COVID 19
FDA
approves first at-home coronavirus test
KTUU, April 21, 2020
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized the first at-home tests for the coronavirus. The kits allow patients to collect nasal swab samples at home and mail them in for results. They’re called Pixel by LabCorp Covid-19 At-Home Kits. The kits allow patients to collect nasal swab samples at home and mail them in for results. Patients then can access their results online. According to the FDA, LabCorp will make the tests available in most states in the coming weeks. The company reported they will prioritize healthcare workers and first responders first since initial quantities of the kits will be limited. People will need to fill out an eligibility survey and have a doctor’s order to be able to get the at-home test kit. Each kit costs $119, according to the company’s website.
OIL
Alaska reacts as US oil prices crash
Trump calls for cash injection for ailing US drilling industry
Our Take: This too shall pass. Short-term demand is low, but long-term forecasts are strong as the global economy will need energy to recover.
GAS
Russia
races to squeeze the US out of Asian natural gas markets
Simon Watkins, OILPRICE.com, April 20, 2020
The increasingly close relationship on multiple levels between Russia and China became obvious to anyone with an interest in such matters last July when the two countries staged their first joint air patrol in the Asia-Pacific region, sending the air and naval defences of the principal U.S. satellite countries in the area – Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines – into panic mode. At the same time, the two countries continue to push ahead with their game changing US$400 billion ‘Power of Siberia’ gas project that will move at least 38 billion cubic meters of gas annually for 30 years from the Chayandinskoye and Kovyktinskoye fields in Eastern Siberia to Northeastern China. Last week saw major announcements from Russia that now that China is apparently past the peak of its coronavirus outbreak, plans for the project are moving quickly ahead and are being expanded in scope and scale.
MINING
Gold
to surge past $3000 says Bank of America
Frik Els, Mining.Com, April 21, 2020
Bloomberg says Bank of America raised its 18-month gold price target by a full $1,000 to $3,000 an ounce in a report titled “The Fed can’t print gold.” That compares to an all-time high just above $1,900 an ounce struck in August 2011 in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.
POLITICS
‘In A Heartbeat’: Biden Says He Would Pick
Michelle Obama To Be Vice President
William Davis, Daily Caller, April 21, 2020
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said Monday that he would pick former First Lady Michelle Obama to be his running mate if she was interested. “I’d take her in a heartbeat,” the former vice president told CBS News in Pittsburgh. “She’s brilliant. She knows the way around. She is a really fine woman. The Obamas are great friends.”