Michelle Obama Takes A Shot At "Make America Great Again"

"Don’t let someone tell you this country isn’t great - that we need to make it great again. Because, right now, this country is the greatest country on Earth." or “Well, that was a colossal waste of my time,” said Obama with an air of weary irritation before reminding the audience she had been 45 years old at her husband’s inauguration and now she was “fifty-fucking-two.”

Never forget how corrupt this trash is...

Clinton Cash: "Devastating" Documentary Reveals How Clintons Went From "Dead Broke" To Mega Wealthy

Clinton Cash investigates how Bill and Hillary Clinton went from being “dead broke” after leaving the White House to amassing a net worth of over $150 million, with over $2 billion in donations to their foundation. 

Pokemon Go Is Spooking Middle East Governments

Pokemon Go is creating headaches for Middle Eastern governments, as concerns over security and subversion prompt calls for intervention.

One Analyst's Surprising Indicator Why Recession Is Coming In Early 2017

Stifel analyst Paul Westra downgraded the restaurant industry in a note released today, slashing estimates and ratings on 11 stocks in the sector, while warning that a slowdown in the restaurant industry is a harbinger for an overall economic recession.

Miami Police Station Evacuated, Bomb Squad Detonates Suspicious Package

Miami PD Bomd Squad has been called to Miami's downtown police department as The Sun Sentinel reports the headquarters - which employs 1600 officers and civilians - has been evacuated after the discovery of a suspicious package.

"What The F**k Was That?"

While USDJPY notched down and Oil had been slipping, stocks suddenly lurched lower, gapping to yesterday's lows on heavy volume. As one veteran trader exclaimed "what the f**k was that?" as no obvious catalyst sprung up, unless of course this morning's series of economic "beats" was sufficiently good to be bad for stocks and raise the dreaded rate hike specter.

Hollande Vows "All Out War" Against ISIS After Priest Killing

After the latest terrorist attack on French soil, President Hollande vowed to wage war against ISIS "by every means". "We are confronted with a group, Daesh, which has declared war on us," Hollande said, using an alternative name for Isis. "We have to wage war, by every means, (but through) upholding the law, which is because we are a democracy."

"Hope" Fades As Consumer Confidence Ignores Stock Market Exuberance

Janet, you have a problem...

New Home Sales Rebound To Highest Since 2008 As Median Home Price Rises Back Over $300,000

Moments ago the latest data from the Census Bureau shelved any lingering concerns about a sharp slowdown in the US housing market, when it reported that in June new home sales surged 25.4% from a year ago and up 3.5% from the upward revised May print of 572K to 592K, above the 560K expected, and the highest number reported since 2008, even if still well below half of the peak hit before the recession struck.

Tuesday Humor: Richmond Fed Survey Beats Expectations By 7 Standard Deviations

Aginst expectations of a -5 print, July's Richmond Fed printed +10 (up from a revised lower -10 in June). This is the 2nd biggest MoM spike since 1998 (the biggest being March's insane spike). This beat is a 7 standard deviation beat over expectations among the 9 economists tracking it with none of them forecasting a gain at all. Across the board components improved with a surge in employees, workweek and the biggest jump in new orders since 1998!

US Services Economy 'Bounce' Dies - PMI Tumbles To 5-Month Lows

Despite an excited bounce in US Manufacturing PMI's preliminary print (and ISM Services last month), Markit reports a disappointing drop in US Services to a 5-month low. New business slowed but that did not deter hope as business confidence rebounded (albeit from record lows). However, as Markit notes, "The U.S. service sector remained stuck in a low gear at the start of the third quarter of 2016..."

A "Cautious" JPM Warns That Apple "Expectations Are High"

"We remain cautious heading into Apple’s FQ3 results as we believe that iPhone expectations are still high for the second half of CY16. Our revenue estimate for the September QTR (FQ4) is 1.5% below sell-side consensus as we remain concerned about weaker consumer demand driven by macro conditions. We believe this could be exacerbated by consumers delaying upgrades this Fall in favor of a reported large form factor change in 2017."

Peak Irony: Mexico Wants To Build The Wall To Stop Illegal Immigration

It turns out that Donald Trump’s proposed border wall is not such a bad idea after all. Though Mexico’s current and former Presidents have both lambasted Trump for implying that a wall would curb immigration, it turns out that Mexicans like the idea...

RBS Warns Clients May Face Negative Interest Rates

In another reminder that monetary unorthodoxy in the face of NIRP is coming to a savings account near you, overnight the RBS banking group warned 1.3 million customers they could be charged negative interest rates if the Bank of England cuts base rates below zero. As seen in the letter posted below, the bank warned that: "Global interest rates remain at very low levels and in some markets are currently negative. Dependent on future market conditions, this could result in us charging on credit balances."

Case-Shiller Home Prices Drop Most In 2 Years

Despite its supposed seasonal adjustment, Case-Shiller home price growth in May tumbled for the 3rd year in a row (in fact, with revisions, the 0.23% drop since March is the biggest drop since June 2014). This is the first consecutive home price drop since 2012. The almost unbelievable 'stability' of the 5-ish percent growth in Case-Shiller home prices for the last 2 years is impressive if only for its historical lack of precedence but May's 5.24% YoY rise in the slowest since Sept 2015.

2 Islamic State Hostage Takers Killed After Slitting Priest's Throat In Assault On French Church

In the latest European assault to take place just over the past hour, two knifemen raided the Church of the Gambetta in the northern French town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, taking between 4 and 6 hostages and allegedly killing a priest before being killed by police. According to subsequent unconfirmed reports the priest had been beheaded.

