Trump Nearly Sweeps New York, Takes Almost All State Delgates: What Happens Next

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/20/2016 - 07:57
Putting much of the recent doubts about his slowing momentum aside, Donald Trump roared to a major victory in New York last night, collecting over 60% of the vote which will see him come away with a huge haul of delegates that moves him closer to the GOP presidential nomination. Trump began the night with 756 delegates, according to The Associated Press. He appears poised to take 89 of the 95 delegates that were up for grabs in New York. That would bring Trump’s total to 856 delegates, putting him 68 percent of the way to the 1,237 needed to clinch the nomination before the Republican National Convention in July.

'Exciting' New ETF Launches - EUCL, CRZY, STPD & More...

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/20/2016 - 09:35 We've been struggling with the impact some very esoteric funds might be having in the market. We've also been struggling with the concept that some esoteric funds are attracting more capital than some basic mutual fund strategies. We're not sure what it means and maybe after 5 weeks of grinding higher on little volume with minimal volatility we're just angry - especially as that now seems to be the forecast going forward. But we cannot shake our fixation that some complex funds are impacting markets in ways we haven't thought about - and that tends not to end well.

Trump Hints He Would Replace Janet Yellen

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/20/2016 - 09:14 Three weeks after angering the mainstream media with his apocryphal assessment that the US "Is Headed For A Massive Recession" and that "It's A Terrible Time To Invest In Stocks", Trump is likely set to make even more waves with an interview he gave to Fortune magazine, which will be released in its entirety later this week, in which Trump says that while he likes Janet Yellen’s low interest rates, he is not a big fan of Janet Yellen herself.  "I think she’s done a serviceable job," Trump tells Fortune. "I don’t want to comment on reappointment, but I would be more inclined to put other people in."

Crude Slides After Russia Warns Of Production Increase: "Was Never Ready To Cut Output"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/20/2016 - 09:01
Perhaps upset at the weekend's development, Russia has decided to rattle the global crude complex cage. Amid hopes of a freeze, Russia's energy minister Alexander Novak has reversed course and stated that Russia could "in theory" increase oil output and "was never ready to cut production." It appears things are rapidly breaking down between Russia and The Kingdom - which perhaps explains Obama's rapidly arranged trip to kiss the ring in Riyadh.

Obama Arrives In Saudi Arabia To "Reassure" His Close Ally That Nothing Has Changed

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/20/2016 - 08:42
While Congress is scrambling to sweep the recently introduced Bipartisan bill that would allow US families to sue Saudi Arabia for Sept 11, Barack Obama has just landed in Saudi Arabia to reassure his close ally that all is under control.

THE OBAMACARE DISASTER ACCELERATES

from Breitbat, via The Burning Platform:
UnitedHealth, America’s largest health insurance provider, says it will exit from most ObamaCare exchanges next year, citing more than $1 billion in losses.
CEO Stephen Hemsley says his company “cannot continue to broadly serve the market created by the Affordable Care Act’s coverage expansion due partly to the higher risk that comes with its customers,” as reported by the Associated Press.
The announcement came after UnitedHealth revised its projection for 2016 to $650 million in losses, up from a previous estimate of $525 million, after ending 2015 some $475 million in the red.
As the AP tells it, UnitedHealth had “second thoughts” almost immediately after announcing it would expand participation from four state exchanges to 34.
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How Systems Break: First They Slow Down

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/20/2016 - 08:20 The reality that cannot be spoken is that all the financial systems we believe are permanent are actually on borrowed time. Alternatively, we can cling to a state of denial, and the dominant system will be replaced by arrangements that are not necessarily positive.

Frontrunning: April 20

• After big New York wins, Trump and Clinton cast themselves as inevitable (Reuters)
• Eastern States Take Turn in Presidential Primary Spotlight (WSJ)
• China's Stocks Tumble Most in Seven Weeks to Break Trading Calm (BBG)
• Oil falls on end to Kuwaiti strike, supply outlook (Reuters)
• Oil price's decline weighs on global stock markets (Reuters)

"We Express Deep Apologies" - Mitsubishi Admits Rigging Emissions Test Data

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/20/2016 - 07:05
It's all fun and games until someone is caught cheating. That is the lesson that Volkswagen learned last fall, when the German car manufacturer was caught using software that could detect when an emissions test was taking place in order to give better results. Today, it looks like Mitsubishi Motors will learn that very same lesson. "We express deep apologies to all of our customers and stakeholders for this issue," Mitsubishi said in a statement, also saying that the company "conducted testing improperly to present better fuel consumption rates than the actual rates."

Crude Slides After Kuwait Strikes Ends; China Markets Tumble

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/20/2016 - 06:52 The biggest catalyst for overnight markets, first reported on this site, was the announcement by Kuwait that its oil workers had ended their strike which disrupted oil production in the 4th largest OPEC producer for 3 days cutting it by as much as 1.7 mmb/d, and had served to offset the negative news from the Doha debacle. Kuwait Petroleum also added that it would boost output to 3m b/d within 3 days, which in turn has pressured the price of oil overnight, and the May WTI contract was back to just over $40 at last check, sliding 2%. Not helping things was a very dejected Venezuela oil minister Eulogio Del Pino who said at a conference in Moscow that he sees oil prices returning to lows in 3-4 weeks if oil producers can't make a deal. For now the algos - and central banks - disagree.

Eric Hunsader: The Financial System Is "Absolutely, Positively Rigged"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/19/2016 - 23:55 "I've been apoplectic for so long I am just spent. Nothing would surprise me anymore. I really honestly don’t know how this is going to get corrected. I know it can’t continue."

