Highlights
China announced that mandatory COVID testing is no longer required. People are allowed to move around their cities more freely than they have been in three 3 years. More restrictions are expected to be removed or watered-down on Thursday.
In a back-handed cowardly move, the EU and the US agreed yesterday morning (but did not announce until 1:06 PM Central time) to a 45-day transition period when they can still legally purchase Russian crude, provided it is delivered to the end destination by 19 January 2023. But, will Russia sell it to them? Probably not because they do not need to. China and India will buy every barrel of oil Russia can produce. This news contributed the weakness of the crude oil market all week, unknown to us peons.
Late last summer, we explained the Federal Reserve’s management of the US economy had returned to the confusing policy of the late 1970’s and early 1980’s when good economic news was bad for commodity prices and bad economic news was bullish for commodity prices.