REUTERS
"U.S. consumer confidence index tumbles in June"
Reuters
June 28, 2022
WASHINGTON, June 28 (Reuters) - U.S. consumer confidence fell sharply in June as worries about high inflation left consumers anticipating economic growth would weaken significantly in the second half of the year.
The Conference Board said on Tuesday its consumer confidence index dropped 4.5 points to a reading of 98.7 this month.
The present situation index, based on consumers' assessment of current business and labor market conditions, slipped to 147.1 from 147.4 last month.
The expectations index, based on consumers' short-term outlook for income, business, and labor market conditions, tumbled to 66.4 - the lowest level since March 2013 - from 73.7 in May.
"Expectations have now fallen well below a reading of 80, suggesting weaker growth in the second half of 2022 as well as growing risk of recession by year end," said Lynn Franco, senior director of economic indicators at The Conference Board in Washington.
Reporting By Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama
https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-c ... 022-06-28/
THE DAILY NEWS
Re: THE DAILY NEWS
REUTERS
"Wall Street stumbles as consumer pessimism stokes growth fears"
By Stephen Culp
June 28, 2022
Summary
* U.S. consumer expectations sink to a near-decade low
* Nike slips on downbeat quarterly revenue forecast
* Indexes down: Dow 1.56%, S&P 2.01%, Nasdaq 2.98%
NEW YORK, June 28 (Reuters) - Wall Street closed sharply lower in a broad sell-off on Tuesday as dire consumer confidence data dampened investor optimism and fueled worries over recession and the looming earnings season.
The S&P and the Nasdaq fell about 2% and 3% respectively, with Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp and Amazon.com weighing the heaviest.
The blue-chip Dow shed about 1.6%.
"Markets were fine today until the consumer confidence number came out," said Peter Tuz, president of Chase Investment Counsel in Charlottesville, Virginia.
"It was weak and markets immediately began selling off."
With the end of the month and the second quarter two days away, the benchmark S&P 500 is on track for its biggest first-half percentage drop since 1970.
All three indexes are on course to notch two straight quarterly declines for the first time since 2015.
"At some point this aggressive selling is going to dissipate but it doesn't seem like it's going to be anytime soon," said Tim Ghriskey, senior portfolio strategist Ingalls & Snyder in New York.
Data released on Tuesday morning showed the Conference Board's consumer confidence index dropping to the lowest it has been since February 2021, with near-term expectations reaching its most pessimistic level in nearly a decade.
The growing gap between the Conference Board's "current situation" and "expectations" components have widened to levels that often precede recession.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 491.27 points, or 1.56%, to 30,946.99, the S&P 500 lost 78.56 points, or 2.01%, to 3,821.55 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 343.01 points, or 2.98%, to 11,181.54.
Ten of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500 ended the session in negative territory, with consumer discretionary suffering the largest percentage loss.
Energy was the sole gainer, benefiting from rising crude prices .
With few market catalysts and market participants gearing up for the July Fourth holiday weekend, the day's sell-off cannot be blamed entirely on the Consumer Confidence report, said Tom Hainlin, national investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
"It’s hard to attribute (market volatility) to one economic data point with so much noise around portfolio rebalancing at quarter-end," Hainlin said.
"There’s not a lot of new information out there and yet you see this volatile stock environment," he said, adding that there will not be much new information until companies start earnings.
With several weeks to go until second-quarter reporting commences, 130 S&P 500 companies have pre-announced.
Of those, 45 have been positive and 77 have been negative, resulting in a negative/positive ratio of 1.7 stronger than the first quarter but weaker than a year ago, according to Refinitiv data.
Nike Inc slid 7.0% following its lower than expected revenue forecast.
Shares of Occidental Petroleum Corp advanced 4.8% after Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc raised its stake in the company.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 2.28-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.70-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted one new 52-week high and 29 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 29 new highs and 131 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 11.54 billion shares, compared with the 12.99 billion average over the last 20 trading days.
Reporting by Stephen Culp; Additional reporting by Sinead Carew and Caroline Valetkevitch in New York, Shreyashi Sanyal and Amruta Khandekar in Bengaluru; editing by Grant McCool
https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/ ... 022-06-28/
"Wall Street stumbles as consumer pessimism stokes growth fears"
By Stephen Culp
June 28, 2022
Summary
* U.S. consumer expectations sink to a near-decade low
* Nike slips on downbeat quarterly revenue forecast
* Indexes down: Dow 1.56%, S&P 2.01%, Nasdaq 2.98%
NEW YORK, June 28 (Reuters) - Wall Street closed sharply lower in a broad sell-off on Tuesday as dire consumer confidence data dampened investor optimism and fueled worries over recession and the looming earnings season.
The S&P and the Nasdaq fell about 2% and 3% respectively, with Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp and Amazon.com weighing the heaviest.
The blue-chip Dow shed about 1.6%.
"Markets were fine today until the consumer confidence number came out," said Peter Tuz, president of Chase Investment Counsel in Charlottesville, Virginia.
"It was weak and markets immediately began selling off."
With the end of the month and the second quarter two days away, the benchmark S&P 500 is on track for its biggest first-half percentage drop since 1970.
All three indexes are on course to notch two straight quarterly declines for the first time since 2015.
"At some point this aggressive selling is going to dissipate but it doesn't seem like it's going to be anytime soon," said Tim Ghriskey, senior portfolio strategist Ingalls & Snyder in New York.
Data released on Tuesday morning showed the Conference Board's consumer confidence index dropping to the lowest it has been since February 2021, with near-term expectations reaching its most pessimistic level in nearly a decade.
The growing gap between the Conference Board's "current situation" and "expectations" components have widened to levels that often precede recession.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 491.27 points, or 1.56%, to 30,946.99, the S&P 500 lost 78.56 points, or 2.01%, to 3,821.55 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 343.01 points, or 2.98%, to 11,181.54.
Ten of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500 ended the session in negative territory, with consumer discretionary suffering the largest percentage loss.
Energy was the sole gainer, benefiting from rising crude prices .
With few market catalysts and market participants gearing up for the July Fourth holiday weekend, the day's sell-off cannot be blamed entirely on the Consumer Confidence report, said Tom Hainlin, national investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
"It’s hard to attribute (market volatility) to one economic data point with so much noise around portfolio rebalancing at quarter-end," Hainlin said.
"There’s not a lot of new information out there and yet you see this volatile stock environment," he said, adding that there will not be much new information until companies start earnings.
With several weeks to go until second-quarter reporting commences, 130 S&P 500 companies have pre-announced.
Of those, 45 have been positive and 77 have been negative, resulting in a negative/positive ratio of 1.7 stronger than the first quarter but weaker than a year ago, according to Refinitiv data.
Nike Inc slid 7.0% following its lower than expected revenue forecast.
Shares of Occidental Petroleum Corp advanced 4.8% after Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc raised its stake in the company.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 2.28-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.70-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted one new 52-week high and 29 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 29 new highs and 131 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 11.54 billion shares, compared with the 12.99 billion average over the last 20 trading days.
Reporting by Stephen Culp; Additional reporting by Sinead Carew and Caroline Valetkevitch in New York, Shreyashi Sanyal and Amruta Khandekar in Bengaluru; editing by Grant McCool
https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/ ... 022-06-28/
Re: THE DAILY NEWS
REUTERS
"Rouble firms past 52 against dollar for first time since May 2015"
Reuters
June 28, 2022
MOSCOW, June 28 (Reuters) - The rouble rallied past 52 against the dollar to a more than a seven-year high on Tuesday as capital controls and month-end taxes offset the negative impact of Western statements that Russia has defaulted on its international bonds.
The rouble became the world's best-performing currency this year, boosted by emergency measures that authorities have taken to shield Russia's financial system from western sanctions after Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine.
The rouble hit 50.6125 against the dollar in Moscow trade for the first time since late May 2015, and jumped to 54.40 against the euro, a level last seen in April 2015.
