Tuesday, March 17, 2015

America's European "Allies" Desert Obama, Join China-led Infrastructure Bank



It appears the sea of de-dollarization has reached the shores of Europe. With Australia and UK having already moved in the direction of joining the China-led AIIB, The FT reports that France, Germany, and Italy have now all agreed to join the development bank as 'pivot to Asia' appears to be Plan B for Europe. As Greg Sheridan previously noted, "the saga of the China Bank is almost a textbook case of the failure of Obama’s foreign policy," but as The FT concludes, the European decisions represent a significant setback for the Obama administration, which has argued that western countries could have more influence over the workings of the new bank if they stayed together on the outside. As Forbes notes, this leaves Obama with 3 uncomfortable options...


"Colossal Defeat" For Obama As Australia Joins China's Regional Bank

Having attacked its "closest ally" UK for "constant accomodation" with China, we suspect President Obama will be greatly displeased at yet another close-ally's decision to partner up with the Chinese-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). As The Australian reports, "make no mistake," the decision by Australia's Abbott government to sign on for negotiations to join China’s regional bank, foreshadowed by Tony Abbott at the weekend,  "represents a colossal defeat for the Obama administration’s incompetent, distracted, ham-fisted dip­lomacy in Asia." It seems de-dollarization continues...




Options Market Signals 2007-Like Crash Risk, Goldman Warns

An epic decoupling in the cost of put protection and S&P earnings multiples may be a bad omen for stocks as Goldman suggests a "substantial market correction may be on the horizon."




With 45 Beheadings In 2015 – "US Ally" Saudi Arabia Set To Top 2014's Record Decapitation Level

In the past month, a group of radical Islamic extremists based in the Middle East beheaded at least 23 people and enforced a ban on Christianity by arresting a group of people for practicing the faith in a private home.
No, we're not talking about ISIS. The real culprit is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, one of the America’s closest global allies. It would appear, some human rights are more equal than others.




Something Strange Is Going On With Nonfarm Payrolls

"Seasonally adjusted housing starts for February plunged by one of the largest amounts in the post-crisis period. The chart below shows a subset of the February non-farm payroll report, residential construction jobs. Seasonally adjusted these jobs increased by 17,200 in February, the most in two years (Feb 2013 was greater) and the second most in four years.  So while economists are blaming the weather for the plunge in housing starts, residential construction jobs were fairly robust in February. This makes no sense."




Saxobank CIO Warns: "Fed Rate Hike In June Is A Margin Call On Assets"

While Bridgewater's Ray Dalio "hopes that The Fed will be very cautious about tightening," Saxobank CIO Steen Jakobsen explains in this brief clip that The Fed "is wrong, always wrong," and will likely raise rates in June no matter what. The Fed is boxed in, Jakobsen notes, and despite the weak macro data, changing direction now is unlikely - leaving the market surprised as it recognizes that "this is a margin call on assets," seemingly confirming Dalio's conclusion that, "inadequate attention is being paid to the risks of a downturn in which central bankers' abilities to ease are significantly impaired."
 







The Undebtors: Sworn Enemies Of The Vampires Of Debt

Those who refuse debt, regardless of the sacrifice, are starving the parasitic, exploitive machine; those with debt are feeding it.
 
 




Moscow Launches Ruble-Renminbi Futures To "Facilitate Trade Between China And Russia"

While the west huffs and puffs, and threatens to unleash even more "costs" on Russia in the form of additional sanctions which will assure that Europe's latest deflationary recession is even more acute, an "isolated" Russia is looking to outside, and to the east, and as part of its most recent de-dollarization initiative, the Moscow Exchange announced it has started trading Chinese Renminbi-Russian Ruble currency futures.



The USO "Carnage" Has Only Just Begun

10 days we warned "the sharp slide in crude prices may be leading the proverbial sheep to slaughter," as we noted ther surge in Oil ETF USO's shares outstanding and the spike in Oil price contango - a potentially ugly combination for an ETF ahead of the roll. Since then, USO has indeed tumbled over 14%. However, it;s not over yet - in the last 3 days alone, the USO share count has soared 10% (the fastest pace in 2 months) almost at its Feb 2009 record highs as investors "know" the bottom is in now and continue to catch the gapping-lower-every-day, massively contango'd, ETF knife...
 