Crude Carnage Continues: WTI Hits $42 Handle On Inventories, Dollar

With WTI now down over 17% from its mid-June highs, and energy stocks just beginning to wake up to the 2015-analog collapse, fears are rising that once again low oil prices are not 'unequivocally good' for stocks or the economy. Between record speculative long positioning in futures, the fundamental strength of the dollar and surge in gasoline inventories remain the big overhangs (along with rising storage levels at Cushing as demand begins to fade seasonally).

Caterpiller Cuts Guidance On "Subdued Global Growth", Blames Brexit And "Turkey Turmoil"

'World economic growth remains subdued and is not sufficient to drive improvement in most of the industries and markets we serve. Commodity prices appear to have stabilized, but at low levels. Global uncertainty continues, and the recent Brexit outcome and the turmoil in Turkey add to risks, especially in Europe."

Bernie Speech Seeks To Rescue Divisive Day At DNC; Unclear If Bernie Supporters Are "With Her"

The sustained applause and sea of "Bernie" signs in the crowd as he took the stage called into question whether Hillary had any support at all among the convention goers.  Sanders spent nearly the first half of his speech thanking his supporters and touting progressive policies with the first mention of Clinton not coming until about 800 words later.

Russia Foreign Minister Responds To Allegation It Is Behind DNC Hack: "I Don't Want To Use Four-Letter Words"

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov responded to accusations that Russia was allegedly behind the DNC server hack, when he blasted a reporter over her question that Russia was behind the DNC email leaks. Lavrov had a concise reply, stating: "I don't want to use four-letter words." This appears to be a denial of the accusations.

USDJPY Plunges On Japan Stimulus Concerns; US Futures Flat With As Fed Begins Meeting

In a turbulent session for FX, the Yen soared as much as 1.4%, the most in three weeks, after Finance Minister Aso says the government will "leave actual policy measures to BOJ", sending the Nikkei lower by 1.4%. European stocks and U.S. equity index futures are little changed despite the slide in the key carry pair as the Fed starts its two day meeting.

Hillary Clinton Is In Deep Trouble: "Hordes Of Wall Street Executives" Descend Upon Philly

We believe Hillary Clinton lost the Presidency this past week. While the explosive DNC leaks will undoubtably have a long lasting effect, this post will barely reference the leaks. Rather, it will explain how recent decisions by the Hillary campaign played right into Trump’s hands by essentially waving a gigantic middle finger to the 73% of Americans who think the country is headed in the wrong direction.

"Credible Evidence" Shows Turkish Authorities Raped And Tortured Detainees Since 'Failed' Coup

Human rights group Amnesty International said on Sunday it had "credible evidence" of abuse and torture of people detained in sweeping arrests since Turkey's 15 July attempted military coup.

What is Fethullah Gülen?

by F. William Engdahl, New Eastern Outlook:
Since the failed coup attempt in Turkey of July 15 there has been much speculation in western media that it in fact was all engineered by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to provide him with the pretext to impose emergency rule and to jail any and all opposition to his rule. At this point evidence still suggests that that was not at all the case. Rather, as I wrote at the time when it was clear the coup attempt was collapsing, it was a coup initiated by the CIA acting through their primary asset inside Turkey, the networks of their fugitive Turkish asset Fethullah Gülen. When we examine more closely “what” is Fethullah Gülen he is anything but the grandfatherly image of a 75-year-old soft-spoken Islamic moderate, scholar and Imam. His networks have been called the most dangerous in Germany by Islamic experts and have been banned in several Central Asian countries. Now, too, in Turkey. What’s becoming clear is that the failed coup was in fact a dry-run, a dress rehearsal by Gülen’s controllers in Langley to see how Erdogan would react, in order to recalibrate and prepare for a more serious attempt in the future. Washington was not at all happy with the foreign policy turn of Erdoğan turning to reconcile with Russia and possibly also with Syria’s Assad.
Fethullah Gülen is not a “who” but, rather, it is a “what.” The what is one of the most extensive and elaborate surrogate warfare networks ever created by the United States intelligence community, spanning countless nations including the United States and Germany, as well as the historic Turkic regions of Central Asia from Turkey up to the Uyghur peoples of China’s oil-rich Xinjiang Autonomous Province.
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David Einhorn Is Back In The Doldrums With Q2 Loss As Amazon Short Stings: Full Letter

"Most of the quarterly losses came from the short book. An undisclosed oil fracking short (not the Mother-Fracker) was our biggest loser, followed by Amazon, which reported a stronger quarter than we expected. In the long book, Apple (AAPL) and Macy’s were material losers. The earnings estimates for  AAPL continue to fall."

Newsbud Breaking News Turkey’s Coup Plotters are Members of NATO’s Rapid Deployable Corps (NRDC)

from Spiro:

The three most important regiments involved in the Turkey Attempted Coup plot and implementation have been part (members) of NATO’s Rapid Deployable Corps (NRDC) since 2003. A group of plotters of the failed Turkish Coup Attempt used a WhatsApp group to communicate with each other. Based on well-documented information and established identities gathered from these intercepted communications, at least three out of the five coupist regiments were (and still are) part of NATO’s Rapid Deployable Corps. Further, the group used the emblem and slogan used by NATO’s Rapid Deployable Corps: “Peace at home, peace in the world.”

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