As of 1523 GMT, the rouble gained nearly 3% to 51.88 against the greenback and was at 54.71 against the euro, gaining more than 2.5% on the day .
The rouble is much stronger now than it was before Russia started what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine on Feb. 24.
Back then the rouble traded near 80 against the dollar and 90 against the euro as it was in free-float mode, hammered by fears of sanctions and had no support from capital controls.
Now demand for foreign currency in Russia remains below supply volumes from export-focused companies that need to convert their dollar and euro revenue to pay month-end taxes.
With restrictions on forex withdrawal from banks' accounts for individuals, capital restrictions have helped the rouble shrug off Western statements that Russia has defaulted on its international bonds for the first time in more than a century.
But Kremlin, which has money to make payments from oil and gas revenue, has rejected the claims and accused the West of driving it into an artificial default.
The declared default will have no substantial impact on Russian securities as Eurobonds have long priced in the default, while the external debt market is shut for Russia in any case, said Alexander Afonin, head of debt research at Sinara investment bank.
The rouble's upside could be limited given growing concerns about the impact of the strong rouble on Russia's revenues from selling commodities abroad for foreign currency.
Market players "see the current levels as attractive for purchasing hard currency, especially in light of the recent comments from Russian officials indicating that the rouble has become too strong," Sberbank CIB said in a note.
On the stock market, the dollar-denominated RTS index rose 2.5% to 1,464.1 points.
The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.3% lower at 2,409.1 points.
Reporting by Reuters; editing by Barbara Lewis and Shinjini Ganguli
https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/ ... 022-06-28/
"Rouble firms past 52 against dollar for first time since May 2015"
Reuters
June 28, 2022
MOSCOW, June 28 (Reuters) - The rouble rallied past 52 against the dollar to a more than a seven-year high on Tuesday as capital controls and month-end taxes offset the negative impact of Western statements that Russia has defaulted on its international bonds.
The rouble became the world's best-performing currency this year, boosted by emergency measures that authorities have taken to shield Russia's financial system from western sanctions after Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine.
The rouble hit 50.6125 against the dollar in Moscow trade for the first time since late May 2015, and jumped to 54.40 against the euro, a level last seen in April 2015.
As of 1523 GMT, the rouble gained nearly 3% to 51.88 against the greenback and was at 54.71 against the euro, gaining more than 2.5% on the day .
The rouble is much stronger now than it was before Russia started what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine on Feb. 24.
Back then the rouble traded near 80 against the dollar and 90 against the euro as it was in free-float mode, hammered by fears of sanctions and had no support from capital controls.
Now demand for foreign currency in Russia remains below supply volumes from export-focused companies that need to convert their dollar and euro revenue to pay month-end taxes.
With restrictions on forex withdrawal from banks' accounts for individuals, capital restrictions have helped the rouble shrug off Western statements that Russia has defaulted on its international bonds for the first time in more than a century.
But Kremlin, which has money to make payments from oil and gas revenue, has rejected the claims and accused the West of driving it into an artificial default.
The declared default will have no substantial impact on Russian securities as Eurobonds have long priced in the default, while the external debt market is shut for Russia in any case, said Alexander Afonin, head of debt research at Sinara investment bank.
The rouble's upside could be limited given growing concerns about the impact of the strong rouble on Russia's revenues from selling commodities abroad for foreign currency.
Market players "see the current levels as attractive for purchasing hard currency, especially in light of the recent comments from Russian officials indicating that the rouble has become too strong," Sberbank CIB said in a note.
On the stock market, the dollar-denominated RTS index rose 2.5% to 1,464.1 points.
The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.3% lower at 2,409.1 points.
Reporting by Reuters; editing by Barbara Lewis and Shinjini Ganguli
https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/ ... 022-06-28/
Re: THE DAILY NEWS
REUTERS
"TREASURIES-U.S. yields rise as investors price in higher rates"
By Reuters Staff
JUNE 28, 2022
NEW YORK, June 28 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury yields rose on Tuesday, with the short end of the curve rising above the long end, in anticipation of the Federal Reserve's plans to aggressively raise interest rates to stamp out inflation.
But the inflation outlook remains unresolved, leading many investors to also see a sharp economic slowdown or recession as the Fed's tightening makes loans too costly for many companies.
In a sign of the U.S. economy's tough road ahead, the Conference Board's Expectations Index that shows consumers' short-term outlook for income, business and labor market conditions, fell to its lowest level since March 2013.
The index decreased sharply to 66.4 from 73.7.
"Most investors are accepting the fact that the economy is going to have a hard landing," said David Petrosinelli, senior trader at InspereX.
"It's a continued lack of confidence in the Fed being able to engineer it."
"People have accepted the fact the Fed has to break demand before we can break prices."
The yield on 10-year Treasury notes rose 3.2 basis points to 3.226%.
The yield on two-year notes, which can herald interest rate expectations, advanced 2.1 basis points at 3.132%.
Yields on three-, five- and seven-year notes were higher than the benchmark 10-year, trading at 3.232%, 3.277% and 3.298%, respectfully.
The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond rose 3.3 basis points to 3.338%.
The Treasury will sell $40 billion of seven-year notes at 1 p.m. (1700 GMT).
The auction of $93 billion in two- and five-year notes on Monday was weak before the quarter ends on Thursday.
A closely watched part of the Treasury yield curve measuring the gap between yields on two- and 10-year notes, a sign of economic expectations, was at 9.2 basis points.
The gap earlier briefly spiked down to -7.24 when New York trade opened.
The breakeven rate on five-year U.S. Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) was last at 2.803%.
The 10-year TIPS breakeven rate was last at 2.529%, indicating the market sees inflation averaging about 2.6% a year for the next decade.
The U.S. dollar five-year forward inflation-linked swap was last at 2.539%.
(Reporting by Herbert Lash; editing by David Evans)
https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-bon ... SL1N2YF1CR
"TREASURIES-U.S. yields rise as investors price in higher rates"
By Reuters Staff
JUNE 28, 2022
NEW YORK, June 28 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury yields rose on Tuesday, with the short end of the curve rising above the long end, in anticipation of the Federal Reserve's plans to aggressively raise interest rates to stamp out inflation.
But the inflation outlook remains unresolved, leading many investors to also see a sharp economic slowdown or recession as the Fed's tightening makes loans too costly for many companies.
In a sign of the U.S. economy's tough road ahead, the Conference Board's Expectations Index that shows consumers' short-term outlook for income, business and labor market conditions, fell to its lowest level since March 2013.
The index decreased sharply to 66.4 from 73.7.
"Most investors are accepting the fact that the economy is going to have a hard landing," said David Petrosinelli, senior trader at InspereX.
"It's a continued lack of confidence in the Fed being able to engineer it."
"People have accepted the fact the Fed has to break demand before we can break prices."
The yield on 10-year Treasury notes rose 3.2 basis points to 3.226%.
The yield on two-year notes, which can herald interest rate expectations, advanced 2.1 basis points at 3.132%.
Yields on three-, five- and seven-year notes were higher than the benchmark 10-year, trading at 3.232%, 3.277% and 3.298%, respectfully.
The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond rose 3.3 basis points to 3.338%.
The Treasury will sell $40 billion of seven-year notes at 1 p.m. (1700 GMT).
The auction of $93 billion in two- and five-year notes on Monday was weak before the quarter ends on Thursday.
A closely watched part of the Treasury yield curve measuring the gap between yields on two- and 10-year notes, a sign of economic expectations, was at 9.2 basis points.
The gap earlier briefly spiked down to -7.24 when New York trade opened.
The breakeven rate on five-year U.S. Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) was last at 2.803%.
The 10-year TIPS breakeven rate was last at 2.529%, indicating the market sees inflation averaging about 2.6% a year for the next decade.
The U.S. dollar five-year forward inflation-linked swap was last at 2.539%.
(Reporting by Herbert Lash; editing by David Evans)
https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-bon ... SL1N2YF1CR
Re: THE DAILY NEWS
WCVB Boston
"New UMass poll show President Biden support slipping in Mass."
