It's On: Obama Sends Destroyer To Chinese Islands, China Vows Military Response

For weeks, the US was rumored to plan a "freedom of navigation" exercise in the contested Spratly islands which, as we’ve pointed out several times this month, amounts to sailing by China's man-made outposts just to see if the PLA will shoot. Moments ago, the wires lit up with news that President Obama has green-lighted the exercise. The USS Lassen, a guided-missile destroyer, is now set to sail within 24 hours.

Complacency Reigns At Epic Levels: "Few Are Ready For What Is Coming"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 10/26/2015 - 17:40 Accounting fraud remains at the heart of the fix instituted by Ben Bernanke and the ploy has been copied by authorities throughout the global financial system, including the central banks of China, Japan, and the European Community. That it seemed to work for the past seven years in propping up global finance has given too many people the dangerous conviction that reality is optional in economic relations. The recovery of equity markets from the disturbances of August has apparently convinced the market players that stocks are invincible. Complacency reigns at epic levels. Few are ready for what is coming.

What Recovery? Record Number Of Americans Become Blood Plasma "Sellers" To Make Ends Meet

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 10/26/2015 - 18:55 Having previously explained President Obama's recovery in charts, we thought words and pictures would be a better indicator of the dire situation facing so many Americans that get missed by the business media's spotlight. With 9.4 million more Americans below the poverty line than before the crisis, as The LA Times reports, it's disturbing to see so many people so destitute - even if they're working - that they've resorted to selling body fluids to make ends meet. The going rate for plasma donation, which can take a couple of hours, is about $25 or $30. But Octapharma is offering $50 for the first five visits, "when you get that $50, you feel good," one plasma 'seller' said, "I paid my gas bill."

If This Really Is "1998 All Over Again", Oil Is About To Soar

If this is indeed a rerun of the post-LTCM/pre first tech bubble days, then oil is about to soar by 150%

Worst News Ever? World Health Organization Says Steak "Probably" Causes Cancer

"Red meat, under which the IARC includes beef, lamb and pork, was classified as a 'probable' carcinogen in its group 2A list that also contains glyphosate, the active ingredient in many weedkillers."

New Drone Footage Captures Scope Of EU's Migrant Crisis As Brussels Plans Refugee "Holding Camps"

Peak Housing 2.0: Sam Zell Dumps 23,000 Apartments In 2007 Deja Vu

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 10/26/2015 - 17:15 Why is the deal particularly notable? Because Zell has traditionally had a very keen nose about such things as "market peaks": the 74 years old is credited with calling the top of the real-estate market in 2007, when he sold another of his companies, Equity Office Properties Trust, to Blackstone for $23 billion. Soon after, the commercial-property market crashed as prices fell and debt defaults surged when it became apparent that subprime was not contained.

The Inherent Problem Of Eternal Bullishness

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 10/26/2015 - 16:50 The inherent problem of "eternal bullishness" is the "wilfull blindness" to the underlying data in an effort to chase short-term returns. This leads to the unfortunate problem of being "all-in" on every hand which has a devastating consequence when a mean reverting event occurs. In the end, it does not matter IF you are "bullish" or "bearish." The reality is that both "bulls" and "bears" are owned by the "broken clock" syndrome during the full-market cycle. However, what is grossly important in achieving long-term investment success is not necessarily being "right" during the first half of the cycle, but by not being "wrong" during the second half.

Traders Confused By Lack Of Central Planner Direction: Pump Bonds & VIX, Dump Oil & Gas

US Stock Market Breadth Is Collapsing Again

With 1998/99 analogs abounding, we thought it worth looking at a more ominous similarity. The breadth of the US equity market is "narrowing" dramatically; and bad breadth was a big flashing red feature of 1999.

Pavlov's Market

It was only a couple of months ago that a rapidly rising dollar was pushing the global economy closer to a new crisis. It seems unlikely that the conditions that made a rapidly rising dollar a problem in August have all been resolved by October. Those who bought stocks last week in response to hints of more easing from Draghi – and the rate cut in China – may find themselves in the same position as Pavlov’s dogs, wondering why no meal follows the ringing of the bell.

