Precious Metals Pummeled (After Silver's Overnight Flash-Crash)

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/28/2016 - 09:31 

  

 Oil Soars To 3 Week High On Saudi Production Cut Confusion; Futures Surge

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/28/2016 - 09:10 Headline hockey continues in the energy complex as earlier confirmation of a pending OPEC meeting possible in February has seen more color added, via Reuters, that Saudi Arabia made a proposal that OPEC members cut production by a maximum of 5%. There remains confusion however as Bloomberg reports simply that Russian energy minister has said they "may discuss it," as opposed to being a specific proposal.

Saudi Production Cut Story Rejected: OPEC Delegates Say "No Plan For Meeting With Russia"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/28/2016 - 09:43 OPEC DELEGATES SAY NO PLAN YET FOR MEETING WITH RUSSIA

The Market Breaks - Stocks Soar As NYSE Admits "Issues" With AAPL Data

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/28/2016 - 09:02 This is just getting farcical...
0843ET - NYSE AMEX OPTIONS PROBING ISSUE ON MKT DATA UNDERLYING AAPL
And the market roars...

Durable Goods Devastation: Capital Goods Orders Crash To Fresh Crisis Lows, Scream Recession

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/28/2016 - 08:44 Durable Goods Orders crashed 5.1% MoM and turned back negative YoY and ex-transports continues to deteriorate YoY flashing if nothing else a recessionary environment is upon us (if not an actual recession). However, it is in the core - non-defense ex-aircraaft - segemnt that we see the real bloodbath as shipments plunged and new orders collapsed 7.5% YoY - the "worst since Lehman." Of course we still have bartenders and waitresses to maintain the US economy so this is just transitory weakness in the stock market's most-dependent segment of the economy.

This Trend Is Not Your Friend - Initial Jobless Claims Average Surges To 10-Month Highs

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/28/2016 - 08:36 Having surged to six-month highs, initial jobless claims dropped modestly on the week but the smoother 4-week average that is broadly used pushed to new cycle highs at 285k - the highest since March 2015 confirming The Fed's concerns over the economy. This is a trend that is certainly not the friend of Janet and her friends... but we are sure this is all just transitory.

Another Town Just Got Caught Covering Up Lead Contamination In Its Water Supply

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/28/2016 - 08:28 Residents in Sebring, Ohio, can commiserate with those in Flint, Michigan, considering their water supply has also been contaminated with lead that “exceeds the action level,” according to the state’s EPA. Like Flint, the case of Sebring - involving some 8,100 water customers in Sebring, Beloit, Maple Ridge, and parts of Smith Township - already has the appearance of criminal negligence and a possible cover-up.

Old News Is Good News - Crude Jumps On Repeat Russia-OPEC Headline, Stocks Shrug

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/28/2016 - 08:18 Just when you want that 100% correlation with crude to lift stocks from their post-Fed quagmire, it breaks down. Just as WTI was breaking back red this morning, Interfax headlines hit that confirmed Russia and OPEC in talks for a potential production cut and sure enough old news is good news and WTI ramped back up towards $33. The problem is... higher oil is no longer great news for stocks (for now)...

"Nobody Really Knows Anything Right Now"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/28/2016 - 08:15 "We learned one thing yesterday: the U.S. Federal Reserve is in the same position as the rest of us when it comes to forecasting the future path of economic growth.  Nobody really “Knows” anything right now. Now, there’s enough doubt for everyone: markets, central banks, consumers, governments. Everyone. The best thing we can say about that: if markets accept that the Fed is no better informed than they are, maybe investors will devote more time to stock fundamentals and intrinsic value analysis."

Caterpillar Q4 Sales Miss, Tumble 23%; Guidance Obliterated

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/28/2016 - 07:59 CAT confirmed the flow through from its depressed retail sales picture when it announced that not only did revenue tumble by 23% to $11 billion, but it missed already deeply cut estimates of $11.4 billion, leading to a 111% collapse in operating profit which from $1.1 billion turned into a $114 million loss in the quarter. To be sure, the company tried to pull an Alcoa and stuff massive restructuring charges in the quarter amounting to $689, boosting non-GAAP EPS by $0.89 to $0.74, however one can simply ignore this latest accounting fudge attempt.

Abenomics Architect Resigns Amid Corruption, Bribery Allegations

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/28/2016 - 07:41 "I worked without sleep or rest. After Prime Minister Abe put my self at the helm of Abenomics, I put my life on the line for my national duty over the past three years."