28 JUNE 2022
A new poll released Tuesday by WCVB’s partners at UMass Amherst shows President Joe Biden's approval ratings among Massachusetts residents is slipping.
A sample of 1,000 Massachusetts respondents were used in the poll, which was conducted between June 15 and June 21.
It found that 45% of respondents approved of the job Biden is doing, down from a 56% approval rating in November 2021 and down from a 61% approval rating in March of 2021.
The same poll which asked respondents about their approval of U.S. Congress showed dwindling support for the legislative body as well.
Just 24% of respondents approved of the job Congress was doing, down from 31% in November 2021 and 33% in March 2021.
Among respondents who indicated that they identify as Democrats or Independent, the poll found 26% support Biden as their primary candidate in the 2024 Democratic Presidential Primary.
Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren tied for second among preferred Democratic candidates in the 2024 primary, with 14%.
Pete Buttigieg was the top candidate among 13% of respondents.
Among respondents who indicated that they identify as Republicans or Independent, the poll found 51% support Donald Trump as their primary candidate in the 2024 Republican Presidential Primary.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was the primary pick of 24% of respondents.
On the issue of gun regulation, 76% of respondents said they strongly supported requiring background checks for all gun sales while 68% strongly supported raising the minimum age to purchase assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines from 18 to 21.
The poll found 15% of Massachusetts respondents strongly supported allowing teachers and school officials to carry guns in K-12 schools, while 44% strongly opposed it.
When respondents were asked if it should be easier for people to obtain a concealed-carry permit, 49% said they strongly opposed the idea while 11% strongly supported it.
The poll has a margin of error of +/- 3.5%.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... ee1199d7e3
"New UMass poll show President Biden support slipping in Mass."
28 JUNE 2022
A new poll released Tuesday by WCVB’s partners at UMass Amherst shows President Joe Biden's approval ratings among Massachusetts residents is slipping.
A sample of 1,000 Massachusetts respondents were used in the poll, which was conducted between June 15 and June 21.
It found that 45% of respondents approved of the job Biden is doing, down from a 56% approval rating in November 2021 and down from a 61% approval rating in March of 2021.
The same poll which asked respondents about their approval of U.S. Congress showed dwindling support for the legislative body as well.
Just 24% of respondents approved of the job Congress was doing, down from 31% in November 2021 and 33% in March 2021.
Among respondents who indicated that they identify as Democrats or Independent, the poll found 26% support Biden as their primary candidate in the 2024 Democratic Presidential Primary.
Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren tied for second among preferred Democratic candidates in the 2024 primary, with 14%.
Pete Buttigieg was the top candidate among 13% of respondents.
Among respondents who indicated that they identify as Republicans or Independent, the poll found 51% support Donald Trump as their primary candidate in the 2024 Republican Presidential Primary.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was the primary pick of 24% of respondents.
On the issue of gun regulation, 76% of respondents said they strongly supported requiring background checks for all gun sales while 68% strongly supported raising the minimum age to purchase assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines from 18 to 21.
The poll found 15% of Massachusetts respondents strongly supported allowing teachers and school officials to carry guns in K-12 schools, while 44% strongly opposed it.
When respondents were asked if it should be easier for people to obtain a concealed-carry permit, 49% said they strongly opposed the idea while 11% strongly supported it.
The poll has a margin of error of +/- 3.5%.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... ee1199d7e3
Re: THE DAILY NEWS
THE DRIVE
"The Ukraine Situation Report: Cross-Border Sabotage Raids And CIA Operatives In Kyiv - A clearer image is coming into view of the clandestine aspects of Ukraine’s defense as Russian missiles strike a crowded mall."
BY HOWARD ALTMAN
JUN 27, 2022
Though much of the attention on Russia’s war in Ukraine is focused on the battle for Donbas, and understandably so, there’s a shadow war taking place out of the public eye.
Over the weekend, The New York Times reported that “some C.I.A. personnel have continued to operate in the country secretly, mostly in the capital, Kyiv, directing much of the vast amounts of intelligence the United States is sharing with Ukrainian forces, according to current and former officials.”
Meanwhile, “a few dozen commandos from other NATO countries, including Britain, France, Canada and Lithuania, also have been working inside Ukraine.”
Ukraine is conducting its own shadow war as well, according to the Times of London, with troops from the Shaman battalion, a nickname given to Ukraine’s 10th Special Forces Detachment, taking part in cross-border sabotage missions.
“The exact targets are classified but the teams’ forays across the border help to explain how Russian oil refineries, ammunition depots and communications networks have been mysteriously sabotaged,” the paper reported.
We are just learning about these actions and while we are unable to independently confirm them, they do offer a glimpse, if true, about how Ukraine is taking matters into its own hands to defend itself by striking across the border.
The latest
Rescue operations continue after more than a thousand civilians were in the Amstor mall in Kremenchuk hit by Russian missiles on Sunday, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said on his Telegram page.
“The mall is on fire, rescuers are fighting the fire, the number of victims is impossible to imagine,” Zelensky wrote.
“No danger to the Russian army."
"No strategic value."
"Only the attempt of people to live a normal life, which so angers the occupiers."
“Russia continues to place its powerlessness on ordinary citizens."
"It is useless to hope for adequacy and humanity on her part.”
The Russians, however, claim that the intended target was the Kremenchuk road machine plant about 100 yards away where they say Ukrainian military equipment has been repaired since 2014
So far, three deaths have been confirmed, while 20 others have been hospitalized, nine of them in critical condition, said Poltava regional state administration head Dmytro Lunin, according to the Pravda Gerashchenko Telegram page.
Ukraine officials say they've struck Snake Island, the strategically important Black Sea rock, yet again, once more eliminating a Russian Pantsir air defense system.
Russia, without offering any proof, denied any damage and said it was Ukraine that suffered losses.
The U.S. will soon announce it will supply Ukraine with the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, or NASAMS.
This system is one that Kyiv has considered introducing itself in the past and Ukrainian Air Force pilots have also highlighted it as one of the best solutions to help overhaul the country’s surface-to-air missile inventory.
According to a report from CNN, citing an anonymous source, a U.S. announcement regarding the purchase of NASAMS systems for Ukraine is likely to come this week.
It is expected to be part of the latest package of arms and other support for Kyiv, together with additional artillery ammunition and counter-battery radars.
The Pentagon says it continues to “work diligently” to get the additional four M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) into Ukraine that were announced last week as part of the latest Presidential Drawdown Authority, a senior U.S. defense official told reporters Monday morning.
The official added that the second round of HIMARS training should coincide with that as well.
Ukraine has already used the systems, including an incident in which it says it struck a Russian command post in Donbas.
“We're conducting training out of Ukraine, in Germany and England,” said the official, adding that involves everything from maintaining to operating the donated HIMARS units.
There were more than 60 missile strikes across Ukraine over the weekend, including at Kyiv, Lviv, Chernihiv and Odesa, the official said.
“They certainly could be a protest against the G7 [summit] or the arrival of the HIMARS.”
On Sunday, the Institute for the Study of War suggested the strikes were indeed a protest against the ongoing G7 summit.
“This is the first such major strike on Kyiv since late April and is likely a direct response to Western leaders discussing aid to Ukraine at the ongoing G7 summit, much like the previous strikes on April 29 during UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ visit to Kyiv,” ISW reported.
There were other explosions of note recently as well.
Russian military warehouses well behind the front lines apparently blew up, Euromaidan Press reported on Twitter.
"Locals have reported huge fire in the Russian-occupied Svatove following the explosions."
"The explosions happened in the Russian military warehouses, according to the Luhansk Oblast head."
"Svatove is more than 60 kilometers behind the frontline."
The Ukrainian pullout from Severodonestk over the weekend offers lasting lessons, the official told reporters.
“The small number of Ukrainians that held the Russians at Severodonetsk as long as they did is really something we'll probably all study in the future,” the official said.
“And when they chose to leave Severodonetsk, they chose to do it of their own accord, and to give that up in order to move to better prepare locations for the continuing of that defense.”
