The level of fraud in the scientific community is absolutely out of control. It's even beyond that of the government and media, though the media probably holds the title of most disingenuous as it lies or distorts on practically everything.
On Friday, yet another clinical trial of hydroxychloroquine was halted, this time by the National Institutes of Health.
Citing that the drug has no ill effects on hospitalized patients - in opposition to previously unfounded claims that HCQ was dangerous - a data and safety monitoring board (DSMB) said the drug offered no benefit to hospitalized patients.
It's too bad that the mainstream medical authorities have to be so obviously stupid. HCQ is used as a preventative medicine. It helps the immune system fight off coronavirus, especially when used in a regular regimen with zinc and Azithromycin when asymptomatic or in early stages of infection as this study and many others have clearly shown.
Instead, the NIH, CDC, WHO and other "official" medical bodies refuse to release the proof of the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine as what doctors call a prophylactic remedy, insisting that COVID-19 is a deadly disease and that billions must be spent in search of a vaccine, when they know a vaccine will likely never be developed.
These people, who first told the world that wearing a mask was a waste of time, then promoted the use of masks when it suited their purposes, should all be met with swift justice because it is they, not the virus, who are causing countless deaths that could have been saved if proper preventive measures had been taken. They, and the media which continues to promote COVID-19, lockdowns, quarantines, social distancing, absurdities like not allowing fans into sporting events, keeping restaurant customers six feet apart and other ridiculous notions should be tried for operating a criminal conspiracy.
Even this post, because it violates the dictatorial policy of Google, Twitter, or Facebook may be deemed conspiracy theory or in violation of their standards may be labeled with a warning or removed from public view.
The virus is a total scam. The rising cries of a coming "second wave" are nothing more than another attempt to scare people into rash behaviors using slanted statistics while playing on emotions. Places like Georgia, Texas, and Arizona have been cited as possible new hotspots for the virus, but the truth of the matter is that more testing has produced more cases, therefore increasing the daily bogus coronavirus counts. Additionally, all of the various tests have proven to show an abundance of false positives. Hospitalization and death statistics have been overstated since the beginning of the pandemic.
In other words, almost all of the data and scare-mongering from the media is bunk. Complete rubbish. Take off your masks and start living like a human being again. The chances of catching the virus are slim. It has mutated numerous times and most strains circulating are severe or deadly only to people over the age of 60 who have pre-existing health conditions or are obese, suffer from diabetes or heart disease. The general population is in no more danger from COVID-19 than from the common flu.
Get over it. Move on. Tell anybody who disagrees to take their opinions elsewhere. As it stands, there's no baseball this summer and there may not be football this fall. All this pandemic nonsense is about as important and vital as the BLM/Antifa protests. All of it needs to stop and the media is largely to blame for promoting false narratives.
The absurdities were on display at yesterday's Belmont Stakes, where no spectators were allowed into the sprawling Belmont Park facility and everybody on the grounds - except the horses - were required to wear masks. Even jockeys had to wear masks during the races. Please, somebody explain how a rider traveling at 25 to 40 miles per hour is going to catch the virus. It's as bad as the idiots who wear their masks while driving in their cars with the windows rolled up. Stupid. Banal. Idiotic. Is the world really populated by that many morons? If so, maybe the virus should relieve us of 30-40% of the population. More room for everybody. Happy days!
It's just all so annoying and stupid. This post was originally going to be about gold and silver, but the news of yet another HCQ trial being shut down changed those plans.
Go and check your local pharmacy or drug store or vitamin center. They're out of ZINC. Yeah, ZINC. Apparently, some people aren't buying the "we're all gonna die" narrative being shoved down the throats of the unsuspecting public. As the thrust of Money Daily posts over the past few days and weeks have been stressing, the media and government are doing you no good. You need to extricate yourself and your family from the clutches of creeping socialism and outright tyranny.
Let's get away from those who wish only to control everything and move forward to better lives. There is so much the word has to offer, having it ruined by a small minority of psychopathic monsters is a sin and an outrage.
Moving on to the markets and financial world from the week just past, stocks seem to have hit a stall space. The major indices, while all advancing for the week, have not recovered fully from the downdraft of Thursday, June 11. This week's gains were made mainly on Monday and Tuesday. Things slowed down in midweek and by Friday the bloom was off the rose once again.
Not to worry. There's a huge chance that the news will be cocked forward to produce a running start for the major averages and bourses around the world Monday morning. It's just how the Fed and the algorithm-pumping mechanisms operate these days. There's no market. There's no need to study charts or engage in fundamental analysis. Everything is fake, crooked, corrupted.
