United States

As the wild bee population declines, the importance of pollination becomes evident, threatening to disrupt crop production and the food economy. The first-ever study to map U.S. wild bees suggests they are disappearing in the country’s most important farmlands. From California’s Central Valley to the Midwest’s corn belt and the Mississippi River valley, the wild bee is disappearing, leading to increased pollination demand among crops, the majority of which either benefit from or require bees as pollinators.

Trump Is Playing You

Note: Soren K is a group of 4 writers to whom I contribute on commodity market posts-Vince Lanci

Written by Soren K and MarketSlant. 

Submitted by Michael Shellenberger via EnvironmentProgress.org,

Toshiba, the venerable 80 year old Japanese electronics giant, appears to be going bankrupt.

Toshiba was supposed to have announced at least $6.3 billion in losses during an earnings call yesterday. Instead, it cancelled the report, saying "it was not able to immediately secure the approval of its auditor."

In the latest distancing by Trump administration advisors from recent statements by the President, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis arrived in Baghdad on an unannounced visit on Monday to discuss the war effort against ISIS, and said that the US military is not in Iraq "to seize anybody’s oil."

Secretary of Defence, James Mattis, arrives in Baghdad, February 20, 2017

Despite US markets being closed in observance of Washington's birthday, S&P futures spiked during overnight trading, reaching new all time highs before fading some of the gains. Both Asian and European markets traded modestly higher after paring early gains. The U.S. dollar traded in a tight range ahead of a busy week for Federal Reserve events, while the pound rallied the most in more than two weeks ahead of a House of Lords Brexit debate, while South Africa’s rand fell on political turmoil. Oil advanced for a third day and spot gold rose for the fourth session in five.