Free Republic

Arecent discovery in Minnesota has unveiled a helium reservoir with astonishingly high concentrations of the gas, surpassing initial estimations and potentially opening doors for commercial extraction. Pulsar Helium, an exploration company, revealed the discovery of helium reserves in late February 2024, following drilling activities near Babbitt, northern Minnesota, reaching depths of 2,200 feet (670 meters). Initial findings displayed helium concentrations of 12.4%, described by Thomas Abraham-James, the president and CEO of Pulsar Helium, as “a dream” in an interview with CBS News.[1] The discovery represents an unprecedented opportunity to gain access to helium at concentration levels dramatically exceeding the normal...

Stocks are kicking off the week deeply in the red as all the anxiety and negativity from Thurs/Fri carried over the weekend...

CNBC anchor Jim Cramer on Friday reacted to the market sell-off over concerns of a new coronavirus variant. According to Cramer, Friday’s decline for stocks is not the right time to buy with the market uncertainty.

Turkey’s currency tumbled 9% on Monday, putting it on course for its biggest single-day selloff since 2018, following the abrupt ouster of the central bank governor last week. The lira fell to as low as 8.280 a dollar from 7.219, before regaining some ground to trade at about 7.9312 a dollar, according to FactSet. Turkey’s stocks also plunged. The turmoil comes after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday unexpectedly fired Naci Agbal, the central bank governor who had repeatedly raised interest rates in an effort to tame inflation since his appointment in November. Foreign investors say the move renewed concerns...

Just days before Amazon announced the big winners of its HQ2 sweepstakes, CEO Jeff Bezos had to address a separate but related concern among employees: Where is all this headed? At an all-hands meeting last Thursday in Seattle, an employee asked Bezos about Amazon’s future. Specifically, the questioner wanted to know what lessons Bezos has learned from the recent bankruptcies of Sears and other big retailers. “Amazon is not too big to fail,” Bezos said, in a recording of the meeting that CNBC has heard. “In fact, I predict one day Amazon will fail. Amazon will go bankrupt. If you...

Stocks got smoked on Thursday. When the bell rang on Wall Street, all three major indexes were down more than 5%. The Dow fell 6.9%, or 1,861 points, while the S&P 500 fell some 5.9%, or 188 points. By day’s end, all of the S&P 500’s gains in the month of June had been wiped out. The reversal in markets — which followed two mixed, but not terrible sessions for the market — was swift and left many asking the age old question: why? To our minds, four distinct stories converged during Thursday’s trading session, each contributing what became an...

Donald Trump hit out at the Federal Reserve on Wednesday, accusing them of “going loco” over interest rate hikes this year, hours after the worst US stock market sell-off since February. Mr Trump said in an interview on Fox News that the market plunge was not because of his trade conflict with China, instead blaming the US central bank. “That wasn’t it. The problem I have is with the Fed,” he said. “The Fed is going wild. They’re raising interest rates and it’s ridiculous. The Fed is going loco.” He added: “They’re so tight. I think the Fed has gone...

This week’s slump brought the total market value of cryptocurrencies down to around $400 billion, half the high it reached in January, according to industry tracker Coinmarketcap.com. The market value of cryptocurrencies is calculated by multiplying the number of digital coins in existence by their price, although many question whether that is the right way to value them. Bitcoin, the biggest and best-known cryptocurrency, fell as much as 15 percent on Friday to a two-month low of $7,625 on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange BTC=BSP. It clawed back some losses and was down around 4.1 percent at $8,623.50 in mid-morning New...

"We've had a unilateral move higher [in stocks] to start things off and people are realizing this is not sustainable," one strategist said. The Dow and S&P 500 posted their worst session of the year on Monday. Long-dated Treasury yields climbed further on Tuesday, with the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield trading near levels not seen since 2014, amid fears of higher The S&P 500 pulled back 0.9 percent, with health care as the worst-performing sector. The Nasdaq composite fell 1 percent. "We've had a unilateral move higher [in stocks] to start things off and people are realizing this is not...

CNN article is video only. "A report in the New York Times says that Saudi Arabia is threatening to sell off billions in U.S. assets if the U.S. Congress passes a bill that would allow 9/11 victims to sue foreign governments"

China froze share offers and set up a market-stabilization fund on Saturday, the Wall Street Journal said, as Beijing intensified efforts to pull stock markets out of a nose-dive that is threatening the world's second-largest economy. Beijing's reported suspension of initial public offers (IPOs) came a few hours after extraordinary announcements by major brokers and fund managers, which collectively pledged to invest at least $19 billion of their own money into stocks. China's government, regulators and financial institutions are now waging a concerted campaign to prop up the nation's two main share markets, amid fears that a meltdown would rock...

