The Paradigm Shift Channel ⏳

2022-04-21 17:37:26 Israel's central bank added yuan to its reserve holdings for the first time ever. Previously, the bank only held US dollars, euros, and the British pound. Israel's central bank will add Chinese yuan while slashing its dollar and euro holdings in a move to diversify its reserve allocations and lengthen its investment horizon. The dollar's share of the total global currency reserves has fallen to its lowest point in over two decades. Open / Comment

2022-04-21 17:23:12 After last month's fire at Walmart's distribution center & Taiwan's retail logistics center, this week more problems arise for the food supply system. The headquarters of Azure Standard, (Dafur, Oregon, USA) the nation’s premier independent distributor of organic and healthy food, was destroyed by fire overnight. The cause of the fire is unknown. Azure CEO Steltzer said the loss of the facility and impact on the company-wide operations is being assessed and expected to be limited. This comes less than a week after Taylor Farms salad package plant (Salinas, California) processing facility was burnt down last Thursday. Photo - Headlines of fires that destroyed food distribution and logistics centers across the US in the past 3 months. Open / Comment

2022-04-21 15:36:25 The U.S. exported the most oil and petroleum products in its history last week as countries across the world work to replace Russian supplies. The US recently began to release 1 million barrels of oil per day from the US Strategic Reserves to help reduce high fuel prices. "The U.S. is acting as the barrel of last resort to a global energy market hungry for oil." JPM's commodity strategist -"A full and immediate Russian oil embargo is likely to hurt European consumers more than Russian producers in the near term. More importantly, a full, immediate ban would likely drive Brent crude oil prices to $185/bbl." Open / Comment

2022-04-21 00:27:02 Costa Rica government confirms that the computer systems of the finance ministry remained disabled after a cyberattack on official platforms the previous day. tax and customs platforms had been temporarily suspended for external users. Internal financial systems and payroll services for the education ministry and the supreme electoral court were also suspended. Conti ransomware group has claimed responsibility and asks for ransom. Photo- Ransom messages to gov't from Conti group. Open / Comment

2022-04-21 00:16:28 Japan's new political leadership is calling on the country's financial bureaucrats to ramp up efforts toward issuing a digital currency, pointing to China's far quicker progress as a potential challenge to the global economic order. The government has increased… Open / Comment

2022-04-20 17:18:38 Kazakhstan announced temporary quotas on exports of wheat and wheat flour. Kazakh flour mills warned that they were “running out of supplies and going out of business. Kazakhstan is a wheat producer and also imports from Russia for milling and boosts exports. They are cut-off from importing wheat from Russia.

Turkey indefinitely suspends the export of butter and cream.
Pakistan bans the export of sugar to reduce local sugar prices.
Tunisia imposes fruit and vegetables export ban to all countries – including its largest importer Libya. Open / Comment

2022-04-20 17:14:11 High natural gas and coal prices begins to have a negative effect in south Asia.

India risks a repeat of last summer’s power outages as soaring temperatures boost demand for coal that’s used to generate about 70% of the country’s electricity. If India can’t close the coal shortfall, the nation will be threatened by power outages and the economy will take a hit as industrial output suffers.

Pakistan is cutting electricity to households and industry as the cash-strapped country can no longer afford to buy coal or natural gas from overseas to fuel its power plants. Open / Comment

2022-04-20 17:11:08 Almost 200,000 New Yorkers left without power after late-season snowstorm. Monday/Tuesday winter storm that hit New York, caused power outages across upstate New York from the Southern Tier to the Adirondack Mountains. (Always be prepared with a little extra candles, torchlights, batteries, propane, water and food for outages due to inclement weather). Open / Comment

2022-04-19 19:54:06 Authorities in Puerto Rico say an electronic toll collection system was the target of a cyberattack over the weekend. The system, known as AutoExpreso, is run by a private operator called Professional Account Management. It wasn’t immediately clear when the system would be back online and whether any confidential information was stolen. Open / Comment

2022-04-19 18:51:31 If China’s disruptive lockdowns persist, they could fuel global inflation, slow the pace of exports shipped from the ‘world’s factory’, and weaken demand in the world’s largest consumer market. Locking down Shanghai has had a major impact on the world’s largest container port, and shipping lines are struggling to adapt. Shanghai is a critical port in the global supply chain. Shanghai handled 43.5 million cargo containers in 2020, more than triple the throughput of Rotterdam, Netherlands, the busiest port outside Asia. Open / Comment