US, Mexico agree on efforts to curb record migration

and thank you very much for joining me here today we'll start off with the migrant situation in the United States Mexico said on Wednesday had struck unspecified important deals with the US after talks with us officials who sought to focus on Curbing record high migration and this is a key issue in the next year's elections here's more Mexico says it has struck important deals with the US after talks aimed at curbing the flow of migrants Secretary of State Anthony blinkin met with Mexican president Andres Manel Lopez orador on Wednesday in closed door negotiations on social media Lopez abdor hailed what he described as important agreements but gave no details the US Customs and Border Protection earlier this month closed two key rail crossings between Texas and Mexico temporarily and shut other Crossings in response to high migrant traffic foreign minister Alysia Bara said Mexico wanted the crossings to be reopened the reopening of border crossings is a priority for us we are talking about the economic part as well as the structural causes of migration we are very interested in addressing the causes because people come because of poverty inequality violence family reunification and we want to address their problems in the countries of origin Lopez obor last week assured the US that Mexico would help ease migratory pressures earlier on Wes Wednesday he said the US Congress should invest in poor people in Latin America and the Caribbean instead of quote thinking about building walls the record number of people fleeing crime poverty and conflict and reaching the US border is a key issue ahead of the November presidential election President Joe Biden wants Mexico to help him reduce those numbers ahead of his expected re-election bid while Donald Trump the leading Republican candidate has promised to crack down on illegal immigration and restrict legal immigration if elected during the former president's previous term Trump focused on building a wall on the Mexican border and now moving on to China the country's industrial profits are on a four-month growth streak according to official data with double digigit jumps last month but gains are uneven across sectors in November industrial profits Rose 29.5% was bolstered by Improvement in the overall manufacturing sector high-tech and equ equipment manufacturers saw rapid profit growth while property related sectors saw sinking profits China's economic recovery remains shaky with Rising deflationary pressure and soft Global demand overall industrial earnings actually shrank 4% compared to last year according to the National Bureau of Statistics and Chinese smartphone maker xiaomi took the wraps off its first electric vehicle on Thursday and promptly announced it was aiming to become one of the world's top five automakers here's the story there's a new major player in the electric vehicle Market Chinese smartphone maker xiaomi has entered the popular market and unveiled its first EV on Thursday the sedan is called the su7 short for Speed Ultra the Chinese smartphone maker said it aims to become one of the world's top five automakers xiaomi chief executive Le Jun said the car would have super electric motor technology the this would make it capable of delivering acceleration speeds faster than Tesla cars and Porsche EVS the car is likely to go on sale in several months but makes its debut when China's Auto Market splutters along with a capacity glut it also faces a slowing demand that has brought about a price war that hasn't stopped xiaomi aiming big with plans to build what it calls a dream car comparable to Porsche and Tesla the su7 is also expected to appeal to customers due to to its shared operating system with xiaomi's popular phones and other electronic devices the cart will come in two versions one with a driving range of up to 4115 Mi on a single charge another will have a range of close to 500 mil by comparison Tesla's Model S has a range of up to 403 M pricing has yet to be announced and the US dollar hit a 5 Monon low as expectations mounted that key central banks like the Federal Reserve will start to cut interest rates early next year here's a quick recap of markets US Stocks ticked up in low volume trading on Wednesday with little market moving news to swing momentum one way or another as the S&P hovered just below bull market confirmation the Dow Jones Industrial Average Rose 3/10 of a%c the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ Composite gained a bit more than one tenen of 1% those modest gains nonetheless meant the Dow notched a new record closing High the S&P 500 hovered less than 1% below a record closing High reached nearly one year ago all three indexes remain on course for monthly quarterly and annual gains but all bets could be off come January 1st Michael Green is the chief strategist and portfolio manager for simplify Asset Management he told Reuters the recent rally in equities and its current highs May simply reflect in investors wanting to put off profit taking to the New Year got tells me that we're going to see positions reduced in many of the winners from 2023 and so naturally that should put some pressure on the NASDAQ it really feels like January February is setting up for some profit taking and the potential for at least some reversal in the the move that we've seen from that October low among the biggest movers on Wednesday shares of bit digital jumped 18.6% following the Bitcoin miners announcement that it plans to double its mining operations coherus bios Sciences Rose 23% after the US Food and Drug Administration approved its drug delivery device for its infection fighting treatment and first wve biofarma shares surged 50% after the drug developer agreed to