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More Powell testimony: Will see virus impact in data fairly soon

  
  Analysis
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More from chair Powell’s testimony in the Senate

  • we will see virus-infected data fairly soon
  • affects could be important in China
  • supply chains is an important issue.
  • Financial markets can also transmit a reaction to virus

Fed Powell concludes his testimony at 11:24 AM ET.

Overall, the comments were in line with yesterday’s testimony and really didn’t shed any new light that we don’t already know. Coronavirus major concern but it’s too early to tell. The Fed is in continue repo operations the 2nd quarter. The economy is in a good place.
US stocks have been waffling back and forth but moving back higher. The S&P index is just off the day’s high level as is the NASDAQ index. The Dow industrial average is a little further off the intraday record high levels

China Daily say’s HK’s Lam withdrawal of extradition bill leaves no excuse for further violence

  
  Analysis
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State-run China Daily says Lam has offered “a sincere and earnest response to the voice of the community … (that) could be interpreted as an olive branch extended to those who have opposed the bill over the past few months”.

  • “protesters now have no excuse to continue violence”
Comes via Reuters 
State-run China Daily says Lam has offered "a sincere and earnest response to the voice of the community ... (that) could be interpreted as an olive branch extended to those who have opposed the bill over the past few months".

Stuck in line at airport? The humble ant can help you

  
Analysis, Education
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Some scientists are trying to find answers to human problems by unlocking the secrets of fish schools and insect swarms, applying their behavioral patterns to ease congestion at airports or perfect self-driving technology. 

Bottom-up communication 

“The way this job is being done now is worse than how ants would do it,” Katsuhiro Nishinari, a professor at the University of Tokyo, often tells executives.

Nishinari has worked with 10 companies in areas such as manufacturing and logistics to research how to improve business practices. He took note of ant behavior while studying the mechanisms behind gridlock and now tests ways to apply it to how humans work.

Lines of ants do not need to slow down even when the insects gather en masse to move a big piece of food. “Ants use pheromones laid on the ground to communicate information like in a game of telephone,” Nishinari explained. This bottom-up method lets them “respond flexibly based on conditions,” he said.

The lesson has been applied in the customs area at Narita Airport near Tokyo, where the number of immigration counters had not kept up with the surge in foreign visitors, leading to long wait times. Nishinari helped develop a solution that involves sharing detailed information among airlines, the airport operator and the Ministry of Justice. (more…)

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