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu may or may not have visited Ukraine to meet with Russian generals and hand out medals.
Many media outlets, like The Mirror, report that he was in Ukraine, citing the Russian Ministry of Defense.
However, Reuters added a correction to its story "to show that Shoigu visited troops involved in the Ukraine operation, according to the defence ministry."
"It was not immediately clear whether or not he visited Ukraine."
Photos of a rotund Russian general taking command hit social media over the weekend, with that officer being called “the bottom of the barrel.”
The senior U.S. defense official said the Pentagon was aware of “several reliefs of Russian generals in Ukraine."
While the official deferred specifics to the Russian Ministry of Defense, “we do continue to see concerns with that leadership, and continued morale concerns with Russian forces.”
Ahead of the NATO summit in Madrid this week, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced the organization was boosting its high readiness forces to well over 300,000.
There are currently about 40,000 NATO Response Force troops.
The increase includes:
More prepositioned equipment, and stockpiles of military supplies.
More forward-deployed capabilities, like air defense.
Strengthened command and control.
And upgraded defense plans, with forces pre-assigned to defend specific Allies.
“Together, this constitutes the biggest overhaul of our collective deterrence and defense since the Cold War,” he said.
The Panzerhaubitze, a German self-propelled 155 mm howitzer, was spotted in the wild in Ukraine.
"Expected for so long: the German #Panzerhaubitze safely camouflaged in the bushes, was already in action," said German TV reporter Katrin Eigendorf in a tweet.
"Ruslan has just returned from Germany where he was trained."
"The question: will the howitzer be in time to stop the Russian advance?"
The arrival of the German howitzer in Ukraine was first announced six days ago by Ukraine Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov.
Russia continues to steal Ukraine's grain.
In an exclusive report, BBC says it has evidence and explains how it’s happening.
"They take grain to the annexed Crimea first, where they transport it to Kerch or Sevastopol [ports], then they load Ukrainian grain on Russian ships and go to the Kerch Strait," BBC quotes Andrii Klymenko, an expert at the Institute for Black Sea Strategic Studies in Kyiv, who regularly monitors movements of ships around Crimea.
"There, in the Kerch Strait [between Crimea and Russia], they transfer Ukrainian grain from small ships on to bulk carriers, where it is mixed with grain from Russia - or in some cases, they sail to this area just to give the appearance they are loading up with Russian grain."
Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/t ... es-in-kyiv
"The Ukraine Situation Report: Cross-Border Sabotage Raids And CIA Operatives In Kyiv - A clearer image is coming into view of the clandestine aspects of Ukraine’s defense as Russian missiles strike a crowded mall."
BY HOWARD ALTMAN
JUN 27, 2022
Though much of the attention on Russia’s war in Ukraine is focused on the battle for Donbas, and understandably so, there’s a shadow war taking place out of the public eye.
Over the weekend, The New York Times reported that “some C.I.A. personnel have continued to operate in the country secretly, mostly in the capital, Kyiv, directing much of the vast amounts of intelligence the United States is sharing with Ukrainian forces, according to current and former officials.”
Meanwhile, “a few dozen commandos from other NATO countries, including Britain, France, Canada and Lithuania, also have been working inside Ukraine.”
Ukraine is conducting its own shadow war as well, according to the Times of London, with troops from the Shaman battalion, a nickname given to Ukraine’s 10th Special Forces Detachment, taking part in cross-border sabotage missions.
“The exact targets are classified but the teams’ forays across the border help to explain how Russian oil refineries, ammunition depots and communications networks have been mysteriously sabotaged,” the paper reported.
We are just learning about these actions and while we are unable to independently confirm them, they do offer a glimpse, if true, about how Ukraine is taking matters into its own hands to defend itself by striking across the border.
The latest
Rescue operations continue after more than a thousand civilians were in the Amstor mall in Kremenchuk hit by Russian missiles on Sunday, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said on his Telegram page.
“The mall is on fire, rescuers are fighting the fire, the number of victims is impossible to imagine,” Zelensky wrote.
“No danger to the Russian army."
"No strategic value."
"Only the attempt of people to live a normal life, which so angers the occupiers."
“Russia continues to place its powerlessness on ordinary citizens."
"It is useless to hope for adequacy and humanity on her part.”
The Russians, however, claim that the intended target was the Kremenchuk road machine plant about 100 yards away where they say Ukrainian military equipment has been repaired since 2014
So far, three deaths have been confirmed, while 20 others have been hospitalized, nine of them in critical condition, said Poltava regional state administration head Dmytro Lunin, according to the Pravda Gerashchenko Telegram page.
Ukraine officials say they've struck Snake Island, the strategically important Black Sea rock, yet again, once more eliminating a Russian Pantsir air defense system.
Russia, without offering any proof, denied any damage and said it was Ukraine that suffered losses.
The U.S. will soon announce it will supply Ukraine with the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, or NASAMS.
This system is one that Kyiv has considered introducing itself in the past and Ukrainian Air Force pilots have also highlighted it as one of the best solutions to help overhaul the country’s surface-to-air missile inventory.
According to a report from CNN, citing an anonymous source, a U.S. announcement regarding the purchase of NASAMS systems for Ukraine is likely to come this week.
It is expected to be part of the latest package of arms and other support for Kyiv, together with additional artillery ammunition and counter-battery radars.
The Pentagon says it continues to “work diligently” to get the additional four M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) into Ukraine that were announced last week as part of the latest Presidential Drawdown Authority, a senior U.S. defense official told reporters Monday morning.
The official added that the second round of HIMARS training should coincide with that as well.
Ukraine has already used the systems, including an incident in which it says it struck a Russian command post in Donbas.
“We're conducting training out of Ukraine, in Germany and England,” said the official, adding that involves everything from maintaining to operating the donated HIMARS units.
There were more than 60 missile strikes across Ukraine over the weekend, including at Kyiv, Lviv, Chernihiv and Odesa, the official said.
“They certainly could be a protest against the G7 [summit] or the arrival of the HIMARS.”
On Sunday, the Institute for the Study of War suggested the strikes were indeed a protest against the ongoing G7 summit.
“This is the first such major strike on Kyiv since late April and is likely a direct response to Western leaders discussing aid to Ukraine at the ongoing G7 summit, much like the previous strikes on April 29 during UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ visit to Kyiv,” ISW reported.
There were other explosions of note recently as well.
Russian military warehouses well behind the front lines apparently blew up, Euromaidan Press reported on Twitter.
"Locals have reported huge fire in the Russian-occupied Svatove following the explosions."
"The explosions happened in the Russian military warehouses, according to the Luhansk Oblast head."
"Svatove is more than 60 kilometers behind the frontline."
The Ukrainian pullout from Severodonestk over the weekend offers lasting lessons, the official told reporters.
“The small number of Ukrainians that held the Russians at Severodonetsk as long as they did is really something we'll probably all study in the future,” the official said.
“And when they chose to leave Severodonetsk, they chose to do it of their own accord, and to give that up in order to move to better prepare locations for the continuing of that defense.”
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu may or may not have visited Ukraine to meet with Russian generals and hand out medals.
Many media outlets, like The Mirror, report that he was in Ukraine, citing the Russian Ministry of Defense.
However, Reuters added a correction to its story "to show that Shoigu visited troops involved in the Ukraine operation, according to the defence ministry."
"It was not immediately clear whether or not he visited Ukraine."
Photos of a rotund Russian general taking command hit social media over the weekend, with that officer being called “the bottom of the barrel.”
The senior U.S. defense official said the Pentagon was aware of “several reliefs of Russian generals in Ukraine."
While the official deferred specifics to the Russian Ministry of Defense, “we do continue to see concerns with that leadership, and continued morale concerns with Russian forces.”
Ahead of the NATO summit in Madrid this week, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced the organization was boosting its high readiness forces to well over 300,000.
There are currently about 40,000 NATO Response Force troops.
The increase includes:
More prepositioned equipment, and stockpiles of military supplies.
