Doctors Urge California Residents "Leave Now...While You Can" As Gas Leak Fears Grow

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/08/2016 - 09:00
“This is the equivalent of the BP oil spill on land, in a populated community... If you have a chance to leave, if you’re able to leave... if you have a chance to relocate, do it now. I’m telling you, it’s really critical.”


The good news continues...

Monsanto is Sinking: 3,600 Job Cuts as Corn, Roundup Sales Plummet

by Christina Sarich, Natural Society:
There’s a reason that Monsanto recently made a suicide bid for its competitor Syngenta’s business. The company continues to lose profits, with the latest numbers painting a continued stark financial picture for one of the most hated companies in the world. [1]
Announced just this past week, Monsanto related figures showing that sales in the company’s agricultural productivity segment, which includes its best-selling Roundup herbicide, fell 34% to $820 million for the quarter ended Nov. 30. Shares fell slightly due to the admittance.
Read More

Why No Wage Growth: Multiple Jobholders Surge To Highest Since August 2008

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/08/2016 - 09:23 As we noted earlier, while the headline payrolls print blew away consensus estimate, printing above the highest expectations, there was a rather unpleasant number in the data: nominal average hourly wages actually dipped by 1 cent to $25.24.  What caused this? There are three reasons.
 

December Jobs Soar by 292K, Smash Expectations But Average Wages Post First Drop Since 2014

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/08/2016 - 08:40 As we noted in the jobs preview, only a super strong number had any chance of prompting a market reaction, and sure enough, the just announced December print of +292,000 smashed expectations of +200K, surging from last month's upward revised 252K. So time for another rate hike, right? Not so fast: as usual, the fly in the ointment was a well-familiar one: wages simply did not grow, and with Wall Street expecting a 0.2% increase in average hourly wages, in December not only was there no wage growth, but in fact, average hourly earnings posted a tiny decline from $25.25 to $25.24.

RBS: "This Is Simply The Worst Week We Had In Recent History... After Too Much Policy Kool-aid"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/08/2016 - 08:20 This week is simply the worst we had in recent history for markets, RBS exclaims, the worst ever start to the year for The Dow, the worst since 1999 for S&P and the second-worst for credit since 2008. Worst still is, they think there’s more weakness ahead and that many fundamental risks will continue to haunt markets. Why? Simple! Investors drank too much policy kool-aid last year.

"The Least Important Payrolls Report In A While": What Wall Street Expects

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/08/2016 - 08:08 Now that the Fed has commenced its rate hike cycle, the jobs report suddenly takes on far less significance because only a massively "outlier" print will have an impact on Fed thinking, thinking which so far appears undented despite a raging manufacturing recession across the US. This means that the December jobs could be the "most important ever" only in retrospect.

Saudi Aramco Confirms "World's Most Valuable Company" May Go Public

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/08/2016 - 07:54 "Saudi Aramco confirms that it has been studying various options to allow broad public participation in its equity through the listing in the capital markets of an appropriate percentage of the Company’s shares and/or the listing of a bundle its downstream subsidiaries."

Markets Spooked After China Central Bank Announces More Rate Liberalization, Yuan Internationalization

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/08/2016 - 07:25 U.S. STOCK INDEX FUTURES PAIR GAINS SLIGHTLY AFTER CHINA'S CENTRAL BANK SAYS IT WILL FURTHER LIBERALIZE INTEREST RATES - RTRS
Translated: even more devaluation + even less intervention = bad for risk.

US Futures Lose Overnight Gains; Dax Back Under 10,000 As Chinese Market Bailout Fizzles

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/08/2016 - 06:56 The half-life of the latest "market supporting" intervention by the Chinese government: just about 12 hours.

Internal War Is Now On The Horizon For America

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/07/2016 - 22:30 As our situation in this country becomes more precarious, there are going to be far more flashpoints than anyone will be able to keep track of. It is inevitable that a fight between corrupt elements of the U.S. government and regular people will erupt.If internationalists were to get their way fully with the world and future historians write their analysis from a globalist perspective of the defunct American nation, they will probably say simply that our collapse was brought about by our own incompetence - that we were our own worst enemy. Yes, they would treat America as a cliché. They will of course leave out the destructive influences and engineered disasters of elitists, that would just complicate the narrative. My hope is that we do not prove these future historians correct, and that they won’t have an opportunity to exist.

Stock Market Crash 2016: This Is The Worst Start To A Year For Stocks Ever

by Michael Snyder, The Economic Collapse Blog:

We have never had a year start the way that 2016 has started.  In the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 have both posted their worst four-day starts to a year ever.  Canadian stocks are now down 21 percent since September, and it has been an absolute bloodbath in Europe over the past four days.  Of course the primary catalyst for all of this is what has been going on in China.  There has been an emergency suspension of trading in China two times within the past four days, and nobody is quite certain what is going to happen next.  Eventually this wave of panic selling will settle down, but that won’t mean that this crisis will be over.  In fact, what is coming is going to be much worse than what we have already seen.
Read More…

Global Corporate Debt is Coming Unglued

from Wolf Street:

Default Rate Highest since 2009, US Distress Ratio Soars.

Standard & Poor’s slashed the credit ratings of 112 corporations around the globe to default (D) or selective default (SD) in 2015, according to S&P Capital IQ Global Credit. The highest number of global defaults since nightmare-year 2009, when a previously unthinkable 268 companies defaulted, and not far behind the second highest default tally of 125, in 2008.
The oil & gas sector led with 29 defaulters (26% of the total). Metals, mining, and steel followed with 17 defaulters (15% of the total). The consumer products sector and the bank sectors tied for the third place, each with 13 defaulters (12% of the total).
Read More

China continues gold-buying — 6th straight month

by Jeff Nielson, Bullion Bulls:
For many years; China had never purchased any gold on the open market. However, starting last July, China has now made large, open-market purchases of gold EVERY MONTH. I was the first commentator to realize the significance of its first purchase, and the first commentator to identify this as “a gold war.”
China is continuing to dump its (worthless) USD holdings, primarily in the form of its ultra-fraudulent Treasuries bonds. And it is using the proceeds from the sale of this GROSSLY OVERVALUED paper in order to buy GROSSLY UNDERVALUED gold. It is not only a very threatening strategy (to the One Bank), it is an extremely efficient strategy for China.
Read More

The China Syndrome

from The Daily Bell:
Investors should focus on China’s economy, not stocks … there are some important reasons not to panic: China’s stock market reveals very little about the health of the country’s economy – it’s dominated by small savers who put more faith in speculative investing newsletters than economic fundamentals. – CNN
Dominant Social Theme: Don’t look at the problem. Think about the solution.
Free-Market Analysis: Oh, don’t look, don’t look at all! Just close your eyes and tap your heels together three times …
Read More

The First Lesson From History: Human Beings Always Rise

from Sovereign Man:
About a week and a half ago when I landed in Australia, I walked past the currency exchange booths in the arrivals hall and took a quick look at their rates.
Their quoted price to change US dollars into Australian dollars was 77 cents that day.
I quickly glanced at my phone and found that the actual market rate was just 72 cents.
So these guys were charging an unbelievable 7% markup! And that was on a major currency.
For people who happen to come from more exotic countries, the price is even higher.
Read More

/