JPM's Quant Guru Unveils The $1 Trillion Catalyst That Will Unleash The Next Market In Turmoil

"About ~$1,000Bn of S&P 500 options expire this week. The gamma imbalance turned towards puts yesterday ($9bn per 1% currently), and this will likely push realized volatility higher near term. Post expiry, clients are likely to roll put strikes higher, which will also be supportive of higher volatility. Yesterday’s large move on the VIX indicates short gamma exposure of dealers on VIX products as well." - Marko Kolanovic

 

Hacked Texas Billboards Target Both Donald Trump And Hillary Clinton

A group calling itself New World Hackers has been taking over billboards along Interstate 30 in Dallas. The group seems to dislike both the Democratic and Republican candidates for President, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

 

"There Is A General Softening In The Consumer's Ability To Pay" - Why Credit Card Companies Are Crashing

On the day in which the government reported modestly stronger than expected retail sales for the month of May, signalling a return to strength for spending and the US consumer - the driving force behind 70% of US GDP - a far more ominous statistic was revealed by credit card company Synchrony Financial, which earlier today announced in a regulatory filing that it expects write-off rates to climb 20 to 30 basis points over the next 12 months, and will increase reserves for soured loans beginning this quarter.

 

Islam & The West: Irreconcilable Conflict?

While we fight side-by-side to annihilate our common enemies, ISIS and al-Qaida, the West should give up the idea of democratization and secularization of the Islamic world. And those who believe Islam is the one true faith, to which all of mankind must eventually submit, should be told that they are welcome as visitors — but not as immigrants. For that would ensure endless conflict. The more Islamic the West becomes, the less it remains the West.

Joe 'The Plumber' Endorses Trump: "He Speaks His Mind, Regardless Of Consequences"

"Media lives on sound bites, so they take the first couple words and they plaster that everywhere. Donald Trump doesn't care [about that], and a lot of people are starting to get that."

Now The Podesta Group Gets Involved: Claims Story Of Saudi Funding For Hillary Was "A Hack"

In an unexpected twist, following yesterday's surprising story that according to a report which briefly appeared on the Jordanian News Agency, and was promptly removed, Saudi Arabia had funded some 20% of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, overnight none other than the powerful Podesta Group got involved, and demanded it be made clear that the only reason this story - allegedly completely untrue - appeared was because the agency had been hacked. We find that hard to believe.

 

A Rare Loss For The HFT Lobby? SEC Staff Recommends Approval Of IEX Exchange Application

In what may be a long overdue victory for the "good guys", the WSJ reports that the SECs staff has recommended that the agency approve IEX Group Inc.’s "controversial" bid to launch a new stock exchange, signaling likely approval when the agency’s commissioners vote on the order Friday.

Keynesian Triumph: Americans Are Broke

So here we are. After decades of what essentially could be called a new “Industrial Revolution” with the advent of computers and the internet, the US government has managed through its monetary authorities and through its other policies to decimate savings and leave millions of Americans financially vulnerable. It has been no accident.

Thank You Mr. Trump, Part 2

The US government’s misbegotten drive for unipolarity is the most important issue Trump has raised. Humanity’s survival may be at stake. Call it the military-intelligence-industrial-media-complex, the powers that be, or the Deep State, if Trump follows through on his rhetoric he will be fighting the most lucrative and powerful cabal on the planet, a far greater threat to American liberties and lives than that which President Eisenhower warned of in 1961.

S&P Breaks Below Crucial Support As BofAML Warns Of Bearish "Shooting Star"

The S&P 500 tested resistance at the November and May 2015 peaks of 2116-2135 last week but closed near the week’s lows to form a bearish reversal (shooting star) on the weekly candle chart. This pattern, as BofAML's Stphen Suttmeier notes, could provide an overhang, similar to the late April and early November bearish weekly candles, especilaly worrisome as S&P breaks below near-term key resistance at 2085-2077 this morning.

Work Won't Be Scarce - It's Paid Work That Will Be Scarce

The great fantasy that many are depending on to solve the decline of paid work is taxing the robots and software that ate all the jobs. These taxes are supposed to pay for the Universal Basic Income that everyone will enjoy once work is automated and jobs become scarce. The problem with the fantasy is that profits only flow to what's scarce, and as the tools of automation are commoditized, they will no longer be scarce.

