Tuesday, January 26, 2016

France's Highways Descend Into "Chaos & Lawlessness"










There Are Landmines Everywhere - Just How Narrow Is This Market?











$681 Million In Mystery Money Found In Malaysia PM's Bank Account Was "Personal Donation" From Saudis

“The four-page statement didn’t address several issues that Malaysians have sought answers to, such as: Who specifically donated the money?; Why was it donated?; And what happened to the money that wasn’t returned?'...



Near Record Foreign Central Bank Demand For 2 Year Treasuries

When the high yield print on the 2Y auction flashed at 0.86% (alloted 97.03% at the high) there were loud gasps of surprise at what can only be described as a blistering demand, especially from foreign central banks, and one which stood at odds with the rest of the market tone today, especially when considering that no issues were trading special in repo earlier today, and certainly not the 2Y.



60 Reasons Why Oil Investors Should Hang On

Some things to ignore; some things not to ignore. The inevitable will occur. Supply and demand will cross. The question is will Wall Street notice? Some of the analysts caught the cross in early 2014 but most didn’t.




Oprah Announces Dramatic Weight Loss, Generates Nearly $1 Million Per Pound In WTW Stock Profits

Of the $12 $22 million in unbooked intraday WTW gains for Oprah's 15% stake, this amounts to about $460,000 860,000 per pound of weight lost. If only the rest of the mere mortals had a comparable incentive to get fit again, the American obesity epidemic would disappear overnight.



"Zombie Ships" - Why Global Shipping Is Even Worse Than The Baltic Dry Suggests

One glance at The Baltic Dry Index's collapse is all that most need to see the painful state of the global shipping industry. However, as gCaptain reports, reality is even worse as the boom in so-called "zombie ships" suggests there is no recovery in sight for the beleaguered container ship charter market, which is facing its biggest crisis since the 2008 financial crash.



A Constant Short Squeeze Threat: Oil Shorts Are At All-Time Highs

We have seen extreme short positioning building up in the oil futures market. The quantity of short positions opened is at an all-time high for Brent, and still high for WTI futures.



The Self-Serving Apologists For Student Debt-Serfdom

Everyone who isn't blinded by self-interest sees that the cost of higher education in America - and the way we pay for it, by turning students into debt-serfs - is unsustainable. Those benefiting richly from the bloated, ineffective bureaucracy see no alternative, of course; their self-serving handwringing would be laughable if it wasn't so destructive to the nation and the economy.



Swiss Franc Plunges To One-Year Lows Amid SNB Intervention Chatter

With the biggest drop in 3 months, EURCHF has broken above last September's highs, plunging below 1.06. Amid chatter of SNB intervention, this is the weakest Swissy has been since the removal of the ceiling a year ago.



Active Shooter Reported At San Diego Naval Medical Center

An active shooter was reported at the Naval Medical Center San Diego on Tuesday, according to a post on the medical center's Facebook page.



"The Risk Of An Earnings Recession" And Six Other Reasons Why JPM Just Cut Its S&P Target To 2000

"The risk-reward for equities is deteriorating. There is increasing risk that elevated volatility starts incurring enough technical damage to market psychology and spills over, negatively impacting investor, consumer and business sentiment, resulting in a lack of risk taking, and eventually creating a negative feedback loop into the real economy. Going forward we see equity risk remaining asymmetric to the downside given the following seven reasons:"



Gold Soars Above Key Technical Level Near 2-Month Highs

Gold futures just broke out of their recent range, pushing well above the key 100-day moving average and testing towards $1120 - the highest since early November. It appears precious metals are signaling - as they have done since mid-December - that The Fed will be forced to admit it is wrong - just as Jeffrey Gundlach warned.



Official In Charge Of China's Cooked GDP Books Probed For "Severe Violations"

Wang Baoan, the finance ministry veteran who now heads China's statistics bureau is under investigation for graft. Although it isn't yet clear whether the probe stems from his time at other agencies, given the heightened scrutiny on China's GDP numbers it seems at least possible that there's some connection between Wang's alleged corrupt activities and his management of the country's manipulated data.



Chinese "Lose Faith In Collapsing Stock Markets And Currency", Import Most Gold Since 2013

China's demand for gold is back: as China's equities slumped and its yuan currency finished 2015 with a record yearly loss, "people looked at other investment  alternatives that's why there was huge demand for gold," said Brian Lan, managing director at gold dealer GoldSilver Central in  Singapore.



China Warns Soros Against Starting A Currency War: "You Cannot Possibly Succeed, Ha, Ha"

Soros’s war on the renminbi and the Hong Kong dollar cannot possibly succeed — about this there can be no doubt. Reckless speculations and vicious shorting will face higher trading costs and possibly severe legal consequences. And just as proved in the yuan exchange rate case, the Chinese government has sufficient resources and policy tools to keep the overall economic situation under control and cope with any external challenges.”