More forward-deployed capabilities, like air defense.
Strengthened command and control.
And upgraded defense plans, with forces pre-assigned to defend specific Allies.
“Together, this constitutes the biggest overhaul of our collective deterrence and defense since the Cold War,” he said.
The Panzerhaubitze, a German self-propelled 155 mm howitzer, was spotted in the wild in Ukraine.
"Expected for so long: the German #Panzerhaubitze safely camouflaged in the bushes, was already in action," said German TV reporter Katrin Eigendorf in a tweet.
"Ruslan has just returned from Germany where he was trained."
"The question: will the howitzer be in time to stop the Russian advance?"
The arrival of the German howitzer in Ukraine was first announced six days ago by Ukraine Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov.
Russia continues to steal Ukraine's grain.
In an exclusive report, BBC says it has evidence and explains how it’s happening.
"They take grain to the annexed Crimea first, where they transport it to Kerch or Sevastopol [ports], then they load Ukrainian grain on Russian ships and go to the Kerch Strait," BBC quotes Andrii Klymenko, an expert at the Institute for Black Sea Strategic Studies in Kyiv, who regularly monitors movements of ships around Crimea.
"There, in the Kerch Strait [between Crimea and Russia], they transfer Ukrainian grain from small ships on to bulk carriers, where it is mixed with grain from Russia - or in some cases, they sail to this area just to give the appearance they are loading up with Russian grain."
Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/t ... es-in-kyiv
Re: THE DAILY NEWS
NEWSWEEK
"Joe Biden's Approval Rating Plummets Internationally: Poll"
John Feng
28 JUNE 2022
Confidence in Joe Biden has declined sharply around the world since his first year in office, even as global views of the United States continue to improve following record lows under Donald Trump, a recent survey has found.
A survey published by the Pew Research Center on June 22 found confidence in Biden had declined sharply around the world in the second year of his presidency.
Among more than a dozen publics in North America, Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific, median confidence in Biden was at 60 percent, according to a Pew Research Center report on June 22.
Its analysis links the dip—down an average of 15 percentage points from 2021 — to initial enthusiasm after Trump's presidency, as well as the Biden administration's handling of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan last summer.
Some of the biggest declines were recorded in Italy (down 30 points), Greece (down 26 points) and Spain (down 25 points), while drops in excess of 15 points were also reported in Singapore (down 22 points), France (down 21 points) and the Netherlands (down 19 points), Pew's results found.
Among countries where directly comparable data was available, only South Korea (up 3 points) recorded an increase in confidence in Biden.
Pew's report attributes Biden's second-year approval to an averaging out of the initial rebound following the tenure of former President Trump, whose median confidence dropped to just 17 percent in his final year.
The survey found that, on average, a majority of 51 percent of publics viewed the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan as the right decision, but 57 percent saw the exit as having been poorly handled, causing a further hit to confidence in Biden.
Global trust in Biden has so far failed to reach the highs enjoyed by Barack Obama, but they exceed those experienced by Trump at any time between 2016 and 2020, according to Pew.
Confidence in Biden was highest in Poland (82 percent), Sweden (74 percent) and South Korea (70 percent), and lowest in Greece (41 percent), Italy (45 percent), Spain (48 percent) and Singapore (48 percent).
His median approval of 60 percent was slightly worse than that of President Emmanuel Macron of France (62 percent) and slightly better that of Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany (59 percent), while each suffered from roughly one-third no confidence among the 18 publics surveyed.
Biden, Macron and Scholz enjoyed much higher ratings than President Xi Jinping of China (18 percent) and President Vladimir Putin of Russia (9 percent), both of whom are experiencing record or near-record lows in the Pew polling on global attitudes.
The publics in Malaysia (62 percent for Xi and 59 for Putin) and Singapore (69 percent for Xi and 36 for Putin) reported the most trust in the two heads of state to "do the right thing regarding world affairs."
Despite Biden's individual slip down the global confidence ladder, favorable views of the U.S. are on the rise, the numbers showed.
It enjoyed a median favorability of 61 percent, versus 35 percent unfavorable views.
The U.S. was viewed most favorably in Poland (91 percent), South Korea (89 percent) and Israel (83 percent), and most unfavorably in Malaysia (57 percent), Singapore (48 percent) and Greece (48 percent).
An average of 79 percent of foreign publics said the U.S. was a "reliable partner."
The results were highest in the Netherlands (89 percent), Poland (86) and Sweden (84 percent); lowest in Malaysia (43 percent), Greece (53 percent) and France (62 percent).
Pew said South Koreans increased their opinions of the U.S. by 25 points since 2021.
Other significant increases were recorded in Sweden (up 21 points), Australia (up 16 points) and Canada (up 16 points).
Pew's report drew on surveys of 19,903 adults in 18 countries between February 14 to May 11 this year.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/jo ... 311fcf4f14
"Joe Biden's Approval Rating Plummets Internationally: Poll"
John Feng
28 JUNE 2022
Confidence in Joe Biden has declined sharply around the world since his first year in office, even as global views of the United States continue to improve following record lows under Donald Trump, a recent survey has found.
A survey published by the Pew Research Center on June 22 found confidence in Biden had declined sharply around the world in the second year of his presidency.
Among more than a dozen publics in North America, Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific, median confidence in Biden was at 60 percent, according to a Pew Research Center report on June 22.
Its analysis links the dip—down an average of 15 percentage points from 2021 — to initial enthusiasm after Trump's presidency, as well as the Biden administration's handling of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan last summer.
Some of the biggest declines were recorded in Italy (down 30 points), Greece (down 26 points) and Spain (down 25 points), while drops in excess of 15 points were also reported in Singapore (down 22 points), France (down 21 points) and the Netherlands (down 19 points), Pew's results found.
Among countries where directly comparable data was available, only South Korea (up 3 points) recorded an increase in confidence in Biden.
Pew's report attributes Biden's second-year approval to an averaging out of the initial rebound following the tenure of former President Trump, whose median confidence dropped to just 17 percent in his final year.
The survey found that, on average, a majority of 51 percent of publics viewed the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan as the right decision, but 57 percent saw the exit as having been poorly handled, causing a further hit to confidence in Biden.
Global trust in Biden has so far failed to reach the highs enjoyed by Barack Obama, but they exceed those experienced by Trump at any time between 2016 and 2020, according to Pew.
Confidence in Biden was highest in Poland (82 percent), Sweden (74 percent) and South Korea (70 percent), and lowest in Greece (41 percent), Italy (45 percent), Spain (48 percent) and Singapore (48 percent).
His median approval of 60 percent was slightly worse than that of President Emmanuel Macron of France (62 percent) and slightly better that of Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany (59 percent), while each suffered from roughly one-third no confidence among the 18 publics surveyed.
Biden, Macron and Scholz enjoyed much higher ratings than President Xi Jinping of China (18 percent) and President Vladimir Putin of Russia (9 percent), both of whom are experiencing record or near-record lows in the Pew polling on global attitudes.
The publics in Malaysia (62 percent for Xi and 59 for Putin) and Singapore (69 percent for Xi and 36 for Putin) reported the most trust in the two heads of state to "do the right thing regarding world affairs."
Despite Biden's individual slip down the global confidence ladder, favorable views of the U.S. are on the rise, the numbers showed.
It enjoyed a median favorability of 61 percent, versus 35 percent unfavorable views.
The U.S. was viewed most favorably in Poland (91 percent), South Korea (89 percent) and Israel (83 percent), and most unfavorably in Malaysia (57 percent), Singapore (48 percent) and Greece (48 percent).
An average of 79 percent of foreign publics said the U.S. was a "reliable partner."
The results were highest in the Netherlands (89 percent), Poland (86) and Sweden (84 percent); lowest in Malaysia (43 percent), Greece (53 percent) and France (62 percent).
Pew said South Koreans increased their opinions of the U.S. by 25 points since 2021.
Other significant increases were recorded in Sweden (up 21 points), Australia (up 16 points) and Canada (up 16 points).