sell its inflammatory bowel disease drug to an undisclosed company the New York Times is suing chat G BT maker open AI the times is now the first major American organization to enter into a legal battle against artificial intelligence and this is of course over copyright infringement the paper has filed the lawsuit against open Ai and Microsoft to stop them from the unauthorized use of its stories to train chat Bots like chat GPT the New York Times is arguing that open Ai and Microsoft are advancing their technology with its work that now competes against it and could threaten its service the case did not specify an amount in Damages but claimed it could be in the buildings Apple can now resume sales of its Flagship smart watches this is after a US appeals court on Wednesday paused a government commission's import ban on the devices imposed in a patent dispute over its medical monitoring technology here's the report Apple can for now resume sales of its Flagship SmartWatches a US appeals court on Wednesday paused a government commission's import ban on the devices Apple had filed an emergency request asking the US court of appeals for the federal circuit to Halt an order from the US International Trade Commission which had ruled that apple had infringed on medical technology firm masimo's patents masimo filed a complaint accusing Apple of hiring away its employees using its patented technology for reading blood oxygen levels and incorporating that Tech into the Apple watch Apple countersued calling masimo's legal actions a maneuver to clear a path for its own competing Smartwatch according to analysts a final decision could cost either company millions of dollars and potentially force a settlement or some kind of technological workaround by Apple Apple did not respond to an email seeking comment on the court decision and masimo declined to comment Apple had already paused its sales of its series N9 and Ultra 2 smart watches in the United States last week though the watches remain available from other retailers and including Amazon Best Buy and Walmart the band did not affect the Apple watch SC a less expensive model without a picometer previously sold watches were also not affected by the ban the US is working to replenish its strategic oil Reserve after its largest oil and gas sale in US history last year the US Department of energy reports that the US has finalized contracts to buy 3 million barrels of oil for the Strategic petroleum reserve the department says it paid an average average of $77 a barrel that's lower than the average cost in 2022 the Biden Administration has sold a record number of barrels after Russia started a war in Ukraine also us companies who borrowed barrels will be returning about 4 million barrels to the Strategic Reserve by February there are many challenges when it comes to home buying in 2023 this is a year marked by significant difficulties in the residential real estate market andd sh Marshall takes a look into some of the reasons why millions of houses were still able to be sold 4.5 million people managed to buy a home during 2023 that's despite mortgage rates at a 23-year high as well as record high home prices and home sales at their lowest in 13 years according to the National Census Bureau there were a number of factors that led to millions of home sales increased household income higher down pay payments and utilization of real estate agents many buyers made a list of priorities of what they were looking for in a new home and they stuck with it buyers were clear about whether their top priority was location affordability or condition of the home successful home buyers generally had higher incomes firsttime buyers saw a significant rise in household income enabling them to afford homes despite Rising prices and interest rates also a high number of wealthy buyers were able to afford higher down payments with repeat buyers able to leverage their housing Equity to make larger down payments on following properties and a significant 89% of home buyers used real estate agents or Brokers to help them navigate the complex Market find the right homes and negotiate deals Sean Marshall ND news gasoline prices will drop in 2024 for the second year in a row this is according to projections from Gas Buddy the industry tractor predicts Americans will spend $32 billion less at the pump next year it projects an average per gallon price of $3.38 in the upcoming election year that would be 13 cents less than this year and a big drop from 2022 is average per gallon of 3.95 the forecast would be good news for consumers of course who are highly sensitive to swings in the cost of living especially at the gas pump the US dollar has fallen to a 5 Monon low over expectations that the Federal Reserve will soon cut interest rates US dollar Index dropped to 101 that's the lowest level since late July now the index is compared to other currencies which is including the Euro which has made gains and is at its highest since July now the US Dollar's decrease is in response to the central bank's unexpectedly dovish December meeting that's when policy makers projected 75 basis point drops next year and other major central banks on the other hand are maintaining for higher and longer long ER potentially experts believe the key to the US Outlook will be what prompts rate Cuts whether it's because of falling inflation or a weaken economy meanwhile more people than expected applied for firsttime unemployment benefits in the US last week this is according to new data released Thursday by the Department of Labor it shows there were 218,000 initial claims for unemployment last week this is an increase of 12,000 from the week before it's it's also more than what economists were expecting which was 209,000 initial