Economic Activity Is Slowing Down Much Faster Than The Experts Anticipated

by Michael Snyder, The Economic Collapse Blog:

We have not seen global economic activity fall off this rapidly since the great recession of 2008.  Manufacturing activity is imploding all over the planet, global trade is slowing down at a pace that is extremely alarming, and the Baltic Dry Index just hit another brand new all-time record low.  If the “real economy” consists of people making, selling and shipping stuff, then it is in incredibly bad shape.  Here in the United States, the dismal economic numbers continue to stun all of the experts.  For example, on Monday we learned that the Texas general business activity index just hit a six year low
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WHY DONALD TRUMP IS MERELY THE LESSER OF TWO EVILS

from The Daily Sheeple:

When Trump’s presidential campaign first began, everyone was baffled by how quickly he rose in the polls and left every other contender in the dust. In retrospect, his success makes sense. Trump managed to resonate with voters who were tired of the establishment, and wanted anybody but Bush or Clinton. They were tired of Ivy League pontificators, and were ready for a candidate who said whatever he wanted without any kind of filter. It was almost as if Trump stumbled upon a secret cheat code for winning elections. Say what you want in simple terms, no matter how brash or un-PC it may sound, and the people will notice you and respect you.
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Who Is Really In Control Of The United States?

by Martin Berger, The News Doctors:

In all 239 years of America’s existence, it has resisted waging war on other states for only 20 years. Sometimes it seems that the American government simply cannot contain the urge to go to war with some other poor state.
According to the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet, over the last year the world saw 40 armed conflicts in 27 different locations, and even if 39 can be labeled as “civil wars”, in 13 of them one of the parties received support from external forces. You’ve guessed it right, those “external forces” are more often than not the United States and its allies. Today the United States is directly involved in four military conflicts, while in a handful of other conflicts the fingerprints of Washington can be easily detected.
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Davos, Dalio, and a Depression?!

from Wolf Street:

When Ray Dalio, founder of the world’s largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, referred to a possible economic depression as he was being interviewed at the World Economic Forum at Davos, it does not mean what most people think it means.
Most of us think about recessions and depressions in a linear way. That is, a depression is a really, really bad recession featuring even higher levels of unemployment and lower overall levels of economic activity.
But for Mr. Dalio, recessions are kind of normal, business-cycle related economic events that regularly occur every 5-10 years or so. The economy begins to overheat, the Fed raises rates in response (the removal of the “punch bowl”), business activity slows perhaps a bit too much in response, and voila! A recession results.
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How to Test Your Drinking Water (And Why You Should Do It)

by Daisy Luther, The Organic Prepper:

Water is one of the most important survival topics around – it’s so important to me that I wrote an entire book about it. While we would love to be able to trust the liquid flowing from our faucets, anyone who pays even half-hearted attention to the news knows that we can no longer expect safety unless we confirm it ourselves. The EPA and Michigan’s Gov. Snyder have now added to the list of reasons that I have trust issues.
Every day, new horrors are being uncovered in relation to the drinking water in Flint, Michigan. Residents of the city have been drinking water that was presumably safe for the past year without knowing that it was actually contaminated with chemical byproducts, E. coli, Legionnaires’ disease and lead.
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Internet Of Things And Smart Grid To Fully Eviscerate Privacy

from The Sleuth Journal:

The “Internet of Things” (IoT) and Smart Grid technologies will together be aggressively integrated into the developed world’s socioeconomic fabric with little-if-any public or governmental oversight. This is the overall opinion of a new report by the Federal Trade Commission, which has announced a series of “recommendations” to major utility companies and transnational corporations heavily invested in the IoT and Smart Grid, suggesting that such technologies should be rolled out almost entirely on the basis of “free market” principles so as not to stifle “innovation.”[1]
As with other overfunded and unelected bureaucracies, such as the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency, the FTC functions to provide the semblance of democratic governance and studied concern as it allows corporate monied interests and prerogatives to run roughshod over the body politic.
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THE ‘WAR ON TERROR’ CHARADE: U.S. & Allies Make Osama Bin Laden ‘Admirer’ a Negotiator in Syria Peace Talks

from Washington’s Blog:

On January 25th, which was the date when peace talks on Syria were to start, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry insisted that the organization founded by Osama bin Laden admirer, Zahran Alloush, represent the anti-Assad forces in the upcoming Syrian peace talks, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov very reluctantly accepted.
Alloush had founded and led the jihadist organization, Jaysh al-Islam. Wikipedia says “Jaysh al-Islam ex-leader Zahran Alloush gave a speech on the merits of Hajj in 2013 and praised Usama bin Laden, addressing him by the honorific ‘Sheikh’ and the honorific ‘rahimahu Allah.
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“CENTRAL BANKS IN FOCUS”

by Andy Hoffman, Miles Franklin:
Considering the world is amidst a generational economic and financial calamity, the media has eerily silent this weekend. Perhaps “Snowzilla” slowed down a few old school commuters; whilst the rest watched the Broncos snuff out the hated Patriots, despite the absolutely incredible fortitude, and unworldly skill level, of Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski. Or perhaps it’s just an “eye of the storm” phenomenon, as many “checked out” for two blissfully ignorant days, following four weeks of unrelenting political, economic, and financial hell.
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Motion filed to block State from delaying release of Clinton emails

from The Hill:

The journalist who forced the State Department to release thousands of Hillary Clinton’s emails is opposing the government’s efforts to delay the final release by one month, warning the extension would cause “irrevocable harm.”
On Monday, lawyers for Vice News reporter Jason Leopold filed a motion seeking to block the department from extending the amount of time that it has to release emails from the former secretary of State’s personal server.
Read More…

Lavrov’s Snub Was a Signal to More Than Just Nuland

by Gilbert Doctorow, Russia-insider:

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held a meeting in Zurich, Switzerland, last Wednesday, January 20, with US Secretary of State, John Kerry. The meeting-room and press opportunity were set up by State Department officials.
One of the Kerry delegation was Victoria Nuland, Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian affairs. She is one of several Washington officials directing the war against Russia on the Ukraine front.
In her arsenal, Nuland’s mouth has been used to attack European governments reluctant to join her war, as her “Fuck the EU” remark to US Ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt, revealed at the start of 2014, before President Victor Yanukovich was ousted in Kiev.
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