Trump Sliding? Ben Carson Takes Commanding 14 Point Lead Over The Donald In Latest Iowa Poll

Polling for the GOP presidential primary has begun to stretch even the most flexible limits of reality and credibility.

Operational & Financial Stress Unavoidable For Energy Names, Goldman Warns Distillate Storage "Too Full For Comfort"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 10/26/2015 - 15:05 Distillate storage utilization in the US and Europe is nearing historically high levels, following near record refinery utilization, only modest demand growth (especially relative to gasoline), and increased imports from the East on refinery expansion and Chinese exports. As Goldman warns, this raises the spectre of 1998/2009 when distillate storage hit capacity, pushing runs and crude oil prices sharply lower. This also raises the question of whether today’s oil market can rebalance through financial stress – prices remaining near their current low level through 2016 – or if operational stress – breaching storage capacity and forcing prices below cash costs – is unavoidable.

"Giant Wave Of Money" Heads For Sweden, As Draghi Creates "Nightmare" For Riksbank

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 10/26/2015 - 14:50 "The nightmare for the Riksbank board is maybe something like this: they are gathered in the south of Sweden, looking out over the Baltic Sea, when they see a giant wave of money coming in from the euro zone and try to fight it with a hose."

Economist Magazine Cover Foreshadows A False Flag Event That Will Happen In November?

by Michael Snyder, End of the American Dream:

Have the elite warned us that November 3rd and November 5th will be particularly important dates? The Economist has very close ties to the Rothschild banking dynasty of Europe, and it has been a well-known mouthpiece for the global elite for decades. That is why all of the weird imagery that was used on the cover of the January 2015 issue made so many headlines when it first came out. The elite often like to foreshadow what they intend to do in advance, and many were trying to decipher what many of the cryptic symbols might mean. For those that have not seen it yet, here is the full cover…
For months, much of the speculation focused on other symbols on the cover, but now there is renewed interest in this cover based on the two arrows that are stuck in the ground in the lower right hand corner.
Read More…

Inside The Most Dangerous Place In The Planet, Fukushima Exclusion Zone

from WeAreChange:

Ron Paul on the benefits of buying gold

from Fox Business:

It’s Official: Obama Rejects Fighting Terrorism in Syria

by Stephen Lendman, Global Research:

His actions say it all. In over a year of bombing, US warplanes struck zero Syrian and Iraqi terrorist targets – none. It’s unsurprising he rejected Putin’s offer to cooperate in fighting ISIS and other terrorist groups.
On Saturday, Sergey Lavrov said the following:
We are ready to back the patriotic opposition, including the so-called Free Syrian Army, with our air support (in jointly fighting ISIS and other terrorist groups).
However, Washington is refusing to inform us of the locations of the terrorists and where the opposition is based.
Read More…

Market correction coming; few get out at the top

from TheHealthRanger:

Just Who Are The Real Terrorists?

from Western Journalism:

For seven consecutive presidential administrations (since Bush, Sr. invaded Kuwait–2016 will make it 28 years), the American people have been told that they are at war with terrorists. Republican and Democrat administrations and congresses alike have built America’s entire foreign policy around this hypothesis. Trillions of taxpayer dollars have been spent. Thousands of American troops have lost their lives. And tens of thousands have been wounded–many of them seriously. Plus, hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians in the Middle East have lost their lives to America’s “war on terror.”
In the name of the “war on terror,” the people of the United States have become the most spied upon and surveilled people in world history.
Read More

Hillary’s Lies and the Benghazi Attack

by Janet Phelan, Journal-NEO:
Hillary Clinton’s Benghazi testimony on Thursday certainly confirmed suspicions that she knew that the September 11, 2012 attack on the US Consulate was not a spontaneous protest by individuals enraged by an anti-Muslim video. Rather, as the emails she fought so fiercely to protect from public disclosure reveal, the attack was a pre-planned operation, involving fore- knowledge by the assailants of the whereabouts of Ambassador Christopher Stevens, among other details.
Clinton and the Obama Administration had attempted to place the blame for the attack, which resulted in the deaths of Ambassador Stevens and three other Americans, on an unplanned protest, a “spontaneous mob.”
Read More

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