Israeli Military Planning To Stay In Gaza Through 2025

by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

The Israeli military is planning to stay in Gaza through 2025 and is stepping up demolitions and the construction of more permanent military structures, Haaretz reported on Wednesday.

There is a significant portion of Gaza’s territory that’s under the control of the Israeli military, where the IDF has been destroying every building in sight and establishing military outposts, including the Netzarim Corridor, a strip of land that separates northern Gaza from the rest of the Strip.

Netanyahu stands before a map of Gaza & explains why Israel must retain control over the Philadelphi corridor

According to Haaretz, the Netzarim corridor is currently five to six kilometers wide and about nine kilometers long, and the Israeli military is working to expand it even more.

"Today, when you stand on the road in some places, you no longer see any houses," an Israeli combat soldier said of the corridor, which includes the former site of a Jewish settlement.

The Israeli military has conducted a similar campaign of destruction along the Philadelphi Corridor, which is on the Gaza-Egypt border, and in a "buffer zone" along the entire Israel-Gaza border that cuts one kilometer into Gaza’s territory.

In those areas as well, virtually all the buildings have been destroyed, and military outposts are going up. Haaretz previously reported that the Netzarim Corridor, the Philadelphi Corridor, and the buffer zone account for 26% of Gaza’s territory.

In northern Gaza, Israel is now allegedly conducting an ethnic cleansing campaign focused on the cities of Beit Lahia, Beit Hanoun, and Jabalia, which have been completely cut off from aid deliveries as the Israeli military is starving the civilian population. Israeli forces are also demolishing buildings in the northern cities so the expelled Palestinians have nowhere to return.

The ethnic cleansing campaign and conquering of Gaza’s territory is expected to pave the way for Jewish settlements in Gaza. "When you see the roads being paved here, it’s clear that this isn’t intended for the ground maneuvers or for raids by the troops into various places.

These roads lead, among other places, to the places from which some of the settlements were removed," an Israeli officer in Gaza told Haaretz.

"I don’t know of any intent to rebuild them, that isn’t something we’re told explicitly. But everyone understands where this is going."

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/israeli-military-planning-stay-gaza-through-2025

Trump Nominates RFK Jr. For HHS Secretary

 President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be secretary of Health and Human Services.

Donald Trump shakes hands with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at a Turning Point Action campaign rally in Duluth, Georgia, on Oct. 23, 2024. | Alex Brandon/AP

The 70-year-old Kennedy has been a longtime health advocate who Trump said he would let "go wild," should he win the November 5 election.

"He’s going to help make America healthy again. … He wants to do some things, and we’re going to let him get to it," Trump said during his victory speech. "Go have a good time, Bobby."

In a post to Truth Social, Trump said:

I am thrilled to announce Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as The United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health. The Safety and Health of all Americans is the most important role of any Administration, and HHS will play a big role in helping ensure that everybody will be protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives that have contributed to the overwhelming Health Crisis in this Country. Mr. Kennedy will restore these Agencies to the traditions of Gold Standard Scientific Research, and beacons of Transparency, to end the Chronic Disease epidemic, and to Make America Great and Healthy Again!

That said, Politico suggested that Kennedy "may still face a steep slope to confirmation" over his fight against overvaccination, and his book accusing former NIH official Anthony Fauci of conspiring with Bill Gates and drugmakers to sell COVID-19 vaccines.

Kennedy says he isn't taking vaccines away from anyone - he just wants to ensure they're safe.

Ladies and gentlemen, your new HHS Secretary, Bobby Kennedy Jr.:

"I asked God for 19 years to put me in a position where I could end the chronic disease epidemic and bring health back to our children, and in August, God sent me Donald Trump.”

MAHA 🤝 MAGA

🇺🇸🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/1vKVSLQ4Y3

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) November 14, 2024

"I’m going to make sure scientific safety studies and efficacy are out there, and people can make individual assessments about whether that product is going to be good for them," he told MSNBC the day after the election.

Kennedy also says he'll recommend against adding fluoride to drinking water, as it's "almost certainly" causing an IQ loss in children, according to some studies.

What an incredible upgrade. From weirdo cross dresser to gigachad. Who better to take on the role of Secretary of Health and Human Services than RFK Jr.? pic.twitter.com/8f0WY2p123

— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) November 14, 2024

Meanwhile...

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/trump-nominates-rfk-jr-hhs-secretary

BioLife Solutions Inc (BLFS) Q3 2024 Earnings Call Highlights: Strategic Divestitures

 

• BioLife Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:BLFS) reported its fourth consecutive quarter of sequential revenue growth, with a 43% year-over-year increase in cell processing platform revenue.

• The company achieved a significant improvement in adjusted gross margin, reaching 54% in Q3 2024, up from 44% in the same period last year.

• BioLife Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:BLFS) announced the strategic divestiture of its biostorage business, which is expected to streamline operations and fortify the balance sheet.

• The company increased its cell processing revenue guidance for the full year 2024, reflecting strong performance and positive market trends.

• BioLife Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:BLFS) has a strong market position, with its biopreservation media products embedded in more than 70% of relevant commercially sponsored CGT clinical trials.

