WARNING: The Bond Bubble is Now BURSTING… Total Collapse Coming SOON. HOLD GOLD. — Michael Pento

from Greg Hunter:

There is a record bubble in bonds, and money manager Michael Pento warns, “Where’s the 10-year Treasury right now? It was 1.3%, and now it’s around 2.6%. We’re going to 4% on the 10-year Treasury. That, by definition, is an absolute bursting of the bond bubble.

New Suspect In Berlin Terror Attack Manhunt: Search Is On For Known Tunisian With Islamist Links

German police is searching for a Tunisian man after finding a temporary-stay permit under the driver's seat of the truck that plowed into a Berlin Christmas market, killing 12 people. According to a temporary-stay permit discovered, the man, named as Anis A, was born in 1992 in the city of Tataouine.

WTI Tumbles To $52 Handle After Surprise Crude Inventory Build

Following API's reported across the board inventory draws, DOE refuted this and saw a surprise notable 2.256mm build (most in 5 weeks). Cushing inventories fell very modestly (biggest draw in 2 months) and Gasoline and Distillates also saw further inventiry dras. Production slid very modestly. WTI is being sold on this print, testing back to a $52 handle.

Kremlin Warns Of Response To Latest US Sanctions, Says "Almost All Communication With US Is Frozen"

“Almost every level of dialogue with the United States is frozen. We don’t communicate with one another, or (if we do) we do so minimally,” Peskov said.

Why El-Erian Is Moving To Cash: "We've Priced In No Policy Mistakes"

"We’ve priced in no policy mistakes. We’ve priced in no market accidents, and we’ve ignored all sorts of political issues..."

Existing Home Sales Surge To Feb 2007 Highs Despite Soaring Mortgage Rates

Despite soaring mortgage rates, tumbling affordability, and crashing mortgage applications, existing home sales soared to fresh cycle highs. At 5.61mm SAAR, this is the highest existing home sale print since Feb 2007 (+0.7% MoM vs -1.8% exp).

Ex-Blackrock Portfolio Manager Sentenced To 12 Months In Prison For Insider Trading

Former Blackrock star portfolio manager Mark Lyttleton, 45, has been sentenced to 12 months in prison after pleading guilty to an "elaborate web of insider trading, using offshore companies, unregistered mobile phones and cash payments."

VIX Smashed To 10 Handle At US Open... But Still No Dow 20k

But Bob Pisani told us it was "inevitable" that Dow 20k would happen at the open!! "People are praying for a 5% drop so they can buy more"

JPM Trading Desk Reiterates The "Enormous Risk For The Tape" Which The Market Keeps Ignoring

"Investors are beginning to focus more on the corporate reform particulars (specifically, border taxes, interest deductibility, and immediate capital spending expensing) and this is blunting some of the initial Trump/Ryan enthusiasm... this remains an enormous risk for the tape as the perception around taxes/infrastructure spending and the likely reality are quite different."

"Wrong Way Gartman"...

Gartman: "The Proper Course Of Action, Obviously, Is To Be Long Of Equities But Fearful"

"We shall once again suggest that new purchases of stocks at these levels shall prove to be ill-advised in the not too distant future. The proper course of action, obviously, is to be long of equities but fearful of the inevitable correction, which will be violent and sharp when it happens."

4 Dead, Many Injured After Minibus "Drove Into" Beijing Market

Four people are dead and many more injured after a minibus drive into a market in the northern region of Beijing. While China's traffic safety record is not exactly stellar, with many on edge following the Berlin attack, this event is noteworthy as China has faced a threat from Islamist militants operating in its far western region of Xinjiang who have been blamed for a series of attacks in recent years.

Al-Nusra Claims Responsibility For Murder Of Russian Ambassador, Warns Of More Attacks

The Jabhat Fatah al-Sham organization (formerly the al-Nusra Front) claimed to be responsible for Monday's murder of Russian Ambassador Andrey Karlov’s in Ankara. The terrorist group claimed responsibility via a letter which appeared on the Internet. The letter was written in Arabic.

