Morgan Stanley (MS-PK)

"It was pretty jarring earlier this month when the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court took the bench for the first time since the omicron surge over the holidays. All were now wearing masks. All, that is, except Justice Neil Gorsuch. What's more, Justice Sonia Sotomayor was not there at all, choosing instead to participate through a microphone setup in her chambers.

Sotomayor has diabetes, a condition that puts her at high risk for serious illness, or even death, from COVID-19. She has been the only justice to wear a mask on the bench since last fall when, amid a marked decline in COVID-19 cases, the justices resumed in-person arguments for the first time since the onset of the pandemic.

Now, though, the situation had changed with the omicron surge, and according to court sources, Sotomayor did not feel safe in close proximity to people who were unmasked. Chief Justice John Roberts, understanding that, in some form asked the other justices to mask up.

They all did. Except Gorsuch, who, as it happens, sits next to Sotomayor on the bench. His continued refusal since then has also meant that Sotomayor has not attended the justices' weekly conference in person, joining instead by telephone."

Fox News' Sean Hannity was no match for economist Austin Goolsbee on Friday night.

Goolsbee gores Hannity:

"Hannity repeatedly tried to attack president Joe Biden over energy production and gas prices, only to be fact-checked by Goolsbee, a professor at the University of Chicago.

"He inherited energy independence, and we were a net exporter of energy, and now he's begging OPEC," Hannity said of Biden at the beginning of the clip.

"He inherited an economic downturn bordering on catastrophe and in times like that, the price of oil tends to go way down, that's for sure," Goolsbee responded.

"We need to focus," Hannity said. "Did he or did he not inherit — well, three vaccines and monoclonal antibodies — did he also inherit that we were a net exporter of energy, and did he cut energy production by 40 percent? The answer is yes."

"No, he did not cut energy production by 40 percent," Goolsbee responded. "Energy production fell because we were in an economic catastrophe — (a) catastrophic downturn.


"No, he fired Keystone XL pipeline workers," Hannity insisted.

"The Keystone pipeline wasn't built yet, Sean," Goolsbee said flatly. "That had no effect on energy production."

"Then why is he begging OPEC?" Hannity said of Biden. "Donald Trump didn't beg OPEC. Why is he begging OPEC?"

"He's not begging OPEC," Goolsbee said. "He convinced OPEC, and OPEC is increasing their production."

"They keep rejecting him," Hannity claimed.

"They didn't reject him. They said they're increasing production," Goolsbee said. "Why are you complaining about that, Sean? You're all over the map here. You were saying you didn't like to pay high gas prices. I told you gas prices went down and Biden convinced OPEC to increase production, and then you said, 'Why is he asking them to increase production?'"

"Jobless claims: Another 207,000 Americans filed new claims last week

Emily McCormick · Reporter
Thu, January 6, 2022, 8:30 AM

New unemployment claims ticked up but remained near a 52-year low last week, with the weekly pace of new claims holding below pre-pandemic levels as the labor market sees job openings near a record high.

The Labor Department released its latest weekly jobless claims report Thursday at 8:30 a.m. ET. Here were the main metrics from the print, compared to consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg:

-- Initial jobless claims, week ended Jan. 1: 207,000 vs. 195,000 expected, 198,000 during the prior week

-- Continuing claims, week ended Dec. 25: 1.754 million vs. 1.678 million expected, 1.716 million during the prior week

The U.S. economy likely saw a back-to-back week with new jobless claims coming in below the psychologically important 200,000 level. In the pre-pandemic period throughout 2019, new claims averaged around 220,000 per week.

But given that this week's data encompasses the holiday period, some economists warned that this report may be subject to some additional distortions.

"Signal-to-noise ratio is high at this time of year, because seasonal adjustment over the holidays is extremely difficult, so all forecasts are tentative," Ian Shepherdson, chief economist for Pantheon Economics, wrote in a note. "The trend, though, is falling."

"Alabama coach Nick Saban and NBA legend Jerry West are among five prominent West Virginia sports figures pushing Sen. Joe Manchin (D) to support the Freedom to Vote Act.

Manchin and Sen. Krysten Sinema (D-Ariz.) have refused to support making a filibuster exception for the voting rights bill. A bill can be filibustered in the Senate if it doesn't have 60 votes; if the voting rights bill was exempt from the filibuster and Manchin and Sinema voted for it, the bill would pass a 50-50 Senate by virtue of a tiebreaking vote from Vice President Kamala Harris.

The letter, also signed by former West Virginia athletic director Oliver Luck, former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue, and former Buffalo Bills linebacker Darryl Talley, urges “Congress to exercise its Constitutional responsibility to enact laws that set national standards for the conduct of Federal elections and for decisions that determine election outcomes.”

How is it SCHW has steadily risen without fumbling every three weeks and are now at the back door with $5 of seperation when it was $30 in November ?
Every single time that MS hits the 52 week high it crashes back below $100 like a baseball thrown at old milk jugs at those city carnival games. You know this sht is being gamed by those in the know and those in control. Insider trading on information is supposed to be illegal but yet it is what greases the money machine and pays everyone down to the Market Makers, to the Institutional fund managers, to the 401K, IRA Money Market portfolio managers, and likely extends to our own brokerages...all dived up nice and tidy. Stock trading is a criminal enterprise because it feeds off the lay.
From the retail's perspective - it is a way to make an honest buck. From those running the system it is a way to steal somebody's honest buck.

"Netanyahu negotiating plea deal in corruption trial

Snip

The deal, which could be signed as early as this week, could usher Netanyahu off the Israeli political stage for years, paving the way for a leadership race in his Likud party and shaking up Israeli politics. Any deal could spare Netanyahu an embarrassing and protracted trial over an issue that has gripped the nation and risks tarnishing his legacy.

Reports of a deal angered critics who said a it would undermine the rule of law.

“The man who worked to destroy the public’s trust in the foundations of democracy for personal reasons is not eligible for deals,” Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz tweeted. He was referring to Netanyahu’s attempts after he was indicted to cast doubt on Israel’s justice system, saying it was biased and pursuing a witch hunt against him.

Demonstrators gathered against the developing deal outside the attorney general’s house Saturday evening. Any deal will likely be challenged in court."

Our descendants will curse us, rightly so:

"The past seven years were Earth's warmest on record "by a clear margin," according to new research released this week by the Copernicus Climate Change Service, a group affiliated with the European Union.

Specifically, 2021 was the planet's fifth-warmest year on record, the group said. The two warmest years, according to the Copernicus group, were 2020 and 2016.

And despite the global COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide concentrations of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane – the main drivers of global warming – continued to increase in 2021.

"Carbon dioxide and methane concentrations are continuing to increase year on year and without signs of slowing down," Vincent-Henri Peuch, director of the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, said in a statement.'

"Florida-The state breaks infection records for the third week in a row as hospitalizations and deaths mount.

Florida won't enforce federal health care worker vaccine mandate "