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The conservative watchdog group Protect the People's Trust on Friday announced a lawsuit against the Interior Department over allegedly withholding documents in connection with its alleged involvement with EcoHealth Alliance and research by the Wuhan Institute of Virology. COVID-19 was first detected in the China city of Wuhan. Some people believe the virus leaked from the lab. The National Institutes of Health has given grant money to the nonprofit alliance, which has reportedly worked with the virology lab on bat coronavirus research. Public documents and published reports show evidence of possible connections between officials and actions of the U.S. Geological...

A bruising stock selloff continued, erasing more than 650 points from the Dow Jones Industrial Average as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin tried to instill calm into a jittery market. Coming off the stock market’s worst week since the 2008 financial crisis, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite fell for a fourth straight session Monday as investors continued to weigh the impact of rising interest rates, slowing U.S. growth, and the ramifications of a government shutdown extending into January. With the selloff showing little signs of slowing, Mr. Mnuchin attempted to reassure investors, saying he had spoken...

What kind of natural disaster would be bad enough to completely shut down the operations of the New York Federal Reserve Bank? It would have to be something very unusual, and apparently the New York Fed is very concerned that such an event could happen. According to Reuters, the New York Fed has been transferring personnel to Chicago and building up its satellite office there just in case a “natural disaster” makes it impossible for normal operations to continue in New York…

But times change and so does thinking. In recent weeks, we’ve discovered that the CME Group, the exchange in Chicago, has an incentive program under which foreign central banks could buy stock market derivatives like the S&P contracts at a discount. It’s not that these foreign banks need a break on the price of their trading. But it does show that there is a back-door way — through foreign emissaries — for the Fed and the US government to prop up stocks like Heller suggested, and — maybe — not get caught. But let me explain about the unknown forces...

Highlights from the just released G-7 statement: G7 Says Will Take Every Action to Stabilize Financial Markets G7 says it will commit to secure liquidity in market G7 will cooperate closely on currency market actions G7 says it will be in close contact next few weeks G7 says disorderly moves in markets hurt economy G7 says currency rates should be decided by markets But the winning bullet point of the year is... G7 says currency rates should be decided by markets

Cazenove Strategist Says It's The Plunge Protection Team Driving The U.S. Equity Markets Gregory White Sep. 27, 2010, 10:03 AM Cazenove's Robin Griffiths spoke to CNBC this morning (via ZeroHedge) on what's driving the current equity growth in the U.S. market. 0:30 Permanent Open Market Operations, or POMO, has the Fed buying treasuries from the banks, and then those banks act by putting money back into the market. 0:50 The money turns algorithms up, they enter the market, human investment managers don't enter the market, only the algorithms. Real investors don't want to buy in. 1:15 The equity markets are...

This Market Is Ready To Fall Like 2008 And It's Only The Plunge Protection Team Saving Us! Gregory White Jul. 8, 2010, 12:17 PM Damon Vickers of Nine Points Capital spoke to CNBC this morning about his belief that we're heading towards another downturn the size of 2008, and that the plunge protection team is what is saving us. 1:15 Real estate is going to be going down for many years, and the savings rate is of concern. The public cannot sell real estate because the market is bad, but they can sell stocks. 2:25 Financial service stocks are a...

CNBC Guest Says Absent Plunge Protection Team Stepping In, Market Would Fall; Wien, Kernan Disgusted Submitted by Tyler Durden on 07/08/2010 08:44 -0500 A highly amusing exchange occurred earlier on CNBC when guest Damon Vickers of Nine Points Capital had an unexpected moment of truthiness and turned some heads when he said that "unless the plunge protection team comes in over the next couple of days, the markets are looking very dicey here." When a disgusted Joe Kernan asks if Vickers was making a joke about the PPT, the response is "absolutely not - it's common knowledge that the government...

Rally Fizzles, Bulls Blowing It In Final Hour Of The Day Gregory White Jun. 9, 2010, 3:02 PM Update 3:15: Losses for BP (14 year low, according to CNBC) and Anadarko picking up as the day goes on: BP down 15.05% Anadarko down 9.86% What was once a rally is now toast with all indices having moved significantly lower in the last few hours. DOW up .09% NASDAQ up 0.25% S&P 500 up .08% To give you a little perspective, here's the DOW showing the gains we've lost on the day:[snip]