It's Time For Angela Merkel To Stand Up

The increasing ugliness of the ‘negotiations’ between the Greek Syriza government and the rest of the eurozone, which is ruled by the German government, needs to be halted and put in reverse. There is an urgent need for a detente, for cooler heads and for trust. And there is only one person who can act to create these things: Angela Merkel. But Merkel is nowhere to be found or seen. Merkel has been sorely lacking and missing, and if she doesn’t get her act together very quickly, she will be known as the person who let Europe slip into war, for no good reason whatsoever.
 





Wall Street Poised For Another Revenue Bloodbath After Harbinger Jefferies Reports 56% Fixed Income Plunge

What Jefferies is best known for among Wall Street shareholders is that, by still reporting a Nov. 30 fiscal year end, 1 month ahead of everyone else, it provides an invaluable glimpse into the fortunes of its Wall Street peers with a 4 week advance notice, especially when it comes to its bread and butter: fixed income trading (recall that CEO Rich Handler was a Drexel bond trader when the firm blew up).  The result, just like last quarter, was a disaster and indicative of nothing short of a trading bloodbath on Wall Street in the past three months of trading. The bottom line, and what everyone who is awaiting the latest FICC numbers from the balance of the banks will be focusing on, is the 56% drop in Q1 revenue from fixed-income trading, down to $126 million from $286 million a year ago. 
 





Treasury Secretary Lew Admits US "International Credibility & Influence Is Being Threatened"

While we try to our patriotic duty every day, Jack Lew's comment that: U.S. ECONOMIC RECOVERY WELL ESTABLISHED, LEW SAYS was too much to bear... so we provide the following 3 charts for guidance in comprehending the propaganda. Why would he blatantly lie in the face of unequivocally bad data? Simple, they are desparate to spin US economic strength as the world comes to realize it no longer needs to rely on a unipolar US-based model...

 




Gold Spikes On Sudden $1.2 Billion Bid

For no good reason aside from the algos had their fun to the downside and crude ran its stops, precious metals' futures have suddenly exploded higher on heavy volume... The surge in gold saw approximately $1.2 billion notional traded...
 
 

 



Greece Faces Cash Crunch This Friday Without "Plan A Or Plan B": What Happens Next

Greece will need to find €2 billion by Friday in order to repay creditors as Schaeuble, others see no way out. With no contingency plan, Athens' day of reckoning may be at hand. Morgan Stanley is out today with a note diagramming what happens next.

 



Here We Go Again: YouTube Clips Of Syrian "Chemical Attacks" Are Back - Meet The Man Behind The Propaganda

US foreign policy is becoming so easy and predictable, even Derek Zoolander can do it.
Two weeks ago, when discussing the relentless attempts to provoke, or at least greenlight another quasi war with Syria's president Assad, we wrote "one can be confident that the ISIS "campaign" will continue and get ever closer to Damascus until yet another appropriately-framed YouTube clip appears and leads to another war with Assad." Moments ago Reuters reported that "a group monitoring the Syrian civil war said on Tuesday government forces carried out a poison gas attack that killed six people in the northwest, and medics posted videos of children suffering what they said was suffocation."


 



Russia Escalates Military Posture: Deploys Strategic Bombers To Crimea, Launches Massive Drills Across Nation

All those who were wondering where Putin had "disappeared" to, and spreading rumors whether it was more likely his girlfriend had given birth in Switzerland or aliens had abducted him, will probably be satisfied if he were to promptly disappear once more following news that not only yesterday had he put 40,000 troops on full alert as part of "snap-readiness exercises", but less than 24 hours followed this up with even more demonstrative military "drills" after Sputnik reported that Russian strategic Tu-22M3 (Backfire) strike bombers have been deployed to the Crimean Peninsula to hold snap combat readiness drills, a source in the Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday, in addition to further massive troops and equipment deployment tests in the western part of the nation as well as around the Arctic circle.