The Treasury Bond Selloff Is 'For Real' And The Volume Is Gigantic Matthew Boesler May 29, 2013, 2:05 PMIt's been a crazy few weeks in the Treasury bond market. After a big rally that began in mid-March, amid the outbreak of the Cypriot financial crisis and fears over a slowdown in global growth, Treasuries have given up all of their gains, and bond yields are now rising to the highest levels in over a year. This morning, the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury hit a high of 2.23%. Naturally, there is a lot of debate over where yields go...

Now Stocks Are Getting Slammed Too — Dow Off 185 Matthew BoeslerApril 15, 2013 Gold is getting destroyed today. In fact, the entire commodity complex is selling off pretty hard. Stocks are also coming under heavy selling pressure, and unlike commodities, they are currently making new intraday lows. Right now, the S&P 500 is down 1.5 percent, trading around $1564 (and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 185 points). The biggest laggards today probably won't surprise anyone – they are mostly part of the bigger commodities theme. Freeport MacMoRan, the gold miner, is down 7.3%, while Cliffs Natural Resources...

Stocks fell early and often Tuesday as the situation in the eurozone continued to deteriorate. The Greek Bailout 2.0 plan is being jeopardized by weaker-than-expected​ participation in the country's debt swap offer and fears that its failure would result in €1 trillion in losses for European banks. Also adding to concerns is word that Ireland could require a second bailout package -- something that might not be forthcoming if the Irish reject a strict new fiscal austerity pact. The result is what's set to be the worst market performance since December and the breaching of significant technical support levels. By...

<p>BANGKOK (AP) — Asian stock markets extended a sell-off Tuesday, following a dismal session on Wall Street that was sparked by the revelation that debt-strapped Greece would not be able to reach a target for reducing its budget deficit.</p> <p>Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 1.5 percent to 8,415.05 in early trading. South Korea's Kospi index plunged 4.4 percent, while Australia's S&P ASX 200 index fell 0.4 percent to 3,880.10. Benchmarks in Singapore, Taiwan and New Zealand were also lower.</p>

Asian markets slammed in global selloff By Yoshikazu Tsuno | AFP – 1 hour 17 minutes ago. Asian stock markets early Friday caught a global selling fever after new warnings of world recession coupled with fears that rapid-fire growth in China is set to slow down. Investors in Tokyo, Seoul and Sydney picked up on the mounting anxiety evident in the United States and Europe, where fresh carnage ripped across the markets on Thursday. "The bears returned aggressively overnight as very disappointing US economic data and fears over the stability of European banks had traders reaching for the sell button,"...

Fears of a global banking crisis swept across markets, driving stocks sharply lower, Treasury yields to record lows, and gold to record highs. The dramatic reflex to run for safety also propped up the U.S. dollar, which was stronger against a whole group of currencies. The yield on the U.S. 10-year note fell below the psychologically key 2 percent level temporarily, a level it has not seen since possibly the Eisenhower era. The Dow tumbled more than 500 points at the day's lows, and the industrial and commodities stocks that rely on global growth fell the hardest. Like an out-of-control...

Asia stocks plunge to join in global rout By Sarah Turner, MarketWatch SYDNEY (MarketWatch) — Asian shares nose-dived on Friday, joining in a global rout fueled by heightened debt and economic-growth fears, with energy and financial stocks among the worst performers. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index (HSI:HK:HSI) fell 4.9%, while the Shanghai Composite index (SHA:CN:000001) dropped 1.7%. Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average (TYO:JP:NIK) closed the day down 3.7%, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index (ASX:AU:XJO) ended with a 4% loss. South Korea’s Kospi (KRX:KR:0100) dropped 3.6%. “A complete crisis of confidence has emerged in the market,” said Toby Lawson, head...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors fled stocks on Thursday, putting the S&P 500 into correction territory, as worries about the U.S. economy and European debt escalated. All three indexes were down 2 percent, having fallen more than 3 percent each at one point. Decliners beat advancers on the New York Stock Exchange by 14 to 1. "People are throwing in the towel because they can't find relief on any front. There are a lot of worries about the economy," said Milton Ezrati, market strategist at Lord Abbett Co. in Jersey City, New Jersey, which manages $110 billion in assets. The...

<p>US Treasuries suffered their biggest two-day sell-off since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, following a torrid month that has seen borrowing costs for western governments soar.</p> <p>Germany, Japan and the US have all seen their benchmark market interest rates rise by more than a quarter in the past month while the UK’s has risen by nearly a fifth.</p>