WTI Sinks On Libya Production Fears (Again)

The overnight rally in crude following API's unexpectedly large crude inventory drawdown has been erased as more headlines from Libya send WTI lower.

European Banking Bloodbath Spreads To Spain After Italy Fires €20 Billion "Bazooka" At €360 Billion Problem

Total chaos reigns in European banking stocks this morning as Monte Paschi shares crash, soar, and plunge amid on-again, off-again bail-in, bail-out headlines (and stocks and bonds hit record lows). However, Italy is now not alone as Spanish banks are also bloodbathing following a European Court ruling on mortgage fraud went against them.

Merkel Government Still In Denial

The police union in the German state of Thuringia issued an open letter to the state's Interior Minister, describing the crumbling law-and-order situation amid the rising migrant crime: "[You] are abandoning us completely helpless to a superior force... But what changes? Nothing. One instead gets a sense of uninterest." Meanwhile, representatives of Arab community were reported telling the police in Ruhr, "The police will not win a war with us because we are too many."

Monte Paschi Crashes To All Time Low, Rebounds After Government Agrees To Fund Bank Bailouts

In early European trading, shares of Italy's Monte Paschi halted after crashing 17%, dropping to fresh all time lows, after the bank warned its liquidity could run out far sooner than expected. But then, moments ago, its shares soared, recovering all losses when Italy's upper house of parliament approved a government request to borrow up to €20 billion to underwrite the country's troubled banks.

Dow At All Time High, Dollar Dips, Europe Lower Dragged By Sliding Spanish, Italian Banks

US equity futures and Asian stocks were unchanged while European stocks declined after touching the highest level in almost a year, as Italian and Spanish banks dragged indexes lower. The dollar eased back from 14-year highs as bond yields fell on Wednesday and oil extended its advance in increasingly thin trading.

FBI Warrant For Clinton Emails Released As Democrats Slam Decision: "I Am Appalled"

"I see nothing at all in the search-warrant application that would give rise to probable cause. I am appalled."

Who Won The 2016 Oil War?

Heading into the New Year with oil prices above US$50, both OPEC and the U.S. shale industry are claiming victory in the latest oil war battle - and both expect to benefit from higher prices, but there can really only be one winner here.

Where Are The 'Black Swans' Hiding?

While being capable of imagining a 'black swan' event implies its non-existence; given the level of groupthink consensus agreement that the bond bull is dead, inflation is back, central banks are maxed out, and global fiscal stimulus will save the world, we thought a look at some of the more unsusual, unpredictable expectations for 2017 was worthwhile...

Vladimir Putin Orders Russia’s Spy Chiefs to Track Down Ambassador’s Murderers

by Alexander Mercouris, The Duran:
Vladimir Putin confers with his intelligence and security chiefs in order to track down anyone responsible for ordering the murder of the Russian ambassador to Turkey.
In the hours following news of the murder of the Russian ambassador to Turkey, Russian President Vladimir Putin convened an urgent meeting of his top foreign policy and intelligence advisers.
Read More

Trump Ally Calls For The Clinton’s To Be Prosecuted

by Carol Adl, Your News Wire:
Roger Stone, a renowned American strategist and long time ally of Donald Trump is petitioning the incoming administration to ask a grand jury whether Hillary Clinton should be criminally prosecuted.
Stone said on Monday that Hillary Clinton’s use of a private server to exchange sensitive data between 2009 and 2013 should not go unpunished.
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While Christians In America Cry ‘Peace And Safety’, Believers All Over The World Are Being Brutally Persecuted

by Michael Snyder, End Of The American Dream:
Thanks to the election of Donald Trump, most Christians in America are feeling really good about the future, but it is another story entirely in much of the rest of the world. A Christian persecution watchdog group called Aid to the Church in Need released its “Religious Freedom in the World” report for 2016 a few weeks ago, and their conclusion was that the persecution of Christians globally is becoming much worse. In fact, there are seven nations where persecution is so bad that they were put into the “it could scarcely get any worse”category. Those nations included Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Syria.
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Will Trump Lower the Cost of Speaking the Truth?