 

Bilderberg Chairman Warns Brexit Possibility "Extremely High"

Just day after their mysterious annual meeting in Dresden, it appears The Bilderberg Group's gravest concern is Brexit. While everything from The Middle East to Donald Trump was on the agenda, the remarks this week from AXA CEO (and Chairman of The Bilderberg Group) Henri de Castries that there is an "extremely high" probability that the U.K. will vote to leave the European Union and investors will face “a true landscape of uncertainties," suggest the establishment is concerned.

Amarillo Walmart Shooter Killed By SWAT; Hostages Reported Safe

According to WJLA, the Amarillo Police Department have confirmed an active shooter situation at the Walmart on I-27 and Georgia in Amarillo, Texas. Police are asking the public to stay away from the area so officers can focus on the scene instead of traffic. The shooter is believed to have taken hostages.

Tyranny Of The PhDs

Sad to say, you haven’t seen nothin’ yet. The world is drifting into financial entropy, and it is going to get steadily worse. That’s because the emerging stock market slump isn’t just another cyclical correction; it’s the opening phase of the end-game. That is, the end game of the PhD Tyranny.

 

Meet Noor Zahi Salman: The Orlando Shooter's Mysterious Second Wife Knew Of His Plans, May Be Charged

According to NBC news, Orlando gunman Omar Mateen's current wife, Noor Salman, has told the FBI that she drove Mateen to the Pulse nightclub on a prior occasion and that she tried to talk him out of conducting any kind of attack, officials told NBC News. As NBC adds, law enforcement officials said authorities are considering filing criminal charges against her for failing to tell them what she knew before the attack, but no decision has been made yet.

President Obama To Explain How He'll Win The War Against "Lone Wolves" And Guns - Live Feed

Before he heads down to Florida, President Obama is set to address the press to explain how The FBI missed this, and how this has nothing to do with Islam but is merely a self-radicalised "lone wolf" that was able to get a gun legally...

Democrats Claim Russian Hackers Stole Their Anti-Trump Research

Russian government hackers penetrated the computer network of the Democratic National Committee and gained access to the entire database of opposition research on GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, according to committee officials. The networks of presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were also targeted by Russian spies, but as The Washington Post reports, the intruders so thoroughly compromised the DNC’s system they also were able to read all e-mail and chat traffic.

Here They Come: ECB Pledges To Bailout Markets In Case Of Brexit

The European Central Bank would publicly pledge to backstop financial markets in tandem with the Bank of England should Britain vote to leave the European Union, officials with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. "there will be a statement to do whatever it takes to maintain adequate market liquidity."

 

Here’s What The FBI Was Doing Instead Of Catching The Orlando Shooter

Out of the 508 terrorism-related cases since September 11, 2001, more often than not, the FBI has had a hand in creating the very terrorist threat they have claimed to be protecting us from. Two-hundred and forty-three of these cases involved an FBI informant.

 

GLOBAL DEBT RESET: A POTENTIAL EXTINCTION LEVEL EVENT. By Gregory Mannarino

from Gregory Mannarino:

Negative Rates Are Taking Over the World… Are You Prepared?

by Doug Casey, Casey Research:
Negative interest rates are spreading like a plague.
As you’ve probably heard by now, many interest rates around the world have “gone negative.”
Normally, you earn interest on the money in a savings account. With negative rates, you pay the bank to hold your money. In other words, negative rates turn savings upside down. They basically “tax” the money in your account.
Negative rates were unheard of for most of history. But, as you’re about to see, they’re starting to take over the world.
In this issue, we’ll tell you exactly what’s happening…and what to do about it.
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How Corrupt America Is