Pew's report drew on surveys of 19,903 adults in 18 countries between February 14 to May 11 this year.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/jo ... 311fcf4f14
Re: THE DAILY NEWS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
"Most say nation on wrong track, including Dems: AP-NORC poll"
By JOSH BOAK and EMILY SWANSON, Associated Press
29 JUNE 2022
WASHINGTON (AP) — An overwhelming and growing majority of Americans say the U.S. is heading in the wrong direction, including nearly 8 in 10 Democrats, according to a new poll that finds deep pessimism about the economy plaguing President Joe Biden.
Eighty-five percent of U.S. adults say the country is on the wrong track, and 79% describe the economy as poor, according to a new survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
The findings suggest Biden faces fundamental challenges as he tries to motivate voters to cast ballots for Democrats in November’s midterm elections.
Inflation has consistently eclipsed the healthy 3.6% unemployment rate as a focal point for Americans, who are dealing with high gasoline and food prices.
Even among Democrats, 67% call economic conditions poor.
“He’s doing the best he can — I can’t say he’s doing a good job,” said Chuck McClain, 74.
“But his opposition is so bad."
"I just don’t feel the Democratic Congress is doing enough.”
The Las Vegas resident is a loyal Democrat who said he doesn't miss an election, but he said the price of gas and groceries, Russia's war in Ukraine and the country's deep political divides have led more Americans to feel as though Washington is unresponsive to their needs.
“My wife and I are very frustrated with where the country is headed, and we don’t have a lot of hope for the political end of it to get any better,” he said.
The poll shows only 39% of Americans approve of Biden’s leadership overall, while 60% disapprove.
His approval rating fell to its lowest point of his presidency last month and remains at that level.
The Democratic president gets hit even harder on the economy, with 69% saying they disapprove of him on the issue.
Among Democrats, 43% disapprove of Biden's handling of the economy.
Just 14% say things are going in the right direction, down slightly from 21% in May and 29% in April.
Through the first half of 2021, about half of Americans said the country was headed in the right direction, a number that has steadily eroded in the past year.
Dorothy Vaudo, 66, said she voted for Biden in 2020 but plans to switch allegiance this year.
“I’m a Democrat so I had to vote Democrat, but that’s going to change,” said the Martin County, North Carolina resident.
In recent weeks, Americans have endured even more bad economic news, with inflation continuing to rise, interest rates increasing dramatically and the S&P 500 entering a bear market as many serious economists predict a recession.
Yet consumer spending has largely kept pace and hiring remains brisk in a sign that families and businesses have been able to withstand some of the economic pain.
In an interview this month with the AP, Biden traced the decline in his popularity to increases in gas prices that began a year ago.
He said that prices shot up further with Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February.
But he rejected claims by Republican lawmakers and some major economists that his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package from last year contributed to inflation, noting that price increases were a global phenomenon.
“We’re in a stronger position than any nation in the world to overcome this inflation,” Biden said.
“If it’s my fault, why is it the case in every other major industrial country in the world that inflation is higher?"
Douglass Gavilan, a 26-year-old in Miami, is concerned about the “skyrocketing” prices and rent that he sees in his community.
Shelter costs are roughly a third of the U.S. consumer price index, so the run-up in rents and home values has started to strain the budgets even of many people living where there are strong job opportunities.
“I don’t even know if I’m going to be able to live here in a few years,” Gavilan said.
“I definitely don’t feel confident in the economy.”
Though he doesn’t identify with a political party, Gavilan voted for Biden in 2020.
He doesn't think Biden has proposed anything to make a meaningful difference in his life, but he does think the president’s in a tough spot.
“There’s very little he can do without everyone blaming him for everything,” Gavilan said.
The poll was conducted from Thursday to Monday, with many interviews conducted after the Supreme Court on Friday struck down Roe v. Wade and allowed states to ban abortion -- a decision opposed by a majority of the American people in earlier polls, which could also have contributed to the continued slump in the national mood.
The national dissatisfaction is bipartisan, the poll shows.
Ninety-two percent of Republicans and 78% of Democrats say the country is headed in the wrong direction.
Since last month, the percentage of Democrats saying the country is headed in the wrong direction rose from 66%.
Biden’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic remains a relative bright spot, with 53% of Americans saying they approve of his handling of that issue.
On the other hand, only 36% say they approve of Biden’s handling of gun policy; 62% disapprove.
But the economy is what weighs on many Americans as their top priority.
Curtis Musser, 57, a chemistry teacher from Clermont, Florida, said he expects a recession is coming, though he believes it will be mild.
Musser said many Americans simply feel as though they're at the mercy of events beyond their control, whether that's the pandemic, rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, war in Europe or political hostilities within the U.S.
“I feel as an individual somewhat helpless,” he said.
“I don’t have control of the markets, and you can’t really guess what markets are going do because you don’t know what the Fed is going to do."
"You don’t know what Congress is going to do."
"You don't know what Vladimir Putin is going to do."
___
The poll of 1,053 adults was conducted June 23-27 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population.
The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4 percentage points.
___
AP writer Hannah Fingerhut contributed to this report.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 81a0dac55d
"Most say nation on wrong track, including Dems: AP-NORC poll"
By JOSH BOAK and EMILY SWANSON, Associated Press
29 JUNE 2022
WASHINGTON (AP) — An overwhelming and growing majority of Americans say the U.S. is heading in the wrong direction, including nearly 8 in 10 Democrats, according to a new poll that finds deep pessimism about the economy plaguing President Joe Biden.
Eighty-five percent of U.S. adults say the country is on the wrong track, and 79% describe the economy as poor, according to a new survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
The findings suggest Biden faces fundamental challenges as he tries to motivate voters to cast ballots for Democrats in November’s midterm elections.
Inflation has consistently eclipsed the healthy 3.6% unemployment rate as a focal point for Americans, who are dealing with high gasoline and food prices.
Even among Democrats, 67% call economic conditions poor.
“He’s doing the best he can — I can’t say he’s doing a good job,” said Chuck McClain, 74.
“But his opposition is so bad."
"I just don’t feel the Democratic Congress is doing enough.”
The Las Vegas resident is a loyal Democrat who said he doesn't miss an election, but he said the price of gas and groceries, Russia's war in Ukraine and the country's deep political divides have led more Americans to feel as though Washington is unresponsive to their needs.
“My wife and I are very frustrated with where the country is headed, and we don’t have a lot of hope for the political end of it to get any better,” he said.
The poll shows only 39% of Americans approve of Biden’s leadership overall, while 60% disapprove.
His approval rating fell to its lowest point of his presidency last month and remains at that level.
The Democratic president gets hit even harder on the economy, with 69% saying they disapprove of him on the issue.
Among Democrats, 43% disapprove of Biden's handling of the economy.
Just 14% say things are going in the right direction, down slightly from 21% in May and 29% in April.
Through the first half of 2021, about half of Americans said the country was headed in the right direction, a number that has steadily eroded in the past year.
Dorothy Vaudo, 66, said she voted for Biden in 2020 but plans to switch allegiance this year.
“I’m a Democrat so I had to vote Democrat, but that’s going to change,” said the Martin County, North Carolina resident.
In recent weeks, Americans have endured even more bad economic news, with inflation continuing to rise, interest rates increasing dramatically and the S&P 500 entering a bear market as many serious economists predict a recession.
Yet consumer spending has largely kept pace and hiring remains brisk in a sign that families and businesses have been able to withstand some of the economic pain.
In an interview this month with the AP, Biden traced the decline in his popularity to increases in gas prices that began a year ago.
He said that prices shot up further with Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February.
But he rejected claims by Republican lawmakers and some major economists that his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package from last year contributed to inflation, noting that price increases were a global phenomenon.
“We’re in a stronger position than any nation in the world to overcome this inflation,” Biden said.
“If it’s my fault, why is it the case in every other major industrial country in the world that inflation is higher?"
Douglass Gavilan, a 26-year-old in Miami, is concerned about the “skyrocketing” prices and rent that he sees in his community.