by Paul Craig Roberts, Paul Craig Roberts:
Dear Donors:
Thank you for your committment to this website. You have kept your side of our agreement, and I will keep my side.
This is truly your website. It is here because of you.
I am fortunate that I grew up during a time when, despite the lies and disinformation, both private greed and government were checked by a sometimes honest media and an alert population. The power of the people’s votes had not yet been eclipsed by the power of campaign contributions.
Truth mattered, and those who lost their integrity were shamed.
Read More

“Car Recession” Bites GM: Inventory Glut, Layoffs, Plant Shutdowns

by Wolf Richter, Wolf Street:
But GM already booked those vehicles on dealer lots as revenues.
GM has been reacting to its fabulously ballooning inventory glut by piling incentives on its vehicles. But that hasn’t worked all that well though it cost a lot of money. Now it’s time to get serious.
It will temporarily close five assembly plants in January and lay off over 10,000 employees, spokeswoman Dayna Hart said today. Plants that assemble cars will be hit, according to the AP:
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ITALY CLOSE TO A BANKING FAILURE

HUGE SPREAD IN GOLD BETWEEN SHANGHAI GOLD FIX AND NY PRICING/LOOKS LIKE ANOTHER CHINESE BOND FAILURE
from Harvey Organ:
In silver, the total open interest FELL by 114 contracts DOWN to 160,299 with respect to YESTERDAY’S TRADING. In ounces, the OI is still represented by just less THAN 1 BILLION oz i.e. .801 BILLION TO BE EXACT or 114% of annual global silver production (ex Russia & ex China).
FOR THE DECEMBER FRONT MONTH: 0 NOTICES FILED FOR nil OZ.
In gold, the total comex gold FELL BY 1,050 contracts DESPITE THE FACT THAT WE HAD A RISE IN THE PRICE GOLD ($5.20 with YESTERDAY’S trading ).The total gold OI stands at 400,742 contracts. We are very close to the bottom with respect to OI. Generally 390,000 should do it.
Read More @ Harveyorganblog.com

Thwarted Peace? Assassination of Russian Ambassador “A False Flag Operation By the West”

by Mac Slavo, SHTFPlan:
Will there be peace again in our lifetimes? That remains to be seen.
As you have probably heard, Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov was shot dead Sunday night at an art gallery right as he was about to give a speech.
The shooter, identified as 22-year-old Turkish policeman Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş, reportedly fired at Karlov eight times, hitting him multiple times in the back before he fell to the ground on his back.
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Virtu Financial Execs Were Major Donors to Clinton and Schumer as Trump Nominates Its Top Dog as Secretary of the Army

by Pam Martens and Russ Martens, Wall St On Parade:
Something smelled unusually rotten in Trumpland when Democratic Senator from New York Chuck Schumer fell all over himself to endorse Donald Trump’s nominee, Vincent Viola, as Secretary of the Army. Viola has never served in battle and has spent the bulk of his adult life as an oil and gas futures trader. He became a billionaire from his stake in a high frequency trading firm, Virtu Financial, which he took public last year.
Multiple media outlets reported that Viola was a donor to Donald Trump’s campaign. According to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records, however, Viola’s only Federal election contribution in the past two years was a $5,000 donation to the CME Group Pac in December 2015.
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FRC’s Perkins: Trump’s Sec. of State Must Ferret Out LGBT and Abortion Activists in State Dep’t

by Michael W. Chapman, The Mirror:

Commenting on the pro-abortion and pro-LGBT agenda emplaced at the State Department by President Barack Obama over the last eight years, Family Research Council (FRC) President Tony Perkins said Rex Tillerson, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of State, must make it clear that he will seek to dismantle this radical, anti-family agenda and ferrot out the radicals who are promoting it at the expense of true diplomacy and international human rights, such as religious liberty.

Under Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, the Obama administration has promoted its LGBT and pro-abortion agenda worldwide, said Perkins in the FRC’s Dec. 15 Washington Update.
“Clinton made her intentions known early in her tenure that the administration would not only promote special rights based upon sexual behavior within the State Department but would use the State Department to export the LGBTQ agenda globally,” said Perkins. “These behavior-based rights have consistently been a major emphasis of the Obama administration’s foreign policy.”
Read More

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