There is somewhat of a silver lining approaching for people who don't appreciate ever-rising stock prices when companies are showing dwindling profits or actually losing money, however. In a few weeks, publicly-traded companies will be releasing their second quarter financial reports and many of them figure to be absolute dumpster-diving material.
There's been a chart circulating recently showing the number of "zombie" corporations steadily increasing to a point at which nearly one in five US companies are insolvent. A zombie company is loosely defined as a business that has to borrow to survive and doesn’t make enough profit to cover the cost of its debt service. Simply put, these are companies being kept afloat by banks, or the Fed, or both. If it were possible to actually make sense of the books of large commercial banks like Wells Fargo (WFC), Bank of America (BAC) and Citibank (C) it's probable that the banks themselves would be zombies, underwater and headed to bankruptcy if not for the largesse afford them by the Federal Reserve.
The outcome from keeping zombie companies afloat is lower, slower growth in the overall economy. The Fed is actually exacerbating the effects of ultra-low interest rates and keeping insolvent companies alive with the most recent emergency measures that have the Federal Reserve buying debt from ETFs and corporate paper of individual (healthy and failing) companies. The Fed is also buying up municipal debt and may be positioning itself to fund states and cities that have deep budget deficits and buying individual stocks. Yes, the Fed may soon be buying stocks. And who said the markets weren't manipulated?
The bottom line is that we have a central bank producing counterfeit currency to buy assets offered by insolvent companies. Making matters worse, is that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow believe the companies that have received bailouts or funding from the Cares Act should not be disclosed to the public. So, on top of it all, the underhanded workings of the government, the Fed and big business should be kept secret. Nice. Not.
Treasuries basically spent the week flopping around like a landed fish. The yield spread for the entire curve, from 1-month to 30 years ended at 1.31% on Friday, June 12. As of this past Friday (June 19) the spread was 1.34%. Some steepening, but not notable. The 10-year note ended the week one basis point lower than the previous Friday, at 0.70%.
The July futures contract for WTI crude oil closed at a three-month high Friday, at $39.75 a barrel. Like the stock market, oil prices have engaged in a V-shaped rebound, the bottom coming in mid-April when oil hit $11.57 a barrel. While there has been some demand recovery, there's still a worldwide overhang of supply. The price of oil, with almost a direct pathway to gas prices, is another manufactured number. Most US shale producers can't survive below $50 a barrel, much less $40. Thanks to renewables like solar, wind, and hydro-electric, the oil business is dying a slow death. There's abundant resources available, but inroads have been made by so-called "green energy", and efficiencies in newer vehicles are crimping the use of oil and distillates. In an economy on a slowing glide path, there's no good reason for oil prices to rise other than to support the ailing old companies that rely on pumping and consumer use of the greasy stuff.
In the precious metals space, both gold and silver were dumped in the futures market on Monday and then rallied over the course of the week. Silver, despite a generally positive end to the week, closed at the lowest week-ending price ($17.52) since May 11. Since the March 19 bottoming at $12 an ounce, the trend has been higher, though it's been a slow grind despite high demand, shortages, huge premiums, and shipping delays.
Gold was flattened to $1710.45 on Monday, but rebounded to the high of the week at the close of business in New York Friday, at $1734.75. Like silver, gold has been rangebound since mid-April, suggesting a breakout on the horizon, though it could go either way.
Here are the latest free market prices for select items on eBay (prices include shipping, which is often free):
Item: Low / High / Average / Median
1 oz silver coin: 26.50 / 39.90 / 31.52 / 31.12
1 oz silver bar: 24.75 / 46.00 / 31.35 / 28.70
1 oz gold coin: 1,803.85 / 1,963.52 / 1,875.30 / 1,865.36
1 oz gold bar: 1,780.00 / 1,852.38 / 1,833.92 / 1,840.45
Finally, Fearless Rick nailed the trifecta in the Belmont Stakes, making a public pick prior to the race for everyone. Such generosity! What a guy!
At the close, Friday, June 19, 2020:
Dow: 25,871.46, -208.64 (-0.80%)
NASDAQ: 9,946.12, +3.07 (+0.03%)
S&P 500: 3,097.74, -17.60 (-0.56%)
NYSE: 11,980.12, -92.48 (-0.77%)
For the Week:
Dow: +265.92 (+1.04%)
NASDAQ: +357.31 (+3.73%)
S&P 500: +56.43 (+1.86%)
NYSE: +112.95 (+0.95%)
Showing posts with label Belmont Stakes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Belmont Stakes. Show all posts
Sunday, June 21, 2020
Saturday, June 10, 2017
Friday, June 5, 2015
At Belmont, American Pharoah Faces Serious Challenges in Quest for Triple Crown
American Pharoah looks a likely winner in the Belmont Stakes on Saturday, but he’s impossible to bet flat at 3-to-5 odds.
