Day: January 5, 2025

China’s 30-year government bond yield has dropped below Japan’s 30-year yield for the first time ever.

This is truly historic: China’s 30-year government bond yield has dropped below Japan’s 30-year yield for the first time ever. Over the last 4 years, China’s bond yield has declined by a whopping 215 basis points. This comes as China’s economy has slowed and experienced 6 straight quarters of deflation, the longest streak since 1999. At the same time, Japan’s bond yield has risen 160 basis points as inflation has picked up in the country. In the past, Japan had seen 3 decades of economic stagnation and had suffered 25 years of deflation starting in the 1990s. China is entering a new economic phase. https://preview.redd.it/mq8la6mho8be1.png?width=864&format=png&auto=webp&s=1b5fa3e56a99412fb2c2e32686623f2583bf4f89 submitted by /u/Pllover12 [link] [comments]

Grocery store shelves are rapidly emptying in the Washington suburbs in anticipation of a powerful winter storm that could hit the American capital and the East Coast regions as early as Monday.

As reported by a RIA Novosti correspondent, by midday, shelves with baked goods, water and drinks had become significantly empty. In addition, before the storm hits, consumers are buying up meat, sausages, chicken and bacon. Paper towels and toilet paper are also in high demand. submitted by /u/Demblin [link] [comments]

Biden presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom “for his support of democracy” to former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was said to have worked on the principle of “do whatever good you can, in whatever way you can.”

The founder of the Open Society Foundation, which is considered undesirable in the Russian Federation, 94-year-old billionaire George Soros did not come to the ceremony at the White House; his son Alex received the award “for the fight against inequality and for freedom” instead. submitted by /u/Demblin [link] [comments]

“Achieving a hostage deal was the quickest way to end the war… Where is the world?”

Hamas backtracked on agreeing to a hostage deal when public pressure on Israel increased, according to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, The New York Times reported Saturday. An additional impediment to a deal was that Hamas wanted the conflict to spread to additional fronts, with Israel being attacked by Hezbollah and Iran, he said in an interview with the Times. “Achieving a hostage deal was the quickest way to end the war”, he added. The absence of world pressure on Hamas to surrender and release the hostages held in the Gaza Strip since the October 7 massacre has been “astounding,” Blinken said. “Why there hasn’t been a unanimous chorus around the world for Hamas to put down its weapons, to give up the hostages, to surrender – I don’t know what the answer is to that,” he said. “Israel, on various occasions, has offered safe passage to Hamas’s leadership and fighters out of Gaza,” he added. “Where is the world?” Meanwhile, Hamas continues its psychological terror and publishes another video yesterday, this time of 19-year-old hostage Liri Elbag, an IDF observer. The video is three and a half minutes long and has no date. But in it, the girl says that she has been in captivity for more than 450 days, which may indicate that the filming was done recently. In the video, Liri Elbag cries and begs for her life. We are not publishing it, respecting the request of Liri Elbag’s family not to distribute these videos. US President-Elect Donald Trump repeated his warning to Hamas to release the hostages held by Hamas and other Gazan groups for more than 450 days, speaking to reporters ahead of a New Year’s Eve party in Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday. His promise that there “would be all as hell to pay” is looks like the main reason negotiations are still alive -though optimism remains distant. As for who in the Middle East will foot the bill, and how much, we’ll likely know in just over two weeks. submitted by /u/FXgram_ [link] [comments]

TKL: 0DTE options volume reflected 59% of the total options volume on Thursday, an all-time high. Over the last 5 years, the share of these risky instruments has more than DOUBLED.

For the first time in history, zero-day options on the S&P 500 Index exceed all other expirations COMBINED in Q4 2024. Average daily 0DTE volume hit over 1.5 million contracts in Q4 2024, more than TRIPLE the number in Q4 2021, according to CBOE data. 0DTE options have been increasingly used to trade macroeconomic events and earnings results. Risk appetite is very strong. submitted by /u/XGramatik [link] [comments]

Robert Downey Jr. visited Wall Street in 1992

“If money is evil then that building is hell. this is the most obnoxious group of money hungry — low IQ, high energy, jack rabbit, wannabe-big-time, small time, shit talking bothersome, irritating bunch of motherfuckers … I have ever had to endure for more than five minutes.” submitted by /u/XGramatik [link] [comments]

Trump has been found guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying documents to pay porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about a possible affair, making him the first convicted felon to be elected president.👇

Sentencing is scheduled for January 10, 2025, ten days before his inauguration. But what does this mean for the economy and markets? Trump promised to make America great again, cut taxes, and strengthen the dollar. Markets have already priced in optimistic forecasts: improved business conditions, a revival of manufacturing, and bold stimulus measures. But are the expectations too high? Trump’s success largely depends on resolving internal conflicts and political uncertainty, which continue to grow each day. On one hand, there are promises of economic recovery; on the other, legal battles, scandals, and political disagreements. Investors must ask themselves: are the stakes too high? Can Trump deliver on expectations under pressure? Or are markets expecting too much, too quickly? The conflict between expectations and reality is not only a challenge for Trump but also a risk for the U.S. economy as a whole. submitted by /u/glira31 [link] [comments]

NYT: Defense tech could be in for a bumper year

Trump has promised to end the war in Ukraine. Whether or not he succeeds, the defense tech industry will benefit either way. It’s already happening: Venture investment in defense start-ups soared last year, and by September had surpassed the total amount invested in 2023. Palantir, a data analytics company, was a star performer. Its market capitalization jumped almost fivefold to $180 billion in 2024, its operating margins have risen sharply and it joined the S&P 500 in September. Others are also profiting from rising global uncertainty. Anduril Industries, a California-based defense start-up backed by Peter Thiel, the venture capitalist and Palantir co-founder, announced in August that it had raised $1.5 billion in a funding round that valued it at $14 billion. And Helsing, a German start-up that uses A.I. to process live data from the battlefield, is one of Europe’s best-funded companies. If Trump does manage to end the war, it’s plausible that Western defense companies will find opportunities helping to build Ukraine’s military capability. If he doesn’t, more of their tech may be deployed on the ground there. Smaller, A.I.-powered companies are already testing their equipment in real time in a war where drones and other tech are playing a big role. submitted by /u/FXgram_ [link] [comments]