Negative Points

• The company reported a GAAP operating loss of $1.6 million for Q3 2024, although this was an improvement from the previous year.

• Despite the sale of the biostorage business, BioLife Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:BLFS) still faces challenges with its freezer business, which is considered a drag on long-term margins.

• The company's total revenue guidance for 2024 was slightly reduced due to a decrease in expected storage revenue following the sale of the biostorage business.

• BioLife Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:BLFS) is still in the process of exiting its remaining freezer business, which represents less than 13% of sales but impacts long-term profitability.

• The company faces potential risks from macroeconomic factors and industry-wide issues that could affect future demand and growth.

Q & A Highlights

• 
  

Q: Can you frame up what pro forma gross margins look like post the sale of SSAE, and how should we think about any OpEx savings and depreciation going forward? A: We issued an 8-K earlier today that lays out all the details for different prior periods. For the six months of 2024, adjusted gross margin sans SSAE was 60% and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 13%. Going forward, we expect minimal impact on our adjusted EBITDA profile.

Q: With the destocking, we've seen some swings in revenue and growth over the last year. Can you frame up how we should think about long-term growth from here? A: We expect growth in 2025 and believe the destocking is behind us. We will provide formal guidance in early January.

Q: Post SSAE sale, what are the areas of focus, whether it be additional deals or capacity ads around the media business? A: The focus is on our cell processing product line, including biopreservation media and Sexton tools. We have capacity needs for biopreservation, and the sale of SSAE provides capital for this. Any M&A will focus on maintaining or expanding our market leadership in cell processing tools without negatively impacting our margin expansion trajectory.

Q: Can you expand on the specific levers within the cell processing platform that you can pull heading into next year? A: Key factors include deepening relationships with distributors, pricing opportunities, and cross-selling Sexton tool products into our existing customer base. We expect some revenue from these initiatives toward the end of next year.

Q: Regarding the announced divestiture of SSAE, does this change your strategy on the potential divestiture of CBS? A: We are committed to exiting the CBS business through a transaction and are close to completing it. The focus will remain on proprietary, higher growth, higher margin recurring revenue products in the cell processing platform.

For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/biolife-solutions-inc-blfs-q3-071630538.html

PDS Bio Q3 update

 “Since our last update in August, we have been actively engaged with investors and clinicians to discuss our strategy and funding requirements for our VERSATILE-003 Phase 3 trial of Versamune® HPV + pembrolizumab compared to pembrolizumab as a potential treatment for first-line recurrent/metastatic HPV16-positive head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC),” said Frank Bedu-Addo, PhD, President and Chief Executive Officer of PDS Biotech. Dr. Bedu-Addo further noted that “based on investor feedback, discussions with key opinion leaders involved with the study and other experts, we have made minor modifications to the VERSATILE-003 trial design to reduce the overall cost and time required to achieve an interim data readout and trial completion.”

With submission of the updated Investigational New Drug (IND) application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this week, the Company expects the FDA clearance decision by mid-December, allowing the Company to initiate site activation in the first quarter of 2025.

“Elsewhere in our pipeline, we were pleased with the data from the IMMUNOCERV Phase 2 clinical trial evaluating Versamune® HPV with chemoradiation to treat locally advanced cervical cancer presented at the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) annual meeting. The presented data demonstrated promising clinical activity and a compelling safety profile. Based on continued research in various HPV-positive cancers conducted by PDS Biotech and independent researchers who recognize its potential, Versamune® HPV appears to work in combination with a variety of therapeutic agents to generate clinical responses and promote improved survival in patients with favorable toxicity. We are exploring the next steps in the development of Versamune® HPV for cervical cancer,” concluded Dr. Bedu-Addo.

Conference Details

Date: November 14, 2024
Time: 8:30 a.m. ET
Dial-in 1-877-704-4453 or 1-201-389-0920
Webcast Registration: Click Here
Call Me™ Registration: Click Here (Available 15 minutes prior to call)

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2024/11/14/2981136/37149/en/PDS-Biotech-Provides-Clinical-Programs-Update-and-Reports-Third-Quarter-2024-Financial-Results.html

'US Treasury finds no currency manipulation in final Biden-era foreign exchange report'

 No major U.S. trading partner manipulated its currency in the year to June 30, the Treasury Department said on Thursday in the Biden administration's final semi-annual currency report before turning over policing of foreign exchange practices to President-elect Donald Trump.

Trump, who has frequently complained about the strong dollar eroding U.S. trade competitiveness, ended his first term in the White House with Treasury declarations of Vietnam and Switzerland as currency manipulators in December 2020 over their market interventions to weaken the value of their currencies.

For much of the past four years, however, foreign exchange interventions by U.S. trading partners have moved in the opposite direction, to push up the values of their currencies against the dollar, mainly to fight price inflation.

The Treasury's semi-annual currency report found that for the four quarters ended June 30, no major U.S. trading partners met all three criteria for "enhanced analysis" of their currency practices. That process leads to intensive consultations and could ultimately produce trade sanctions.

