"BMT Investors" Bulletin Board

[eddeere]

I usually do not follow oil prices. Can you get it out of the ground at this price?  Have read or heard somewhere that in Saudi Arabia the cost was about $ 25.00 with $ 5.00 going to the citizens.

 

 

[kscarbel2]

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil has plunged down today to minus $40.32 a barrel.

https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/CL1:COM

[kscarbel2]

Now Brent has fallen to $15.98, the lowest price in 21 years.

Nearly 40 million Saudi Arabian barrels are on their way to U.S. shores, adding to the tens of millions already in storage here. That delivery is probably going to be the final dagger in the heart of the U.S. shale oil industry.

The president should be enacting import tariffs on foreign oil, so as to protect the American oil industry.

[kscarbel2]

Scores of US public companies take small business rescue funds  (Oversight anyone? anyone???)

Financial Times  /  April 21, 2020

More than 80 publicly listed companies have tapped the US Treasury’s $349 billion bailout fund for keeping small businesses afloat through the economic shutdown.

The bailout scheme, known as the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), was fully subscribed last week with many small entrepreneurs unable to secure funding before the first allocation was spoken for.

“Public companies that have access to other sources of money should not be using this,” said Charles Elson, a corporate governance expert at the University of Delaware. “Small businesses need this pot to survive.”

The Paycheck Protection Program was supposed to infuse small businesses, which typically have less access to quick cash and credit, with $349 billion in emergency loans that could help keep workers on the job and bills paid on time. But over 80 companies that received the aid were publicly traded, and some had market values well over $100 million. And 25% of the companies had warned investors months ago, while the economy was still good, that their ability to remain viable was in question. Thousands of regulatory filings indicate that over 80 companies are recipients of a combined $300 million in low-interest, taxpayer-backed loans.

Ohio-based biotech company Athersys raised almost $60m in a stock offering on Monday after its shares have nearly doubled so far in 2020. Still, the company secured more than $1m through the PPP on Wednesday. The company refused to comment.

Nikola Motor, whose financial backers include the asset management giant Fidelity and the hedge fund ValueAct, secured its $4bn valuation when it announced in early March that it would merge with black-check company VectoIQ. Yet it borrowed $4m from the PPP this month.

Nikola Motor refused a request for comment.

[kscarbel2]

McConnell says he favors state bankruptcy over more federal aid

Reuters  /  April 22, 2020

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday opened the door to allowing U.S. states to file for bankruptcy to deal with economic losses stemming from the coronavirus outbreak.

McConnell said Republicans would not support giving state and local governments more money in future coronavirus aid legislation, saying those funds could end up being used to bail out state pensions.

McConnell said he instead “would certainly be in favor of allowing states to use the bankruptcy route.”

Currently, states cannot file for bankruptcy, while cities and other local governments can use Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy to restructure their debt if allowed by their states.  

In a letter to Congressional leaders, the National Governors Association on Tuesday reiterated its call for an additional $500 billion to replace revenue lost by the states. The $2.3 trillion federal CARES Act allocated $150 billion to states and local governments exclusively to cover virus-related expenses.

Social distancing and stay-at-home orders in place are leading to skyrocketing unemployment and lower consumer spending. As a result, cities and states are starting to project deep revenue losses, particularly for big money generators like income and sales taxes.

[kscarbel2]

June contract US oil (WTI*) plunged 30 percent to just $11.88 this morning.

* West Texas Intermediate

[kscarbel2]

Reuters  /  April 28, 2020

A senior White House adviser warned on Tuesday that near-term unemployment and GDP data will be a “very grave” negative shock.

Kevin Hassett, senior economic adviser to President Trump says unemployment could reach 16-20%, and GDP output could fall as much as 30-40% on annualized basis in the second quarter, a prediction in line with Wall Street and Congressional Budget Office forecasts.

“We’re going to have the biggest shock since the Great Depression,” Hassett said. “It’s a very grave shock and something we need to take seriously.”

He said first quarter GDP growth number being released on Wednesday would likely be negative. This “will be just the very tip of the iceberg of a few months of negative news that’s unlike anything you’ve ever seen.”

[kscarbel2]

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome H. Powell gave a dire warning today (Wednesday, May 13) that the U.S. economy could become stuck in a painful multi-year recession if Congress and the White House do not authorize more aid to address the coronavirus pandemic’s economic fallout.