Housing Starts Collapse Most In 8 Years To 18 Month Lows

Housing Recovery? Yellen, we have a problem. Housing Starts for February collapsed 17% - this is the biggest MoM drop since February 2011. At 897k SAAR, this is the first sub-900k print since September 2013 and biggest miss since Feb 2007. Multi-family starts are the lowest since June 2014. The collapse was dominated by the Northeast (-56.5%) and Midwest (-37%) so it must be the weather, right? Not so fast, The West region saw starts collapse 18.2%. Permits for multi-family units rose notably as single-family permits dropped to one-year lows...





WTI Slumps To New Cycle Lows As Iran Supply Fears Loom

Just a few short days ago we were the first to bring attention to the potential of an Iran nuclear deal being a catalyst for the next big leg lower in the energy complex and sure enough, not only is the market startuing to leg lower in a hurry as the deadline looms, but the mainstream media is catching on too. WTI hit fresh cycle lows this morning at $42.63 with the contango continuing to surge.



World’s greatest pyramid scheme: How banks plot to seize your property and life

by Mike Adams, Natural News:
Here at Natural News, we have often advised our readers to diversify their assets, because in a time of economic crisis, it just doesn’t make any sense to keep all of your financial eggs in one basket.
One of the ways to accomplish diversification of your portfolio is to not put all of your assets into a bank. There are several reasons for this, not the least of which is because, when times get tough, desperate governments raid bank accounts, as our editor, Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, has documented in reporting on the beginning of the Greek economic collapse a couple years ago.
Read More @ NaturalNews.com

EU allies defy US to join China-led Asian Bank

from The BRICS Post:
The new China-led Asian investment bank, a potential rival to institutions such as the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank, has enlisted more US allies as members after Britain decided to join last week.
The membership of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is set to expand further, with three more European countries following Britain’s lead.
France, Germany and Italy have defied US instructions not to participate in the Bank, said UK daily, The Financial Times.
Read More @ TheBRICSPost.com

But They’re All Good Guys… (Cops)

from The Daily Sheeple:
Get you one and have it running.



It’s not just for the amusement value when someone does something stupid within eyesight while you’re driving. It’s also for times like this, and for those who continue to claim this is an “aberration”, uh, nope.
Firing or suspension does nothing to address this problem and neither do lawsuits since they are paid by the taxpayers. This sort of conduct is criminal extortion at gunpoint — literally — and until every single officer that does something like this spends hard time in prison as would apply to any other person extorting someone at gunpoint this will not change.
Read More @ TheDailySheeple.com

“Stratfor: US aims to prevent a German-Russian Alliance”

from Washington’s Blog:
The head of the private intelligence agency Stratfor has for the first time publicly said that the US government considers to be its overriding strategic objective the prevention of a German-Russian alliance. Blocking that alliance is the only way to prevent an alternative world power capable of challenging extension of the American position of being the world’s lone superpower. [In this video, he says that the U.S. will fail in that overriding objective; German technology and capital will combine with Russian natural resources and “land-power,” to produce a truly bipolar world: U.S. v. Eurasia. So: he sees the U.S. strategy as being to block that, by weakening both Germany and Russia. That strategy would explain what Obama is doing in Ukraine, and the sanctions that are hurting both Russia and Germany, but Friedman thinks that nothing can work.]
Read More @ WashingtonsBlog.com


CIA Cash Helped Fund Al Qaeda

from Western Journalism:
The Afghan government handed over one million American dollars to Al Qaeda to help pay the ransom for the release of one of its diplomats.
The New York Times reported Saturday that the Afghan government made the ransom payment, totaling $5 million in 2010 for the release of Abdul Khaliq Farahi, who had been kidnapped in 2008. Farahi was serving as Afghanistan’s ambassador to Pakistan at the time of his capture by Al Qaeda and had close personal ties to then-President Hamid Karzai.
Read More @ WesternJournalism.com
 
 

This simple economic principle could be huge for gold over the next few years

by Bengt Saelensminde, Money Week:
There’s an economic principle called ‘Gresham’s law’ that can be summed up in one sentence: “Bad money drives out good”.
And, as I’ll show you in a moment, this simple principle could be absolutely imperative for the gold price over the coming years.
To demonstrate why, today I’m going to take Gresham’s law and apply it in a new way.
Hold onto your hats, because if I’m right, news from China suggests massive implications for gold in the years to come.
Read More @ MoneyWeek.com
 


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