claims however the figure Still Remains historically low Thursday's report also shows that continuing claims went up from the previous week and the FED appears to be ready to drop interest rates next year giving sidelined firsttime home buyers hope that 2024 may be their best chance to finally get into the housing market here's a look at what we can expect and tips if you're looking to buy after years of record prices historically High mortgage rates and massive market demand some experts say sidelined first-time home buyers could have more hope in 2024 it's going to get cheaper going forward but I'm not going to call it easy or less painful Economist Joe bruselles says the Federal Reserve is poised to lower interest rates next year which could make homes more affordable according to the US national home price index released this week house prices hit a new record high in October that's when mortgage rates were above 7% the highest levels in 23 years that plus historically low inventory continued to push up home prices so what can you do if you're looking to buy in 2024 when you get back in the market houses are going to come and when there's a lot of demand they're going to go fast somebody else is going to be ready to move you want that person to be you real estate investor David Green has these four tips one improve your financial position to increase your chances of getting a better loan like paying off debt saving more money and improving your credit Two Step Up Your market research get realistic and consider what you can actually afford and what your priorities are you can change everything about a house except where it's located so really prioritize the houses in the areas that work the best for you not the houses that look the best three once you get your loan approved get your loan officer and your realtor working together and finally consider waiting until winter time that's when home sales traditionally slow down so there will be less competition according to a new report a Chinese Communist Party Affiliated company is planning to build a massive facility close to a military site in the United States here's more and here with me is John pelson author of the book Wireless Wars so this Chinese company uh building a facility so close to a military base what's the purpose here well China has gotten very good at working at the subnational level with the United States they're starting to get some resistance at the federal level the Department of Commerce treasury of course Department of Justice and the Pentagon are getting a lot tougher with China they get very smart about now working with Governors and Mayors and even if they have trouble there they go directly to companies and they form agreements that allow them to bring a high-tech company in this case right next to uh not even one but two secure military bases right in the heart of America so what's the objective here um why do they need to be close to a military site yeah there's a lot of reasons depending on the facility and we saw this with the fu Fang food factory that was going to be next to the global hawk facility that finally got shut down by the uh Department of the Air Force but in in this case where they're looking to locate this is right in the middle of America which there's there's a reason we put places like Fort lenworth and and white man Air Force Base in the very very middle of the country it's for security reasons and people would argue well you can use satellites now you can use human in intelligence you can use uh hacking over the internet to get information but whenever you're using a uh whenever you're trying to get information on a wireless uh facility or Wireless Transmissions either to the satellites or you know airplanes and so on there's no substitute for proximity you really want to be right next to it at least within a few miles and China knows that if they can put a base close to the B2 base At Whitman or next to the very sensitive operations at Fort lenworth that gives them access to information they can't get through a balloon or through a satellite or through any other intelligence gathering so this company C Nano being close to a Kansas military base uh what kind of technology is the company try to get trying to get its hands on potentially here oh the B2 is one of the most advanced planes that the United States has and again that's why we don't put it on the one of the coasts of the United States where it can be uh observed uh any more than than we want to have that happening so it's it's in Kansas for a reason that base is in Kansas for a reason and secure Communications is the name of the game now in the military you know people know the saying to be detected is to be destroyed and the detection happens now through Wireless means so any chance that China has to be near where the Wireless Communications are done with the B2 in this in this case or even other information intelligence that could be gathered from being close to uh Fort lenworth which is not just the site of the federal prison for the military but it's also very Advanced and and uh uh classified information that takes place at that base too so perhaps close proximity is a means to an end so I want to ask you what what's the end game here well this is China infiltrating and I should be clear the CCP the Chinese Communist Party infiltrating and uh and gaining access to all sensitive operations in the US they want to have a presence in the United States near sensitive bases they've been doing it for decades they have all of our nuclear missile bases they had Huawei supposedly a private company deploy its cellular gear in the United States around our cell towers and this is putting another high-tech facility right there to gather information that helps