Main challenges come from a trio of horses he has met and defeated in the past. The Baffert trainee will be hard-pressed and jockey Victor Espinosa will have to use all the guile and skills of his exceptional riding career to win the first triple crown of American racing in 37 years.
The eight-horse field consists of six who contended in the Kentucky Derby, won by American Pharoah with a stalking trip and furious stretch run to defeat Firing Line, whose handlers chose to pass on the Belmont after being thoroughly thrashed in the washed-out slop that was the Preakness, finishing half the stretch back, seventh in the eight-horse field.
Of Saturday’s contending field, only Tale of Verve (a deep-closing second in the Preakness, but never a threat to front-running Pharoah) and Madefromlucky were not in the Derby. Tale of Verve’s stunning second was likely doe to the sloppy track and the futile running styles of the other entrants. He should not be close in the Belmont and is not considered a strong contender. Fourth place could be in the cards for him, but no better. Tale of Verve is also the only horse other than American Pharaoh to emerge from the Preakness, suggesting that the connections of the other ponies from that race feel overmatched here.
The other non-Derby entrant, Madefromlucky, has a shot at defeating American Pharoah, though the latter bettered him twice at Oaklawn Park. Pharaoh won the Rebel Stakes and Arkansas Derby in succession. Madefromlucky was a close second in the Rebel, and followed with a fourth-place finish in the Arkansas Derby.
However, Madefromlucky skipped the first two legs of the Triple Crown races, opting for the Peter Pan on May 9th. He won that race in a five-horse field, sitting off the pace and finishing in a gallop to win by a driving length. Incidentally, Madefromlucky earned a Beyer speed figure of 94, the sixth-straight improving Beyer in his racing campaign. The horse needs a good pace scenario, but is maturing gradually, and should be at the top of his game with nearly a month off since his last encounter on the track. Additionally, he owns a win over the surface (the Peter Pan), which suggests that trainer Todd Pletcher has had him pointed for just this upset scenario.
Another horse that should be of concern to American Pharaoh’s quest for the Triple Crown is Frosted, the Kiaran McLaughlin trained stallion that finished fourth in the Derby, but was closing with a flourish. Frosted skipped the Preakness, giving him extra time off to relish the extra distance of the 1 1/2 mile Belmont Stakes. His breeding - by Tapit from Fast Cookie - suggests he will devour the distance and pose a major threat to American Pharoah, himself no slouch in the breeding department, especially with the presence of the grand sire, Pioneer of the Nile on the stud side.
Another possibility arises in Materiality, who will break from the outermost post, often an advantage to an early speed type such as he is. Materiality finished a disappointing sixth in the Derby, skipped the Preakness and shows up here as a main pace threat. Considering that he too is trained by Pletcher, expect jockey John Velazquez to press Pharoah early, setting up a hard stretch rally from Madefromlucky.
Pletcher, who is about as consistent a winner as can be found in the training ranks on the New York circuit. has his two main riders in Velazquez and Javier Castellano, who will be aboard Madeforlucky. Considering that Castellano has been Pletcher’s go-to guy the past few seasons, the tactics are about as obvious as they can get. Press Pharoah early and beat him late with a perfectly-coordinated pair that might as well be racing as an entry. Seeing both of them in the top three would be a fantastic finish, but Madefromlucky finishing a nose, a head, or even a few lengths ahead of American Pharaoh is a distinct possibility.
Of course, man’s best-laid plans after result in surprises from other sources, which is why Frosted looms a large threat here.
The 147th running of the Belmont Stakes should be an exciting event, whether American Pharoah ends the Triple Crown drought (last achieved by the great Affirmed in 1978 - I was there) or another hopeful fails in the ultimate test for three-year-olds.
The play is pretty straightforward, using American Pharoah on all exotic tickets except for radical savers in the unlikely event he is thoroughly trashed by a wicked pace or some other riding misfortune.
Here are the suggestions with running numbers:
Madefromlucky (3)
American Pharoah (5)
Frosted (6)
Materiality (8)
Exacta:
5 over 3, 6, 8
3, 6, 8 over 5
3, 6, 8 boxed.
Trifecta:
Wheel
5 / 3, 6, 8 / 3, 6, 8
3, 6, 8 / 5 / 3, 6, 8
3, 6, 8 / 3, 6, 8 / 5
Box
3, 6, 8
I don’t like to spread it out too far in small fields and a few of those in the field, notably (1) Mubtaahij, (4) Frammento, and (7) Keen Ice appear outclassed by the remainder of the field.
My advice, as always, is, win or lose, live it up. Spend more on booze and fun than you bet on the race. At least that way you’ve got something to remember (or forget… or regret) other than a handful of torn up tickets and a hole indoor wallet.
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