Stocks Surge To Unch For Feb As Crude Jumps & VIX Dumps

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/22/2016 - 16:03

Silver and Gold Will Protect From Coming Bail-Ins

by Mark O’Byrne, Gold Core:

Josh Sigurdson and John Sneisen of World Alternative Media interviewed Mark O’Byrne, co-founder of GoldCore, late last week. The value of silver and gold during bail-ins and in a financial crisis was covered and other topics covered included
– History of gold and silver as money
– How gold retains value while paper money always reverts to zero eventually
– Importance of owning silver and gold in safest ways possible
– Don’t be dependent on any one counter party as it is a financial and technology risk
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Safes Sell Out In Japan, 1,000 Franc Note Demand Soars As NIRP Triggers Cash Hoarding

"This suggests a vague sense of unease among the public"...

Freddie Mac, Bank Of America Launch Another 3% Down Mortgage Program

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/22/2016 - 16:26 In what looks like a spiteful move designed to undercut the FHA, Bank of America has partnered with Freddie Mac on a new mortgage scheme that will allow borrowers to make down payments as low as 3%. Because that's just what taxpayers need. Fannie and Freddie making more bad loans.
 

Turkey’s Ankara False Flag Blaming Syrian Kurds Clears Pathway to Turkish-Saudi-Gulf State Invasion of Syria and WWIII

from Lew Rockwell:
Turkey’s been blasting away all month long shelling heavy artillery mortars from its side along the Turkish border killing Syrian National Army soldiers, Syrian Kurd forces (YPG), at least, one Russian advisor and defenseless civilians in border villages inside Syria. Widespread reportage of the ongoing daily Turkish artillery barrage into Syria was publicly confirmed by the Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu since February 13th. Though a NATO member, longtime close US ally and next to Empire and Israel among the world’s leading partners-in-crime for state-sponsored terrorism, earlier this week Turkey was asked by Washington to cease its border aggression. Yet Turkish President Recep Erdogan has elected to defy his US master and continues his daily bombardment of northern Syrian villages and Syrian militarily controlled outposts abandoned recently by decimated escaping Islamic State terrorists.
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The Great Wall Of Trump

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/22/2016 - 15:50 It's getting harder and harder for the establishment to huff and puff and blow down that wall...

For These Four States, The Recession Has Arrived

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/22/2016 - 15:31 From abysmal PMI data to slumping freight volumes to collapsing Class 8 truck orders, the writing is on the wall: the US is headed for a recession. And while we would argue that if it weren't for goalseeked data, the numbers would already show that the entire economy is contracting, at least four states are already in an official downturn.

"Everything Changes At Zero" - Investors "Obligated" To Fight The Fed

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/22/2016 - 15:30 The financial world is growing increasingly crazy-looking. What is alarming is that central banks are brandishing these new tools without any viable evidence or theory that they will even work. This itself presupposes that central banks have any idea of what “work” might even mean in this brave new context. It used to be said, ‘Don’t fight the Fed’. Now as investors, if we want to protect our capital, we are all obligated to fight the Fed, and its international cousins, with whatever we have.

Oil Market Shrugs At OPEC Jawboning

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/22/2016 - 15:26 70% of the supply glut in crude is the US's fault, OPEC figures. And the cartel just can't seem to figure out how to "tackle" the problem.

These Are The Two Canadian Banks Most Exposed To A Severe Oil Shock According To Moody's

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/22/2016 - 15:23 The severe stress case "could force lenders to cut dividends, sell shares or take measures to preserve capital. The six biggest banks would see losses of C$5.56 billion ($4 billion) in a moderate scenario, while losses in a severe scenario would reach C$12.9 billion, or about 1.5 times the lenders’ combined quarterly profits."

The Next Big Leg Lower In The Baltic Dry Is On Deck: 360 New Vessels Are About To Be Delivered

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/22/2016 - 15:20 According to DB, with the vast majority of orders placed w/Chinese ship yards, the current market provides incentive (and maybe even increased scope) for owners to more aggressively pursue cancellations ahead of keel laying. The problem is that the latest order book data shows a whopping 360 dry bulk vessels over 60k tons on order at Chinese ship yards (net of typical non-deliveries). This equates to 37M tons of new capacity or 5% of the fleet!

Are Asian Central Bankers Even Crazier Than Our Own?

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/22/2016 - 14:55 That the world’s central bankers get a lot of things wrong, deliberately or not, and have done so for years now, is nothing new. But that they do things that result in the exact opposite of what they ostensibly aim for, and predictably so, perhaps is. And it’s something that seems to be catching on, especially in Asia.

