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The House will vote on infrastructure bill on Monday and it will be contentious

House majority leaders says the vote will take place

House majority leaders says the vote will take place
CNN’s Manu Raju reports that:

Moderate Democrats met with House Dem leaders in Pelosi’s office for an hour and 15 minutes, and afterward they were was high expectation the vote on the Senate’s infrastructure bill would still occur on Monday. “I’m bringing the bill to the floor on Monday,” Hoyer told us

Pelosi hinted that she doesn’t have the votes to pass it earlier today. Left-leaning Democrats don’t want to agree to this until there’s an agreement on a larger reconciliation bill. It’s tough to guess who backs down here but there could be a failed vote on Monday.

Earlier, the same reporter had this:
[Democratic Congressman] Pramila Jayapal told me at least 50 of her progressive members still plan to vote to sink the infrastructure bill if it goes forward Monday. She added that leadership taking some steps to move ahead on the big reconciliation bill is “not enough.”
“I don’t think the speaker is going to bring a bill to the floor that’s going to fail. We have at least 50 people who are not going to vote for the bill. What we need is to take the temperature down a little bit …. The vote is going to drive up tensions not drive down tensions.”
A failed vote could cause some turmoil in markets on Monday.
I tend to see that as an opportunity to buy some kind of dip because you know it’s going to get done eventually, just like the debt ceiling.

European major indices close the day with declines

For the week, the major indices close with gains

The major European indices are closing the day with declines, but for the week, they held on to gains.

The provisional closes are showing:
  • German DAX, -0.8%
  • France’s CAC, -1.0%
  • UK’s FTSE 100, -0.35%
  • Spain’s ibex -0.1%
  • Italy’s FTSE MIB -0.4%
For the trading week, the major indices closed higher:
  • German DAX, +0.25%
  • France’s CAC +1.0%
  • UK’s FTSE 100 +1.3%
  • Spain’s ibex, +1.3%
  • Italy’s FTSE MIB +1.0%
in other markets as London/European traders look to exit shows:
  • Spot gold is trading up $9.30 or 0.54% at $1752.30
  • Spot silver is trading down six cents or -0.27% at $22.43
  • WTI crude oil futures are trading up $0.42 or 0.57% $73.72. The low price today extended down to $72.81 before rotating back to the upside
  • Bitcoin is down $-3200 and $41,700
US stock market, the NASDAQ index continues to be the laggard. The Dow Jones and S&P have traded above and below unchanged but are currently back in the red:
  • Dow Jones -48.95 points or -0.14% at 34,717. The high reached up 92.24 points or 0.27%
  • S&P index -5.46 points or -0.12% 4443.50. The high reached 4455.78, up 6.8 points or +0.15%
  • NASDAQ index is down 66 points or -0.44% at 14985. It’s high price reached 15003.60 but that would still down -48.6 points or -0.32%
In the US debt market, the premarket high yield of 1.452% the 10 year was surpassed at 1.463%. The low yield today reach 1.405% before rotating back to the upside. Other yields are also higher with the 30 year up 5.0 basis points and the two year up 1.3 basis points.
For the week, the major indices close with gains

PBOC issues notice to further prevent, dispose of risks from cryptocurrency speculation

China strengthens regulation on cryptocurrencies again

  • To strengthen monitoring of risks from cryptocurrency trading
  • Reaffirms that cryptocurrency-related activities are illegal
  • Says overseas crypto exchanges must not provide services to mainland investors
  • To severely punish illegal financing activities related to cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin is taking a significant hit as it falls by over 2.5% to the lows for the day now amid the headlines from China over the past 15-20 minutes.

 

Bitcoin

China state planner issues notice on crackdown of cryptocurrency mining

China clamps down further on cryptocurrencies

The China state planner says in the notice that it is to strictly prohibit financial support for new cryptocurrency mining projects and that it will not allow said projects to participate in electricity markets.

 

This is all part of a broad-scale crackdown in Chinese markets with the earlier warning to high commodity prices here.
Bitcoin lurking a little lower on the headlines here, down 0.7% on the day to $44,400.

Nomura slashes China 2021 growth forecast to 7.7% from 8.2% previously

Nomura cuts its forecast for China’s growth this year

The firm cites the impact of factories pausing operations amid power outages and the ongoing push on environmental policies as the key reason for the downgrade.

“Over recent weeks, a surging number of factories across China have been forced to cease operations due to higher coal prices hitting power supplies and government mandates to meet carbon emission reduction targets.”

Adding that this will put downwards pressure on growth, alongside curbs on the property sector which have resulted in the Evergrande situation seen currently.

Fitch warns that China mid-tier banks are more exposed to risks in the property sector

Fitch remarks in relation to Evergrande

The ratings agency says that it expects China’s mid-tier banks to face greater asset-quality headwinds as credit stress increases in the property sector amid the Evergrande situation. Well, this is in part the contagion risks I suppose.
But all things considered, I reckon Chinese authorities wouldn’t allow too heavy a spillover of any impact towards the financial sector, if they can easily avoid that.

National security law news … this time its the US re chip shortage

Bloomberg reported that the Biden administration is considering invoking a US national security law to force companies in the semiconductor supply chain to provide information on inventory and sales of chips

Reuters have info up on some less extreme measures too. US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and White House National Economic Council director met with major companies on Thursday to discuss ways to overcome the semiconductor chip
  • General Motors
  • Ford
  • Apple
  • Daimler
  • Micron
  • Microsoft (MSFT.O)
among the big names.
  • The White House plans to release a voluntary request for information this week to get better information on the chips problem from industry and potential solutions to supply chain issues.
Not these chips but cute pic:
Bloomberg reported that the Biden administration is considering invoking a US national security law to force companies in the semiconductor supply chain to provide information on inventory and sales of chips
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