The Treasury said it had seven countries on its "monitoring list" for extra foreign exchange scrutiny: China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Vietnam and Germany. Malaysia, which was on the previous report's list, dropped off, while South Korea was added due to its large global current account surplus and its sizable goods and services trade deficit with the U.S.

Countries that meet two of the criteria - a trade surplus with the U.S. of at least $15 billion, a global account surplus above 3% of GDP and persistent, one-way net foreign exchange purchases - are automatically added to the list.

China was kept on the monitoring list because of its large trade surplus with the U.S. and because of a lack of transparency surrounding its foreign exchange policies. The report noted that a slight decline in China's current account balance to 1.2% of GDP, its export volumes have risen sharply, indicating a decline in export prices, and the trend continued beyond the monitoring period to the third quarter of 2024.

"Partially as a result of weak domestic demand, China has increasingly relied on foreign demand to drive growth this year, with net exports contributing an unusually high share (43%) of real growth in the third quarter," the Treasury Department said in the report. "Thus, while the reported current account surplus is not material, the rapidly growing export volumes amid falling prices will likely have large impacts on China's trading partners."

The Treasury Department also reiterated its call for more transparency in China's foreign exchange intervention practices.

Trump has vowed to impose tariffs of at least 60% on Chinese goods, and 10%-20% on imports from the rest of the world.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-treasury-finds-no-currency-210539538.html

Fed Accompli Fail: Powell Pontification Prompts Puke In Stocks & Bonds

 Inflation is not 'going gently into that good night'.

Instead, as PPI confirmed today after CPI yesterday, it is 'burning and raging at the dying of the light' of the Biden/Harris days...

Source: Bloomberg

In fact - while he was more ambiguous at The Fed presser, Fed Chair Powell admitted in his remarks today that all is not completely awesome, as he warned The Fed is in "no hurry" to cut rates... and inflation's on a "bumpy path".

"If the data let's us go slower, it seems like the right thing to do..."

Powell's remarks sent rate-cut expectations notably lower - December less than 50-50 now...

Source: Bloomberg

Interestingly, minutes before Powell spoke, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon dropped some tape-bombs of reality:

• *DIMON: THINK THE CHANCE OF SOFT LANDING LESS THAN OTHERS THINK

• *DIMON: "NOT SO OPTIMISTIC" THAT INFLATION WILL GO AWAY QUICKLY

• *DIMON: GROWTH IS BEST POLICY TO FIX DEFICIT PROBLEM

• *DIMON: TRUMP INHERITING INFLATION THAT MAY NOT GO AWAY QUICKLY

Goldman notes that the background remains bullish for stocks from CTAs / Buybacks / Seasonals:

• CTA: Update for Equities - buyers of S&P in all short-term scenarios as momentum remains firmly positive and realized vol has reset: flat tape: +$4.8mm to BUY (+$7.5bn SPX to BUY).

• Buybacks: We are reaching full open window. Back of envelope we estimate ~$6B/day in demand.

• Seasonality: The typical pattern is to rally into the Inauguration (1/20/2025) before topping out in February.

Source: Goldman Sachs

But, Goldman's trading desk notes that there is a lot of selling still:

• Overall activity levels are down -15% vs. the trailing 2 weeks with market volumes up +8% vs the 10dma

• Our floor tilts -3% better for sale with both HFs and LOs leaning that way

• HFs are -7% better for sale, moderating after an earlier sell skew closer to 10% (which ranked in the 95th %-ile).  They are heavily for sale in HCare & Industrials with very modest demand for Macro Products, REITs and Energy.

• LOs are -5% better for sale.  Tech supply stands out, on a net basis larger than Comm Svcs & Industrials supply combined.  LOs are better to buy across Cons Disc, REITs & HCare

Stocks were already sinking before Powell spoke, but his reality check punched them to the lows with Small Caps clubbed like a baby seal...

The 'Trump Trade' saw some profit-taking today...

Source: Bloomberg

'Most Shorted' stocks fell once again - erasing the entire post-election squeeze higher...

Source: Bloomberg

RIVN was monkeyhammered lower after headlines that the Trump team would remove the EV tax credit

Treasury yields exploded higher on Powell's comments, led by the short-end...

Source: Bloomberg

That prompted a major flattening in the yield curve...

Source: Bloomberg

The dollar knee-jerked higher on Powell's comments

Source: Bloomberg

Gold ended the day unchanged, bouncing back back from continued overnight selling in Asia...

Source: Bloomberg

This pattern is similar to that seen in 2016's sweep...

Bitcoin ended the day marginally lower after Powell's comments (pushed down first by PPI), but found support around $88,000...

Source: Bloomberg

Crude prices also ended unchanged - seemingly running out of fuel for any breakout trades... for now...

Source: Bloomberg

Finally, does this chart - showing initial jobless claims (inverted) tumbling to six-month lows and inflation surprise data soaring - support any kind of rate-cutting cycle?

Source: Bloomberg

How pissed will Trump be if Powell's first action is actually to hike rates?

https://www.zerohedge.com/market-recaps/fed-accompli-fail-powell-pontification-prompts-puke-stocks-bonds