"This Is Catastrophic" - Thousands Of Gallons Of Radioactive Waste Leak At Nuclear Site

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/19/2016 - 23:39 Thousands of gallons of radioactive waste leaked from the Hanford Nuclear Reservation Site in Washington State, as workers pumped sludge from the tank during the weekend. "This is catastrophic. This is probably the biggest event to ever happen in tank farm history. The double shell tanks were supposed to be the saviors of all saviors (to hold waste safely from people and the environment),” said former Hanford worker Mike Geffre.

China Launches Yuan Gold Fix To "Exert More Control Over Price Of Gold"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/19/2016 - 22:35 Overnight a historic event took place when China, the world's top gold consumer, launched a yuan-denominated gold benchmark on Tuesday as had been previewed here previously in what Reuters dubbed "an ambitious step to exert more control over the pricing of the metal and boost its influence in the global bullion market."

Paul Craig Roberts: How The American Neocons Destroyed Mankind's Hopes For Peace

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/19/2016 - 22:30 The only achievements of the American neoconservatives are to destroy in war crimes millions of peoples in eight countries and to send the remnant populations fleeing into Europe as refugees, thus undermining the American puppet governments there, and to set back the chances of world peace and American leadership by creating a powerful strategic alliance between Russia and China. This boils down to extraordinary failure. It is time to hold the neoconservatives accountable, not elect another puppet for them to manipulate.

London's Rich See The Writing On The Wall: Stop Buying, Start Renting

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/19/2016 - 22:00 When the going gets tough, the rich get going first... and the rest should pay attention.

People As Poultry

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/19/2016 - 21:30 We live in a lunatic asylum... the lunatics being us.

Flu vaccines causing massive spike in deaths of elderly across the UK, warn health officials

by J. D. Heyes, Natural News:
File this under the “say it isn’t so” category – a vaccine that isn’t good for your health.
As reported by the UK’s Daily Mail Online, a growing number of cases of dementia and an ineffective flu vaccine are being blamed for the biggest rise in annual deaths in England and Wales in five decades, an investigation revealed.
In 2015, the website noted, there were 28,000 more deaths than the previous year, or an increase of 5.6 percent. The most recent inquiry into the rising death toll has found that 2015 saw the biggest single-year spike in respiratory diseases, including influenza, and diseases like dementia since 2003.
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“We Cannot Afford another Draghi”: Germany Attacks ECB

from Wolf Street:

Relations between the government of Europe’s biggest economy, Germany, and Europe’s most powerful financial institution, the European Central Bank, have soured to the point of curdling.
The latest volley of barbed remarks came from Germany’s dour Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, who has never been one to mince his words. Speaking at an awards ceremony outside Frankfurt on April 8, he told the audience that the stellar rise of right-wing populist Alternative für Deutschland party was due in large part to the ECB’s loose monetary policy.
“I told Mario Draghi … you can be very proud,” according to a report by a Dow Jones journalist who was present.
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With Shanghai now establishing a new price discovery, Russia wants to join with China to create joint Eurasian gold market

from The Daily Economist:

April 19 was a monumental day for the global physical gold markets, with the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) setting a new price to compete directly with London and the U.S. Comex.  Yet this move is just the first of many in China’s long-term strategy to bring about a worldwide return to a gold standard.
And now it appears that they won’t go it alone as on the same day of China’s gold price determination for the world’s largest gold market, Russia wants to join in as their central bank is now in talks with Beijing to create a joint Eurasian market that will be almost bigger than the Western metals markets combined.
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The Winter of Discontent

by Peter Schiff, Euro Pacific Capital:
The Winter of 2015-2016, which came to an end a few weeks ago, has been officially designated as the mildest in the U.S. in 121 years according to NOAA. While this fact will certainly add a major talking point in the global warming debate, it should also be front and center in the current economic discussion. The fact that it isn’t is testament to the blatantly self-serving manner in which economic cheerleaders blame the weather when it’s convenient, but ignore it when it’s not. If economists were consistent (and that’s a colossal “if”), the good weather would be taken as a reason to believe the economy is weaker than is being reported.
The two previous winters were much harsher. 2013-2014 brought the infamous “Polar Vortex,” an unusual descent of frigid polar air that brought temperatures down significantly throughout most of the United States. The next winter was almost as bad, with colder than usual temperatures combined with record snowfalls in much of the country. These conditions were cited again and again by many economists to explain why Q1 GDP growth was so disappointing both years. Annualized growth came in at just -.9% and .6% respectively (Bureau of Economic Analysis). As both 2014 and 2015 got underway, economic optimism had been riding high. When both started off with such resounding stumbles, excuses were needed to explain why the forecasters were so wrong. The snow and cold provided those fig leaves.
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BRICS FMs Discuss Launch of Bank Institute and Ratings Agency

from The BRICS Post:
BRICS countries on Friday discussed the efficacy of “establishing” a bank institute and a rating agency of their own following the New Development Bank (NDB) becoming fully operational.
BRICS finance ministers and central bank governors met in Washington on the sidelines of the annual Spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
“Deliberations were held on efficacy of establishment of New Development Bank Institute and BRICS rating agency,” a media release said.
“It was decided that a technical working group would examine the issues in detail,” a statement said.
The findings of the technical group would be presented to BRICS finance ministers and central bank governors in their next meeting, it added.
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ARE US EXCHANGE CONTROLS IMMINENT?

by Egon Von Greyerz, Gold Broker:
I have for quite some time warned investors to get out of the banking system.
We believe that it is now becoming more urgent than ever. Bank stocks in Europe and the US are falling fast. The market is clearly sensing that things are looking extremely precarious in most financial institutions. What else can can we expect with bank balance sheets being leveraged 20-50 times and with worthless derivatives a lot more. Everyone knows that Greek banks and Italian banks are bankrupt but few people realise that there are very few sound banks.
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