by Eric Zuesse, Washington’s Blog:
The best reporting on the depth of America’s dictatorship is probably that being done by Atlanta Georgia’s NBC-affiliated, Gannett-owned, TV Channel “11 Alive,” WXIA television, its “The Investigators” series of local investigative news reports, which show, up close and at a cellularly detailed level, the way things actually work in today’s America. Although it’s only local, it displays what meets the legal standards of the U.S. federal government in actually any state in the union; so, it exposes the character of the U.S. government, such that what’s shown to be true here, meets America’s standard for ‘democracy’, or else the federal government isn’t enforcing federal laws against it (which is the same thing as its meeting the federal government’s standards).
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The Establishment Has Lost Its Hold On The People, Brexit Gains Momentum

by Nathan McDonald, Sprott Money:
People around the world are sick and tired of the status quo. They are sick and tired of the overly political correctness and the way that the system is attempting to control every aspect of our lives. You can see this growing wave of discontent from the ever-growing amount of politicians getting elected around the world with a nationalist ideology.
An increasing mass of people is sick and tired of the welfare state that has been created around us and want to get back to good, honest work – the type of hard effort and commitment that made the West the most prosperous nation in the world. Sadly, over the last few decades a growing portion of the population has gotten lazy and have expected more and more from “daddy” government.
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Winning! Majority of Adults Now Reject Government’s Pro-Vaccine Narrative

by Isabelle Z., Natural News:
Americans are growing increasingly wary of the health dangers associated with vaccines, and the numbers show that many adults are simply choosing not to take the risk and forgoing certain vaccinations altogether.
A CDC report entitled “Surveillance of Vaccination Coverage Among Adult Populations – United States, 2014” breaks down the percentages of people getting immunizations, and they note that the numbers have not been improving in recent years.
The report states: “Despite longstanding recommendations for use of many vaccines, vaccination coverage among U.S. adults is low.”
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The US Must Stop its Offensive Cyber Operations Against the World

by Vladimir Platov, New Eastern Outlook:
It’s no secret now that the US has been actively carrying out massive offensive operations in cyberspace for over a decade now. It’s been reported that by 2013, the US military and intelligence agencies have launched more than 200 cyberspace operations and ever since their number has been increasing exponentially. According to various media publication, by 2013 America’s cyberspace warriors have successfully “infected” more than a million computers and networks around the globe and this is only the beginning, since once the NSA Center in Utah will be operational, US intelligence agencies will only enhance their cyberspace capabilities.
Therefore, one can safely assume that cyberspace world war has already started and battle are now being waged all across the globe as it has been confirmed by the revelations made by certain CIA agents and even US Congress members.
Thus, the prominent journalist of The Atlantic, Steve Clemons organized a public event last February, where US Congressman Will Hurd has publicly admitted that the US has been carrying out offensive cyberspace operations against Russia. Since Hurd has spent a decade of his life working for the CIA, once can safely assume that he knows what he’s talking about. The Huffington Post would note that to date Western media sources wouldn’t cover the aggressive US operations in cyberspace, while intentionally choosing to blame Russian hackers in alleged attacks on the US government sites, in oder to present Russia as an aggressor.
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Abnormal Risks Have Abnormal Consequences

by Egon Von Greyerz, Gold Switzerland:
Most people believe that the era we live in is totally normal. This is the case whether you live in a war-zone or in “Shangri-La”. It is the same with the economy. Everybody in the West today believes that stocks always go up and that property grows to the sky and that government bonds are the safest investment you can own. So these strong markets have been the norm for the average investor for the last 100 years. Everything they touch has gone up and any down move is only a correction. And so far investors have been right to stay in the market. Anyone who sat on a diversified portfolio of stocks, property and some bonds has made a massive fortune in the last hundred years. Very few skills in picking the investments were required. It was enough to buy high quality investments and just sit on them.
After 1929 it took the Dow 25 years to recover
Yes, there have been scary moments like for anyone who bought stocks when the Dow was at 400 in 1929. By 1932 the investor had lost 90% and felt very poor. But 24 years later he was breaking even and today, his heirs would own stocks that have achieved a handsome return of 4,400%. Anyone who was clever enough to put $10,000 in the Dow at the 1932 bottom would today sit on a $4.5 million fortune. Hindsight is of course the most exact of all sciences. But the point I am making is that we have seen 100 years of investment markets when no skill was required, just staying power and patience.
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