reputation, which has suffered recently due to quality and safety issues.

Is Labour teetering on the edge of a rental market collapse? – Property Reporter
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“It seems that our new Labour government is picking up where its predecessors left off within the rental market landscape, driving legislative changes designed to deter landlords from the sector”
– Jonathan Samuels – Octane Capital

With Labour planning a capital gains tax attack on landlords in the Autumn Statement, Octane Capital commissioned a survey of UK landlords to gauge current sentiment within the sector.

The survey found that no less than 66% said they had already reduced the size of their investment portfolio in the last year, with reduced profitability due to previous legislative changes cited as the primary reason for these reductions.

The proposed rental market reform which includes the ban on Section 21 Notices also placed highly along with the inevitable increase in age, as many approach retirement.

52% of those surveyed also stated that when it came to their investment into the rental market, they feel less confident under the new Labour government and as many as 75% said that they are concerned that the current government may equalise capital gains tax in line with current income tax thresholds in the upcoming Autumn Statement.

Donald Trump let voters know he will not be pursuing a TikTok ban if he were to get elected, stating “Now [that] I’m thinking about it, I’m for TikTok, because you need competition. If you don’t have TikTok, you have Facebook and Instagram—and that’s, you know, that’s Zuckerberg.” He made this statement in an interview on Bloomberg Businessweek.

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Excerpt from gizmodo.com

Donald Trump appears to support TikTok and doesn’t plan on banning it if he gets into office. This change of heart comes as no surprise when you consider that one of the big investors of the app is also a mega-donor for Trump, the man really needs something to give younger voters, and the platform has become a haven for pro-Trump content in recent months.

In an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, Trump said he no longer plans on banning TikTok. His reasoning is that he doesn’t to reward his new favorite punching bag who he already threatened with prison time, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

“Now [that] I’m thinking about it, I’m for TikTok, because you need competition,” Trump told Bloomberg Businessweek in an interview conducted back in June and published on Tuesday. “If you don’t have TikTok, you have Facebook and Instagram—and that’s, you know, that’s Zuckerberg.”

Elon Musk announced on X his intentions to pull his X offices and his SpaceX offices out of California to Texas, where Musk would follow suit. He announced the plan after California passed a law preventing parents from being informed if their children should begin to go through “gender-affirming therapy.”

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Excerpt from www.usatoday.com

The world’s richest man has been busy this week.

On Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk would be donating $45 million a month – $180 million from July through October – to America PAC, a political action committee dedicated to reelecting former President Donald Trump.

On the same day, Musk announced that he would be moving the headquarters of SpaceX and X (formerly Twitter) from California to Texas because of a new law that protects transgender children.

“This is the final straw,” Musk wrote on X, adding that he told California Gov. Gavin Newsom last year that affirming laws like this one would lead to an exodus of families who want to “protect their children.”

To me, none of the mogul’s recent moves are surprising. They will, however, affect how the presidential election plays out – and possibly assist in reelecting Trump. That should concern all of us because of the power owning X gives him and his willingness to wield it.