“The scope and speed of this downturn are without modern precedent, significantly worse than any recession since the second world war. Additional fiscal support could be costly but worth it if it helps avoid long-term economic damage and leaves us with a stronger recovery,” he said.

Powell’s statement was a sharp departure from the economic optimism President Trump and some senior administration officials have touted in recent days.

Powell sounded a much more urgent tone, describing the United States as in the midst of the “biggest shock our economy has felt in modern times” and is likely to face an “extended period” of weakness.

“The record shows that deeper and longer recessions can leave behind lasting damage to the productive capacity of the economy,” Powell said. “Avoidable household and business insolvencies can weigh on growth for years to come.”

Powell is concerned about a domino effect, where consumers lose jobs and sharply cut spending. That, in turn, can cause more restaurants, gyms and other businesses to close, hurting more jobs. Companies that go out of business also stop paying their suppliers, which can drag down other firms.

Negative Rates

Powell pushed back against the prospect the central bank would deploy negative interest rates in the U.S., though he didn’t fully rule out the option as a potential tool in the future.

“The evidence on negative rates is mixed. For now, it’s not something we’re considering,” he said.

Powell noted Fed officials had debated whether to follow other central banks in that direction and opted to use other tools. 

[kscarbel2]

Greenspan Says U.S. Virus Failure Threatens Recovery, Aids China

Rich Miller, Bloomberg  /  August 17, 2020

The failure of the U.S. to handle the coronavirus pandemic risks derailing the economic recovery and puts the country at a competitive disadvantage in its long-run battle with China for global hegemony, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said.

In an article written for Advisors Capital Management and published on Monday, Greenspan said that the U.S. has at times looked like it “has lost its way,” while China has enjoyed continued success in expanding its economy, including being the first to recover from a pandemic-driven swoon in activity.

“The Covid-19 crisis has presented a real threat to the U.S. position of global dominance,” wrote Greenspan, who is a senior economic adviser to the money manager. “As political tensions heat up between the world’s two largest economies, the balance of power that will result is still unclear, but becoming of increasingly greater concern by the day.”

“The failure by the U.S. to effectively deal with the onset of the Covid-19 crisis has only worsened its competitive position” versus China, Greenspan said. “The resurgence of the virus in the U.S. threatens to forestall our economic recovery.”

While the former Fed chairman said that U.S. dominance will probably ebb this century as China accounts for a greater share of global economic output, he also saw reasons for America to remain on top overall.

“America leads in all the industries that are inventing the future, such as artificial intelligence, robotics, driverless cars, and, indeed, finance,” he wrote. “And for all its problems with populism, America has something precious that China lacks: a stable political regime.”

He said the U.S. needs to find the political will to tackle the problems he believes are holding back growth: out-of-control government spending on entitlement programs and ill-considered regulations.

[Maxidyne]

While we're still dealing with COVID-19 because we refuse to take it seriously, the Chinese are passing us.

[kscarbel2]

36 minutes ago, Maxidyne said:

While we're still dealing with COVID-19 because we refuse to take it seriously, the Chinese are passing us.

Yes, they are. It's a problem. Economic might is a country's most critical power.

China has had recent flare-ups, major ones in Beijing and northeast China, but they're on top of it.

[kscarbel2]

The BMT Investors Circle has increased the chances of a March-like market drop over the next 60 days to over fifty percent.

Thus, we are recommending that members remain on the sidelines with cash at this juncture, aside from select opportunities.

[Dirtymilkman]

Crash away market. A $100,000 cash will make you a lot of money. 

[Maxidyne]

Not a member of the circle and not sure of the timing, but we came into this COVID-19 pandemic overdue for a recession and the U.S. and some other nations are still bogged down in the pandemic and their economies won't completely recover until they conquer COVID-19.

[kscarbel2]

1 hour ago, Dirtymilkman said:

Crash away market. A $100,000 cash will make you a lot of money. 

Plane ready?

Trinidad or Caymans?

[Dirtymilkman]

56 minutes ago, kscarbel2 said:

Plane ready?

Trinidad or Caymans?

I was looking at Epstein's old island. I think I can get a deal on it. 

[Dirtymilkman]

Wow.......didn't realize I was a puppet. Somebody's Wheaties got pissed in. 