Geneva Swiss Bank Just Called The Top On The "Bear Market Rally", Cashes Out

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/22/2016 - 14:26 "After this nice rebound in equities, we are moving tactically cautious. Actions taken today: we moved to market neutral (long equities / short index futures) on our new Swiss Tactical Equity Certificate and have bought downside protection on the S&P500 in our portfolios."

Putin Says "Radical" Turn Possible In Syria After "Ceasefire" Deal

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/22/2016 - 14:11 “This is a real chance to stop the bloodshed in Syria," Vladimir Putin said in a televised statement on Monday after Washington and Moscow agreed to terms of what's being billed as a "ceasefire" in Syria. “A radical turn in the crisis is now possible," he added.

Recipe For Civil War - Between The Loathsome & The Unspeakable

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/22/2016 - 14:10 The simpleton’s theory goes: Hillary wins the black and Hispanic vote and a big majority of womens’ votes. What does that mean? That America is now split into an ethnic-and-womens’ party (Dems) against a white mens’ party (Repubs)? Isn’t that a nice recipe for a multi-dimensional civil war?

VIX Breaks Below 20 (But It's Different This Time Again)

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/22/2016 - 13:43 For the first time since the first week of January VIX is back below 20. Despite VIX making new 2016 lows, S&P is unable to break the early February highs as it appears every effort is being made to jam VIX lower via the VIX ETF complex. For the 4th time since the August flash-crash, XIV (inverse VIX ETF) has decoupled from SPY (S&P ETF)... will it be different this time?

Iraq On The Brink Of Chaos As Oil Revenues Fall

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/22/2016 - 13:30 Nowhere are the stakes higher than in Iraq, and selling oil at half the price it would take to just break even could break this giant’s back. It certainly isn’t enough to stave off the unrest in Basra, not to mention the ISIS threat.

World War 3 Could Very Easily Turn Into The Very First Nuclear War In The Middle East

by Michael Snyder, The Economic Collapse Blog:

Saudi Arabia already has nukes, Iran probably does, and the Russians are one of the two great nuclear powers on the entire planet.  So if Saudi Arabia, Turkey and their Sunni allies do decide to conduct a full-blown ground invasion of Syria, could someone ultimately decide to use nuclear weapons when their backs get pushed up against a wall?  As you read this article, there are thousands of military vehicles and hundreds of thousands of troops massed along the southern border of Turkey and the northern border of Saudi Arabia.  If the command is given and those forces start streaming toward Damascus, it is inevitable that the Syrians, the Iranians, Hezbollah and the Russians would fight back.  It would literally be the start of World War 3, and the Saudis and the Turks are trying very hard to convince the United States to be involved.  But the truth is that we don’t want any part of this conflict, because it could very easily become the very first nuclear war in the history of the Middle East.
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Widespread starvation, food scarcity in Venezuela, inevitable result of socialist economic policies which end in price controls, scarcity and mass famine

by Dr. Adem Gunes, Natural News:

Self-avowed socialist, Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is beginning to close in on Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, no doubt has the country’s best interests at heart, but we simply wish he was more educated on the effects of socialist policies on vitally important issues like commerce and the laws of economics. Why? Because if he becomes president, and his socialist economic policies get adopted, the country just might starve to death.
No, really, that’s not hyperbole. Because socialism is starving people around the world, and nowhere is that more obvious and pronounced than in Venezuela, the oil-rich South American nation that is now suffering a double whammy: socialism and falling oil prices.
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The System Has Failed

by Charles Hugh Smith, Of Two Minds:

No wonder we’re devolving into a society of a few privileged haves and a vast populace of marginalized have-nots.
American culture contextualizes failure in individualistic terms: the system didn’t fail–you failed. Never mind the system is set up to fail many (if not most) participants: the cultural narrative is that failure to succeed, failure to get ahead, and failure to fit in all boils down to personal failure: failure to follow the rules, work harder, please your boss, transition to a new career, extricate yourself from dysfunctional situations, and so on.
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The Evil Empire Has The World In A Death Grip

from Paul Craig Roberts:

In my archives there is a column or two that introduces the reader to John Perkins’ important book, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. An EHM is an operative who sells the leadership of a developing country on an economic plan or massive development project. The Hit Man convinces a country’s government that borrowing large sums of money from US financial institutions in order to finance the project will raise the country’s living standards. The borrower is assured that the project will increase Gross Domestic Product and tax revenues and that these increases will allow the loan to be repaid.
However, the plan is designed to over-estimate the benefits so that the indebted country cannot pay the principal and interest. As Perkins’ puts it, the plans are based on “distorted financial analyses, inflated projections, and rigged accounting,” and if the deception doesn’t work, “threats and bribes” are used to close the deal.
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