"Countdown To The End": EU Officials Say Europe Is "Going Down The Drain"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/18/2016 - 17:30
"We have until March, the summer maybe, for a European solution. Then Schengen goes down the drain. There is a big risk that Germany closes. From that, no Schengen ... There is a risk that February could start a countdown to the end."
 

Italian Banks Collapse, Short Sales Banned As Loan Loss Fears Mount

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/18/2016 - 17:40 Italian bank stocks are crashing (with BMPS down 40% year-to-date) as Reuters reports that investors are growing increasingly nervous about how the sector will cope with lower interest rates and a 200 billion euro ($218 billion) pile of loans that are unlikely to be repaid. The broad banking sector is down 4% with stocks suspended, and in light of this bloodbath, Italian regulators have decided in their wisdom, to ban short-selling of some bank stocks (which has driven hedgers into the CDS market, spking BMPS credit risk).

The American Revolution - The Sequel

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/18/2016 - 22:00 Most Americans receive benefits of one type or another from their government; and most Americans receive their opinions from the media. The pervasive difficulty here lies in the erroneous concept that there can be a return to freedom whilst maintaining the dependency upon largesse from the State. “Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavours to live at the expense of everybody else.”

What Could Go Wrong? China Builds A Floating Nuclear Power Plant

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/18/2016 - 21:25 "Floating plants offer various advantages: construction in a factory or shipyard should bring efficiencies; siting is simplified; environmental impact is extremely low; and decommissioning can take place at a specialised facility"...

Yuan Slides After Quadruple Whammy China Data Miss: GDP Both Matches And Misses

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/18/2016 - 21:05 CHINA NBS: OUR GDP NUMBER IS REAL AND CAN BE TRUSTED
The quadriga struck at 2100ET with Industrial Production +5.9% (MISS vs +6.0% YoY expectations), Retail Sales +11.1% (MISS vs +11.3% YoY expectations), Fixed Asset Investment +10.0% (MISS vs +10.2% YoY expectations), and then the big kahuna, Q4 GDP growth +6.8% (MISS vs +6.9% YoY expectations) and 2015 GDP growth of 6.9% was weakest sicne 1990. China, US equities were higher going in but faded quickly on the miss only to be rescued higher again. Offshore Yuan is fading.

What Happens To A Dream Deferred? Ask Martin Luther King Jr.

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/18/2016 - 20:50 More than 50 years after King was assassinated, his vision of a world without racism, militarism and materialism remains a distant dream. Indeed, the reality we must contend with is far different from King’s dream for the future: America has become a ticking time bomb of racial unrest and injustice, police militarization, surveillance, government corruption and ineptitude, the blowblack from a battlefield mindset and endless wars abroad, and a growing economic inequality between the haves and have nots. King’s own legacy has suffered in the process.

Offshore Yuan Weaker, Margin Debt Tumbles Ahead Of Key Chinese Data

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/18/2016 - 20:19 While all eyes will be glued to the data avalanche unleashed by China's 'official' data creators in an hour, offshore Yuan is fading modestly, giving back half of the regulatory shift gains. PBOC injects another CNY155 billion (clearly reflecting last night's spike in 1mth HIBOR) and holds the Yuan fix 'steady' for the 8th day. Finally on the somewhat bright side following the CSRC shief's resignation, Shanghai margin debt has dropped for the 12th day in a row - the longest streak in 4 months.

Demographic Doldrums: Visualizing 100 Years Of The Most Populous Countries

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/18/2016 - 20:15 “I think ageing demographics is a bigger issue in China than people think. And the problems it creates should be become evident as early as 2016.” – Stan Druckenmiller, 2013

China's Housing Is Recovering, Just Ignore The 10 Billion Square Feet Of Vacant Housing

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/18/2016 - 19:38 While prices in China's Tier 1 cities are soaring, let's put the country's vacant housing problem in context: China has some 13 million homes vacant - enough to house the families of several small countries . Actually, it's worse: Zhu Min, deputy managing director at the International Monetary Fund, recently admitted that China’s real estate bubble now manifests itself in 10. 7 billion square feet  (1 billion square meters) of unused housing! Min added that many housing stock go unused, and the market may see a significant price correction in the future, wiping out vast household wealth.

Mission Accomplished? The U.S. Spent Half A Billion On Mining In Afghanistan With "Limited Progress"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/18/2016 - 19:05 The United States has spent nearly half a billion dollars and five years developing Afghanistan’s oil, gas and minerals industries — and has little to show for it, a government watchdog reported today. In fact, the task force spent $46.5 million to try to convince companies to agree to develop the resources, but not one ended up signing a contract.

Art Cashin: This Is "What You Get Before You Slip Into A Crisis"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/18/2016 - 18:55 "The Fed has painted itself into a corner... [the current situation's severity] is very similar to what you get before you slip into a crisis....The bumpy ride is probably not over yet... stay on guard."

Regrets

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/18/2016 - 18:30 We've got a few...

Negative Oil Prices Arrive: Koch Brothers' Refinery "Pays" -$0.50 For North Dakota Crude

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/18/2016 - 18:20 Do you have some extra space in your garage or attic? Or perhaps you own an oil tanker you aren’t currently using. Or maybe you have a storage unit that’s got a little extra room next to an old mattress and box springs. If so, you may want to call up oil producers in North Dakota and ask if they’d care to send you some free oil.

ONE TRILLION DOLLARS WORTH OF BONDS MAGICALLY TURN INTO CASH

World liquidation has set in. The Piper must be paid. Growth is gone. This will be the story in this epic year 2016.
by Hugo Salinas Price, Plata.com, via SGT Report.com:
Hey gang, my friend TM just sent me this Hugo Salinas Price article, and since Hugo’s site won’t load today we are republishing the entire piece here. Bill Holter and I touched on some of this in our recent interview. And as TM notes, the central banks are quietly unloading before the bottom falls out. Big surprise huh? the importance of this event can not be overstated.
Here is Hugo’s must-read article:
Bloomberg is back and presents updated data on International Reserves held by Central Banks, excluding gold, as of Friday, January 8, 2016, after a hiatus on this information since December 11, 2015 (for reasons unexplained).
The data for Friday, January 8, 2016 are shocking, as expected: Total International Reserves held by Central Banks, excluding gold, expressed in US dollars, amount to $11.032 Trillion dollars as of that date.
Read More

/