So I'm a puppet, kscarbel is the devil, the old lady (whatever her name is this month) is terrible because she's a liberal Democrat, (which I don't condone, but she's entitled to her opinions)  and you're what? You have your opinion of people Mr. Hancock. But no one else is  allowed theirs? Dave went off on the lady about unions and union shops. You didn't have a thing to say. I believe in everything he says, he's entitled to his opinion. You think everyone should only be allowed to think what you think? You took something simple as a tongue in cheek way to title something and you think youre being left out of a club. Do you think everyone is talking about you behind your back?  Go run off again to the principal and tell on us again. Have respect for all people. 

[kscarbel2]

4 hours ago, j hancock said:

Another one of kscarbel's puppets.

It is the internet like or scroll on

Open season after all.

Mr. Hancock, calling fellow members (i.e. Mark) derogatory names on my BMT Investors Bulletin Board thread is unacceptable behavior.

[david wild]

On 8/18/2020 at 2:20 PM, Maxidyne said:

Not a member of the circle and not sure of the timing, but we came into this COVID-19 pandemic overdue for a recession and the U.S. and some other nations are still bogged down in the pandemic and their economies won't completely recover until they conquer COVID-19.

You will never conquer a hoax virus until the election is over and the Liberals give up or Trump finally has had enough and tells the truth that it is a election hoax and let's move on, read the numbers not the BS, Liars always figure and figures never lie. 1/2 a million die to cigarettes and nobody cares, get over it.  

[Dirtymilkman]

3 hours ago, david wild said:

You will never conquer a hoax virus until the election is over and the Liberals give up or Trump finally has had enough and tells the truth that it is a election hoax and let's move on, read the numbers not the BS, Liars always figure and figures never lie. 1/2 a million die to cigarettes and nobody cares, get over it.  

Minnesota numbers went way up today. Why? Because they decided to add numbers from previous tests that weren't counted supposedly. This is what we're dealing with here. And our governor wants us to be like California. 

https://knsiradio.com/news/local-news/covid-19-testing-anomaly-reported-wednesday

[mrsmackpaul]

24 minutes ago, j hancock said:

members of the Alliance and a couple other folks that I trust and I will save a copy.

Please dont think I have chopped your post apart because I havent, just grabbed a line out of it and after clarification on it as I have noidea at all

 

What alliance ?

[mrsmackpaul]

4 hours ago, david wild said:

You will never conquer a hoax virus until the election is over and the Liberals give up or Trump finally has had enough and tells the truth that it is a election hoax and let's move on, read the numbers not the BS, Liars always figure and figures never lie. 1/2 a million die to cigarettes and nobody cares, get over it.  

So Im to take it that the plot to get Trump out of office is so great it now involves all other countries around the world ??

 

I understand that the Don might not be everyones cup of tea but never realized just the lengths that people of the world would go to give him the ass

They way I figure it, if (and Im not saying he is) he is as bad as some people would have us believe surely 330 million Americans would only have to wait another 9 weeks and they can just vote him out, I would think that would have to be easier than getting every other country around the world on side to perpetrate a fake virus and then get every other country around the world to list fake causes of death ?

 

I never realized I was this dumb, not to have seen this coming

 

Paul 

[hurstscrambler]

23 minutes ago, mrsmackpaul said:

Please dont think I have chopped your post apart because I havent, just grabbed a line out of it and after clarification on it as I have noidea at all

 

What alliance ?

You didn’t get the memo mrsmackpaul?  There is a liberal take over happening on the BMT.  Maxidyne, by way of condescending posts and and aggressive union organization tactics, has infiltrated the BMT moderation team. Lucky for us there are 4 or 5 members here the save us from being capsized by the blue wave.   

 

[Maxidyne]

🍿

[kscarbel2]

FOMC* Backs Away From September Guidance Shift

MarketWatch  /  August 20, 2020

U.S. central bankers backed off in July from an earlier readiness to set a clearer bar for raising interest rates, a step that would underscore their commitment to an extended period of ultra-loose monetary policy.

“With regard to the outlook for monetary policy beyond this meeting, a number of participants noted that providing greater clarity regarding the likely path of the target range for the federal funds rate would be appropriate at some point,” according to minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee’s July 28-29 meeting released on Wednesday.

That was a subtle change from the previous set of minutes indicating policy makers were keen to sharpen their so-called forward guidance “at upcoming meetings.” Last month’s debate included a discussion about committing to holding rates near zero until specific thresholds for inflation, or unemployment, or both, had been reached.

The FOMC next gathers on Sept. 15-16.

* The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) consists of 12 members--the 7 members of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; and 4 of the remaining eleven Reserve Bank presidents, who serve one-year terms on a rotating basis.