Advance the cause of the Chinese Communist party and the people's Liberation Army over the United States who they see as an enemy we see them as a customer A supplier now we see them more as a rival the CCP views America as an enemy and we have to keep that in mind when they want to put a high-tech facility right next to secure military bases like this so maybe paint a picture for us what what is the scope of this type of operation from China well you you can't really tell for sure but one thing that China can do is they can now put hundreds of Engineers or people that are at least posing as Engineers right into this location in in Kansas over near Overland Park uh Kansas and uh first it makes it harder to detect when there's infiltration going on by uh by people that are doing intelligence gathering because there's they're flooding The Zone with so many people that are legitimately or at least for legitimate purposes doing uh doing technology work in the area and so it's harder to discern whether this person is acting as a battery uh technologist or whether they're there for some other technology reason more for the state than for a company and maybe I want to make this a bit more relatable to uh every viewer that is watching so uh if you could comment on what is the impact on everyday Americans well the the impact when China becomes uh builds such a presence in the US you can see it in in geopolitical things like right now what's going on in the Middle East uh an awful lot of people especially young people get their information from Tik Tock which is to say China is now feeding information to young people about what's really going on in that region it does not necessarily reflect the reality but this is one way that China's able to do it if China's able to provide the Telecom systems for Americans and we've been very tough on that one blocking Huawei and ZTE from coming into the country and deploying their systems but if they are then everybody has to rely on the Chinese Communist party just to have their smartphone work and connect for them uh you may not like dealing with Google or Facebook or Microsoft but at least those are American companies that answer to the American government and when you're dealing with the Chinese technology firm any American who's using that technology is being constrained by whatever the Chinese government wants them to see and have access to and now on this subject of uh Chinese Affiliated companies or entities buying land or building facilities near uh military bases how do we prevent this from happening well here's the funny thing China's using a very clever technique where they're using a company in plain site to do something because we are a country of laws if they want to put a facility there and they follow the technical letter of the law it's very hard for America to block them from doing it I mean we want Taiwan putting a facility into America to build chips so that you know China considers that part of their country too we have no problem in fact we encourage China to do it but when the CCP is doing it they follow the law and it's very hard for us to stop them but the good news is when they do it like this it's in plain sight they have to write contracts there are public buildings that you can see you see the the comings and goings of the company can't be done in secret because that is not following the law so we have to use this to our advantage and say use all this public information to see who's doing it who's really operating at uh cnano and what is their affiliation with the government in China and when you look at that you see through public information that this company is very very tightly aligned with the Chinese Communist party all right maybe just one more question so one of the objectives uh for scano potentially uh quoting the the report is technology transfers uh what does that mean and where is this technology being transfer to the Chinese military yeah you know technology transfer was never really a term until American companies and and other non-chinese companies started to go into China to do their R&D and and I don't want to say Western companies because this included Japan Korea and others technology transfer is basically a term they cooked up to say you can come here but you're GNA have to tell us how you're doing it turn over your IP and basically the more advanced countries thought there's no way China who can't make a coffee pot is going to be able to make a microchip or be able to make an electronic device of any quality and they said here here's our technology we're not we're not worried about anything that transfer of technology is really what gave China a 20 or 30-year boost in catching up and now in a lot of ways passing free countries around the world with the technology this transfer is really just a way of strong arming companies who are trying to make a buck into turning over technology without realizing the consequences all right just a real quick followup you said 20 30-year boost uh in what area well to invent a lot of this technology would take decades and years of building up the systems uh and what China was able to do by stealing a lot of technology is close that Gap in a matter of months or a couple years so they could make things that they never could have developed so quickly by stealing what someone else has developed over decades they did it to Bell Labs they're doing it to the uh microchip companies now the lithography companies that that make the machines to build microchips they've jumped the gap of many many years and billions in investment to just basically steal the technology and and come out to Market with it much faster all right thank you so much today Jonathan author of the book Wireless Wars hey thanks Don