Shelter costs are roughly a third of the U.S. consumer price index, so the run-up in rents and home values has started to strain the budgets even of many people living where there are strong job opportunities.
“I don’t even know if I’m going to be able to live here in a few years,” Gavilan said.
“I definitely don’t feel confident in the economy.”
Though he doesn’t identify with a political party, Gavilan voted for Biden in 2020.
He doesn't think Biden has proposed anything to make a meaningful difference in his life, but he does think the president’s in a tough spot.
“There’s very little he can do without everyone blaming him for everything,” Gavilan said.
The poll was conducted from Thursday to Monday, with many interviews conducted after the Supreme Court on Friday struck down Roe v. Wade and allowed states to ban abortion -- a decision opposed by a majority of the American people in earlier polls, which could also have contributed to the continued slump in the national mood.
The national dissatisfaction is bipartisan, the poll shows.
Ninety-two percent of Republicans and 78% of Democrats say the country is headed in the wrong direction.
Since last month, the percentage of Democrats saying the country is headed in the wrong direction rose from 66%.
Biden’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic remains a relative bright spot, with 53% of Americans saying they approve of his handling of that issue.
On the other hand, only 36% say they approve of Biden’s handling of gun policy; 62% disapprove.
But the economy is what weighs on many Americans as their top priority.
Curtis Musser, 57, a chemistry teacher from Clermont, Florida, said he expects a recession is coming, though he believes it will be mild.
Musser said many Americans simply feel as though they're at the mercy of events beyond their control, whether that's the pandemic, rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, war in Europe or political hostilities within the U.S.
“I feel as an individual somewhat helpless,” he said.
“I don’t have control of the markets, and you can’t really guess what markets are going do because you don’t know what the Fed is going to do."
"You don’t know what Congress is going to do."
"You don't know what Vladimir Putin is going to do."
___
The poll of 1,053 adults was conducted June 23-27 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population.
The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4 percentage points.
___
AP writer Hannah Fingerhut contributed to this report.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 81a0dac55d
Re: THE DAILY NEWS
THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
"Media silent on Hunter Biden's Russia prostitute counterintelligence scandal"
John Schindler
The strange saga of Hunter Biden’s waylaid laptop constitutes one of the bigger scandals in the recent history of American journalism and politics.
In the last month of the 2020 election campaign, Democrats, much of the media, and Big Tech worked together to suppress discussion of that laptop and its unflattering contents.
They did so in a manner that reeked of collusion.
The impact of this suppression on the election is difficult to gauge, however, since nobody had effectively killed relevant reporting in such a nakedly partisan manner before.
That was then.
In the more than 20 months since, the media have gradually decided that maybe there’s something there after all.
The original contention that the "laptop from hell" was mere Russian disinformation has given ground to the reality that it was the careless first son’s property.
The Washington Examiner commissioned a forensic examination that proved as much.
Other outlets such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, NBC News, and Politico have grudgingly admitted that it’s really Biden's laptop and the sordid information contained therein is real.
Not that the media seem interested in pursuing stories derived from that laptop about what Biden and his father were up to — particularly, that is, regarding shady finances with foreign ties.
There’s a plethora of data to work with, but the liberal media don’t seem eager to report any of it.
Apparently, it’s now acceptable to admit that it really was Biden's laptop, but nobody’s supposed to discuss its contents.
It has therefore fallen to conservative outlets to do that reporting, and some of those findings can be fairly termed bombshells.
Yet, these continue to be trees falling in forests that many people don’t hear about since the media keep ignoring these investigative reports.
Take the case of the exclusive story reported this week by the Washington Examiner.
It concerns the younger Biden's rather recent dalliances with Russian escorts, which were being funded by his father.
Personally, I don’t care about his prolific sexual antics during his years of epic drug binges, but when it involves Russians and shady finances, that’s getting into my counterintelligence wheelhouse.
To any trained eye, this week’s report raises troubling questions about Biden and his Russian friends.
To summarize it, over less than four months in late 2018 and early 2019, Biden spent in excess of $30,000 on Russian escorts, many of whom were linked to ".ru" Russian email addresses and worked with an "exclusive model agency" called UberGFE.
He exchanged numerous text messages with a woman named Eva, who served as his primary point of contact at UberGFE.
Eva called him "Robert" which is, in fact, Biden's first name.
As the Washington Examiner report notes, his bank "accounts were temporarily frozen at one point because his attempted payments to her 'girls' with Russian email accounts were too much of a 'red flag' for his bank."
The president's son also searched on Google for "dc russian escorts" and visited UberGFE’s website to search for escorts in Boston.
The report likewise notes that the elder Biden was financing Hunter Biden’s dalliances with Russian escorts.
The current president wired his son over $100,000 during the period in question.
Hunter Biden was spending his father's money as fast as it landed in his accounts.
As the report dryly states, "Joe Biden wired his son $5,000 while he was actively engaged with an UberGFE escort."
"... Texts indicated Hunter Biden convinced his father to wire him $20,000 to finance his stay at a New York City drug rehabilitation program that he never checked into."
As the Washington Examiner report emphasizes, there’s no indication that President Joe Biden knew what his son was spending that money on.
Let's give the president the benefit of the doubt that he had no clue that Hunter Biden was dropping $10,000 or so every month on Russian escorts.
What happened is bad enough.
Summed up, the younger Biden was seeking out Russian escorts in Washington, a city that’s crawling with Russian (and many other) spies, while giving tens of thousands of dollars to Eva, who appears to have been running a human trafficking ring.
For years, Democrats and their media allies have insisted that former President Donald Trump was "compromised" by the Kremlin.
Well, this story constitutes worse kompromat than the media ever reliably reported about the Trump family.
In other words, this is a bombshell report.
It carries troubling counterintelligence implications for the first son and potentially for the Biden family.
One might think the media would eagerly expand on this intriguing story in an effort to "speak truth to power" and all that.
One would be wrong.
Since that Washington Examiner report appeared, it has been commented on in a few right-of-center outlets, but Google searches reveal no further media amplification of the story whatsoever.
This coordinated ignoring of a major story with national security implications amounts to censorship.
It worked in October 2020, but it’s not working anymore.
If Republicans retake the House of Representatives in January, as seems likely, expect to hear more about this matter.
And rightly so.
John R. Schindler served with the National Security Agency as a senior intelligence analyst and counterintelligence officer.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 81a0dac55d
"Media silent on Hunter Biden's Russia prostitute counterintelligence scandal"
John Schindler
The strange saga of Hunter Biden’s waylaid laptop constitutes one of the bigger scandals in the recent history of American journalism and politics.
In the last month of the 2020 election campaign, Democrats, much of the media, and Big Tech worked together to suppress discussion of that laptop and its unflattering contents.
They did so in a manner that reeked of collusion.
The impact of this suppression on the election is difficult to gauge, however, since nobody had effectively killed relevant reporting in such a nakedly partisan manner before.
That was then.
In the more than 20 months since, the media have gradually decided that maybe there’s something there after all.
The original contention that the "laptop from hell" was mere Russian disinformation has given ground to the reality that it was the careless first son’s property.
The Washington Examiner commissioned a forensic examination that proved as much.
Other outlets such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, NBC News, and Politico have grudgingly admitted that it’s really Biden's laptop and the sordid information contained therein is real.
Not that the media seem interested in pursuing stories derived from that laptop about what Biden and his father were up to — particularly, that is, regarding shady finances with foreign ties.
There’s a plethora of data to work with, but the liberal media don’t seem eager to report any of it.
Apparently, it’s now acceptable to admit that it really was Biden's laptop, but nobody’s supposed to discuss its contents.
It has therefore fallen to conservative outlets to do that reporting, and some of those findings can be fairly termed bombshells.
Yet, these continue to be trees falling in forests that many people don’t hear about since the media keep ignoring these investigative reports.
Take the case of the exclusive story reported this week by the Washington Examiner.
It concerns the younger Biden's rather recent dalliances with Russian escorts, which were being funded by his father.