Futures Bounce Fades As Oil Treads Water, Italian Banks Turmoil, Chinese Stocks Won't Stop Falling

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/28/2016 - 06:57 Following the Fed's disappointing "dovish, but not dovish enough" statement which effectively admitted Yellen had committed policy error by hiking just as the US economy "was slowing down" which in turn lowered the odds of a March rate hike to just 18%, it was up to oil to pick up the correlation torch, and so it did, rising in an otherwise mixed session which has seen European stocks slide on continued weakness surrounding Italian banks, many of which have been halted limit down, while Asia was treading water following news of the resignation of Japan’s "Abenomics" minister Akira Amari to over a graft scandal, and yet another day of Chinese stock dropping.

Former House Majority Leader Claims FBI Is "Ready To Indict" Hillary Clinton

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/27/2016 - 21:35 "They're ready to recommend an indictment and they also say that if the attorney general does not indict, they’re going public..."

The Federal Reserve Just Made Another Huge Mistake

by Michael Snyder, The Economic Collapse Blog:

As stocks continue to crash, you can blame the Federal Reserve, because the Fed is more responsible for creating the current financial bubble that we are living in than anyone else.  When the Federal Reserve pushed interest rates all the way to the floor and injected lots of hot money into the financial markets during their quantitative easing programs, this pushed stock prices to wildly artificial levels.  The only way that it would have been possible to keep stock prices at those wildly artificial levels would have been to keep interest rates ultra-low and to keep recklessly creating lots of new money.  But now the Federal Reserve has ended quantitative easing and has embarked on a program of very slowly raising interest rates.  This is going to have very severe consequences for the markets, but Janet Yellen doesn’t seem to care.
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‘Footprint Rationalization’: Sears adds to Woes of Canada’s Malls

from Wolf Street:

The industry spirals into turmoil.

After bouts of store closings that started in 2013, Sears Canada has about 95 department stores, 10 outlet stores, and 40 home stores left. Now, according to the Globe and Mail, it will close even more stores.
It’s been tough for brick-and-mortar retailers in Canada. The collapse of the price of oil and the brutal drubbing administered to the tar-sands sector, the high-cost oil producer globally, haven’t helped. The overall economy is uneasy. And the migration to online shopping is unstoppable, a phenomenon that is also wreaking havoc among brick-and-mortar retailers in the US.
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Students Learn Organic Farming, Sell Thousands of Pounds of Produce After Internship

by Christina Sarich, Natural Society:
As part of the growing need to find sustainable ways to provide organic, quality food for ourselves, our families, and our neighbors, more young people have become interested in organic farming. Now new programs are teaching children the importance of self-sustainable farming, and how to farm using age-old techniques.
A primary modern issue with farming, in many cases, has been a lack of education from one generation to another since many of our ancient seed-saving, planting, and harvesting practices have been lost to the corporate agricultural model. Now, we are finally starting to mend this escalating issue. For example, with one program run by Dr. Steve McLaskey of the Sustainable Living Department at Maharishi University’s organic farm, students learn how to organic farm in every aspect, and their success has been astounding.
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Clinton Town Hall Questions Totally Rigged: “I Can See Why they Gave You This Question”

by Mac Slavo, SHTFPlan:

You may think that political town halls are open air events where regular people can have meaningful, candid and impromptu discussions with candidates. But as you’ll see from Hillary Clinton’s latest CNN town hall meeting, nothing happens by accident and the candidates are often well aware of exactly what questions “random” audience members will ask them.
Clinton is known for controlling the entire conversation and perspective, especially when she’s in front of a camera, but this time she got totally busted.
In the following video you’ll see a visibly nervous Brett Rosengren stand up to ask Clinton a question. Despite it being a slow travelling softball with no actual substance whatsoever, the question itself is unimportant. It’s what Rosengren says before the question that has raised eyebrows:
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Biological Men Can Now Compete against Women in the Olympics by Claiming They’re Women

by J. D. Heyes, Natural News:
It has just gotten easier for Olympic-caliber male athletes who always found themselves just a couple ticks away from winning a medal, to finally bring home the gold, silver or bronze: Just deny your gender.
That’s right. As noted by Breitbart News, all male Olympians have to do is declare that they’re women, and get some medical treatments that will allow them to reduce their testosterone levels to under 10 nmol/L for at least 12 months, before they will be permitted to compete.
And then they’ll be able to take on the real female athletes.
But wait. As they say, there’s more: As per transgender guidelines recently OK’ed by the International Olympic Committee, formerly male athletes won’t have to go through the expense of losing their “parts,” so to speak.
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