Markets TANK In Final Moments Of The Day: Here's What You Need To Know Joe Weisenthal May 26, 2010, 4:00 PM After surging by as much as 2% at one point, markets collapsed in the final moments of the day, a session that will prove very dispiriting for the bulls. But first, the scoreboard: Dow: -70 (below 10,000!) S&P 500: -6.2 NASDAQ: -15.07 And now, the key stories. * Once again, the see-saw market is the story of the day. Stocks were up very big early, following a good overnight session, and then collapsed in the final hour. * The...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks sharply cut losses on Tuesday as shares of basic materials and retail-related companies advanced. The Dow Jones industrial average (DJI:^DJI - News) dropped 112.53 points, or 1.12 percent, to 9,954.04. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (^SPX - News) fell 9.46 points, or 0.88 percent, to 1,064.19. The Nasdaq Composite Index (Nasdaq:^IXIC - News) lost 22.70 points, or 1.03 percent, to 2,190.85. Indexes opened down nearly 3 percent.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks fell at the open on Friday, extending Thursday's steep declines, as concerns over the euro-zone debt crisis and U.S. financial reform fractured investor confidence in risky assets

NEW YORK, May 21 (Reuters) - S&P 500 index June futures contracts SPc1 fell on Friday below 1,060, the lowest level hit during the still unexplained market plunge on May 6, which some analysts see as technical support level.

NEW YORK – Stocks dropped again Friday after concerns grew that the deep spending cuts under Europe's bailout plan could slow a global recovery. The euro dropped to a 19-month low. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 215 points in afternoon trading following a slide of more than 3 percent in European markets. Investors seeking safety piled into Treasurys, the dollar and gold, which hit another record. Crude oil sank 4 percent, and an indicator of stock market volatility jumped. Currency traders have been moving out of the euro throughout the week because of concerns that cost-cutting measures in countries...

Former Plunge Protection Team Member: Governments Are Going to Tax Everything That Doesn't Move I previously posted a short profile on Philippa Malmgren and the remarkable list of clients she has gained since leaving government. There is no question that word is out among insiders that she is an up and coming player. Today, she provided a briefing to financial executives in Australia. Paul Benson was there and provides notes on her latest thinking: /snip . * More strikes are likely as workers battle to have their incomes keep pace with inflation. * China is especially afraid of inflation as...

8 Theories For Why The Stock Market Plunged Almost 1,000 Points In A Matter Of MinutesMichael Snyder May. 7, 2010, 7:06 AM In one of the most dizzying half-hours in stock market history, the Dow plunged nearly 1,000 points on Thursday, May 6th before bouncing back to close down 347.80 points. This represented the biggest intraday decline since 1987. But what made this crash so absolutely shocking is that it happened in the course of less than an hour. Between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. the Dow lost over 700 points before dramatically bouncing back about 600 points. Two of...

Stock Market Panic Dow Crash 1000 Points Before Fed Steps in to Buy Stock-Markets / Financial Crash May 06, 2010 - 02:56 PM By: Nadeem Walayat The sovereign debt crisis shock waves emanating out of Greece triggered a stock market Free fall crash today as the Dow sliced through support after support to all the way below Dow 10k, hitting a low of 9,872 before the Fed as part of the Plunge Protection Team (PPT) stepped in to halt the panic selling and triggering an equally phenomenal a 700 point reversal less than half an hour from today's close. The...

PBT Palestinian Bogus Terminology Or PPT Palestinian Propaganda TerminologyThe "Palestinian propaganda" greased by Arab oil & boosted up by terrorizing the west, has been "busy" for decades by producing phrases, terms in order to slur the democratic 'Jewish' state, ranging from plain ridiculous to simply outrageous lies. The first more noticeable attempt was (in the 1970's) by the Arab Muslim infested anti-Jewish bigotry was to coin [instead of the outside world declaring the truth about this intolerant society, about: racism of Arabism or the bigotry of Islamism] the outrageous phrase: Zionism - racism. Using its oil & market power insinuating to...

Analysts say government's financial rescues have fueled conspiracy theories. The unusual circumstances that led the U.S. market to rally powerfully in 2009 might be explained by secret government moves to buy stocks, according to Charles Biderman, the founder and chief executive of TrimTabs, a research firm that tracks liquidity flows in the market. "We cannot identify the source of the new money that pushed stock prices up so far so fast," Biderman said . The source of approximately $600 billion net new cash necessary to lift the market's overall capitalization by $6 trillion last year could not be identified by...

Rumors are rampant that the Fed and Treasury Department in league with large Wall Street firms are operating through the so-called Plunge Protection Team (PPT) to the stock market artificially. Fears are pervasive that if the pumping stops, the market will crash. Any truth to the rumors? Who knows? Only government insiders know because they refuse to open the books to public scrutiny. Whether or not the PPT is pumping the stock market by buying shares with new money created out of thin air by the Fed, the rumors are extensive enough and widely enough believed by market participants that...