The Markets Are On Borrowed Time


China Inflation: Getting Worse and Coming To A Wal-Mart Near You 

Guest Post: How To Fake An Economic Recovery

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/16/2011 07:44 -0500

This may be a highly distasteful proposition, but just for a moment, I want you to sit back, and imagine that you are a member of the corporate banking elite. You are a walking talking disease ridden power mad pustule who naively believes himself intellectually superior to the vast majority of humanity and above the inherent laws of conscience, honor, and general good taste. You are a villain in the purest sense, in that you not only do great harm to the world, you actually SEEK to do great harm to the world, if only to benefit yourself and your exclusive circle of “friends”; a clan of degenerate blood thirsty sociopaths with delusions of omnipotence that stalk the night like Armani wearing Chupacabra exsanguinating the joy from poor unsuspecting cultures. You are capable of anything, and sadly, you take “pride” in this fact…The issue is, how do you convince the general public that all is well until you are ready to unleash hyperinflation and fiscal Armageddon? How do you make them believe with all their hearts that they are not in the midst of a debt meltdown and the end of their financial sovereignty, but basking in a full-on economic recovery?! Here is a step by step guide to fabricating an economic recovery out of thin air…. 

 

 

 

Hezbollah Says Ready For Another War With Israel

 

European Sovereign Debt Crisis Deepening - Risk of Contagion And Bond Market Crash, And Why Rising Rates Mean Gold Strength

 

Another Look At Inflation: Cotton Up 44% YTD - One Percent Per Day

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/16/2011 09:10 -0500

Earlier, we got the January PPI number telling us that things are still somewhat under control on the inflationary front. Perhaps. Perhaps not. Cotton begs to differ. In a month and a half, cotton has risen 44%: since there have been about 44 days in 2011, that means about a 1% a day. Since our first warning back in September, when the world's most worn commodity passed $1, cotton is up 95%. Annualized, the YTD move in cotton is 1,512%. We are confident clothing makers and retailers have extensive hedges in place to counteract a move that will send margins negative shortly unless there is an appropriate hedge offset, or corresponding jump in prices. Either way, BTFD.

PPI Ex Food And Energy Jumps 0.5% On Expectations Of 0.2%, Fresh And Dry Vegetable Prices Jump By 13.7% 

 

UK Stagflation Worsens, As Unemployment "Unexpectedly" Rises

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/16/2011 07:31 -0500

Surging inflation? Check. Negative GDP growth? Check. Increasing unemployment? Check. Dropping wages? Check. Looks like we have a stagflation bingo. Per Bloomberg: "U.K. unemployment claims unexpectedly rose in January, underlining the fragility of the labor market a year after the economy emerged from recession and as public spending cuts start in earnest. The number of people receiving unemployment benefits rose 2,400 to 1.46 million, the Office for National Statistics in London said today. The median of 25 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey was for a 3,000 drop. Unemployment based on International Labour Organization methods rose by 44,000 in the fourth quarter to 2.49 million." And this is just the start of what real austerity means: "Prime Minister David Cameron is counting on hiring at private companies as his government embarks on budget cuts that will cost 330,000 public-sector jobs over the next four years." And more economic humor: "There is a risk unemployment could rise” this year, Philip Shaw, an economist at Investec Securities in London, said before today’s report. “It’s possible that the public-sector job cuts happen straight away and you don’t see a pickup in private-sector job creation.”" Coming soon to every centrally planned regime near you. 

 

 

Mortgage Applications Plunge: Composite Down 9.5%, Refinance Index Down 11.4%, Lowest Since July 2009