Personally, I don’t care about his prolific sexual antics during his years of epic drug binges, but when it involves Russians and shady finances, that’s getting into my counterintelligence wheelhouse.
To any trained eye, this week’s report raises troubling questions about Biden and his Russian friends.
To summarize it, over less than four months in late 2018 and early 2019, Biden spent in excess of $30,000 on Russian escorts, many of whom were linked to ".ru" Russian email addresses and worked with an "exclusive model agency" called UberGFE.
He exchanged numerous text messages with a woman named Eva, who served as his primary point of contact at UberGFE.
Eva called him "Robert" which is, in fact, Biden's first name.
As the Washington Examiner report notes, his bank "accounts were temporarily frozen at one point because his attempted payments to her 'girls' with Russian email accounts were too much of a 'red flag' for his bank."
The president's son also searched on Google for "dc russian escorts" and visited UberGFE’s website to search for escorts in Boston.
The report likewise notes that the elder Biden was financing Hunter Biden’s dalliances with Russian escorts.
The current president wired his son over $100,000 during the period in question.
Hunter Biden was spending his father's money as fast as it landed in his accounts.
As the report dryly states, "Joe Biden wired his son $5,000 while he was actively engaged with an UberGFE escort."
"... Texts indicated Hunter Biden convinced his father to wire him $20,000 to finance his stay at a New York City drug rehabilitation program that he never checked into."
As the Washington Examiner report emphasizes, there’s no indication that President Joe Biden knew what his son was spending that money on.
Let's give the president the benefit of the doubt that he had no clue that Hunter Biden was dropping $10,000 or so every month on Russian escorts.
What happened is bad enough.
Summed up, the younger Biden was seeking out Russian escorts in Washington, a city that’s crawling with Russian (and many other) spies, while giving tens of thousands of dollars to Eva, who appears to have been running a human trafficking ring.
For years, Democrats and their media allies have insisted that former President Donald Trump was "compromised" by the Kremlin.
Well, this story constitutes worse kompromat than the media ever reliably reported about the Trump family.
In other words, this is a bombshell report.
It carries troubling counterintelligence implications for the first son and potentially for the Biden family.
One might think the media would eagerly expand on this intriguing story in an effort to "speak truth to power" and all that.
One would be wrong.
Since that Washington Examiner report appeared, it has been commented on in a few right-of-center outlets, but Google searches reveal no further media amplification of the story whatsoever.
This coordinated ignoring of a major story with national security implications amounts to censorship.
It worked in October 2020, but it’s not working anymore.
If Republicans retake the House of Representatives in January, as seems likely, expect to hear more about this matter.
And rightly so.
John R. Schindler served with the National Security Agency as a senior intelligence analyst and counterintelligence officer.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 81a0dac55d
Re: THE DAILY NEWS
RIGZONE
"Oil Down with Signs of Declining Gas Demand"
by Bloomberg | Julia Fanzeres
Wednesday, June 29, 2022
Oil shed its gains after a bullish crude inventory report was tempered by an unseasonal slowdown in gasoline demand.
West Texas Intermediate slipped under $110 a barrel after rising as high as $114.05 a barrel during the session.
A government report showed that US crude stocks fell as fuelmakers increased runs amid historically high refining margins.
Meanwhile, gasoline demand on a four-week rolling average fell to the lowest seasonal level since 2014, with the exception of 2020.
The slowdown in gasoline demand growth could be a sign that prices are starting to impact consumers, said Rebecca Babin, senior energy trader at CIBC Private Wealth Management.
However, the outlook for oil is still strong, she added.
“Demand is currently below seasonal averages but the key thing for crude is that it is still growing.”
Compounding concerns over supply tightness, OPEC+ is expected to rubber-stamp another modest supply later this week, although the cartel has struggled to meet its targets this year.
The US has lobbied the production group to increase output and Amos Hochstein, the State Department’s senior adviser for energy security, said the US hopes OPEC+ will institute a further production increases.
Oil is heading for the first monthly decline since November after being hit by fears of a global economic slowdown, but prices still are about 50% higher this year.
While fears of a global economic slowdown have weighed on futures, demand remains robust for now.
US retail gasoline prices remain near record highs, causing pain for consumers.
A recovery from Covid-19 and a shortage of refining capacity to make fuels continue to keep prices at record highs.
Prices:
WTI for August delivery dropped $1.98 to settle at $109.78 a barrel in New York.
Brent for August settlement fell $1.72 to settle at $116.26 a barrel.
Meanwhile, Libya’s state oil company suspended shipments from two key eastern ports, while Iranian media said talks to revive a nuclear deal that could boost the country’s supply ended Wednesday with little effect.
Output in Ecuador also has been lower due to ongoing protests.
Time-spreads that help gauge market health are also flashing bullish signs as the vital North Sea market that underpins much of the world’s crude supply extended a recent surge.
Dated-to-Frontline swaps, a measure of how tight North Sea supplies are jumped to their highest level on record near $6 a barrel.
Spreads were also supported by tightening supplies at the US’s largest crude hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, where stockpiles fell to the lowest since 2014.
The spread between the September and October contracts is near $3 a barrel, as the market prices in the end of the SPR release.
The US will assess the need for further releases of emergency reserve crude after October, Amos Hochstein, the State Department’s senior adviser for energy security, said in a Bloomberg Television interview.
https://www.rigzone.com/news/wire/oil_d ... 7-article/
"Oil Down with Signs of Declining Gas Demand"
by Bloomberg | Julia Fanzeres
Wednesday, June 29, 2022
Oil shed its gains after a bullish crude inventory report was tempered by an unseasonal slowdown in gasoline demand.
West Texas Intermediate slipped under $110 a barrel after rising as high as $114.05 a barrel during the session.
A government report showed that US crude stocks fell as fuelmakers increased runs amid historically high refining margins.
Meanwhile, gasoline demand on a four-week rolling average fell to the lowest seasonal level since 2014, with the exception of 2020.
The slowdown in gasoline demand growth could be a sign that prices are starting to impact consumers, said Rebecca Babin, senior energy trader at CIBC Private Wealth Management.
However, the outlook for oil is still strong, she added.
“Demand is currently below seasonal averages but the key thing for crude is that it is still growing.”
Compounding concerns over supply tightness, OPEC+ is expected to rubber-stamp another modest supply later this week, although the cartel has struggled to meet its targets this year.
The US has lobbied the production group to increase output and Amos Hochstein, the State Department’s senior adviser for energy security, said the US hopes OPEC+ will institute a further production increases.
Oil is heading for the first monthly decline since November after being hit by fears of a global economic slowdown, but prices still are about 50% higher this year.
While fears of a global economic slowdown have weighed on futures, demand remains robust for now.
US retail gasoline prices remain near record highs, causing pain for consumers.
A recovery from Covid-19 and a shortage of refining capacity to make fuels continue to keep prices at record highs.
Prices:
WTI for August delivery dropped $1.98 to settle at $109.78 a barrel in New York.
Brent for August settlement fell $1.72 to settle at $116.26 a barrel.
Meanwhile, Libya’s state oil company suspended shipments from two key eastern ports, while Iranian media said talks to revive a nuclear deal that could boost the country’s supply ended Wednesday with little effect.
Output in Ecuador also has been lower due to ongoing protests.
Time-spreads that help gauge market health are also flashing bullish signs as the vital North Sea market that underpins much of the world’s crude supply extended a recent surge.
Dated-to-Frontline swaps, a measure of how tight North Sea supplies are jumped to their highest level on record near $6 a barrel.
Spreads were also supported by tightening supplies at the US’s largest crude hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, where stockpiles fell to the lowest since 2014.
The spread between the September and October contracts is near $3 a barrel, as the market prices in the end of the SPR release.
The US will assess the need for further releases of emergency reserve crude after October, Amos Hochstein, the State Department’s senior adviser for energy security, said in a Bloomberg Television interview.
https://www.rigzone.com/news/wire/oil_d ... 7-article/