China Halts Stock Trading For Day After Entire Market Crashes

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/04/2016 - 01:11
Following the initial halt in CSI-300 Futures at the 5% limit down level, the afternoon session opened to more carnage and amid the worst 'first day of the year' in at least 15 years, Chinese stocks collapsed further to a 7% crash. At 1334 local time, stock trading was halted for the rest of the day across all exchanges (at least two hours early). Dow futures are now down over 150 points from NYE close, Gold and Treasuries are bid, and offshore Yuan has plunged most since the August devaluation.

Dow Futures Dump 300 Points From New Year's Eve Highs As China Crashes

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/03/2016 - 23:37 With China closing the morning session limit down (and Yuan collapsing), US equity futures are extending their losses (even though crude futures are holding some of their gains). The initial knee-jerk jump as crude rose on Saudi tensions has been entirely erased and Dow Futures are now down 300 points from New Year's Eve highs... Happy New Year.

It's On: Saudi Arabia Severs Diplomatic Ties With Iran, "Does Not Care" If It Has Angered White House

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/03/2016 - 15:33 Earlier today, as Iranian police struggled to disperse protesters gathered outside the Saudi consulate in Mashhad, we said that Saudi Arabia and Iran may be on the verge of a historic diplomatic crisis after demonstrators burned the Saudi embassy in Tehran on Saturday evening. Sure enough, just hours later, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Ahmad Al-Jubeir announced that Riyadh has cut diplomatic ties with Tehran

Nassim "Black Swan" Taleb On The Real Financial Risks Of 2016

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/03/2016 - 21:00 Though "another Lehman Brothers" isn't likely to happen with banks, it is very likely to happen with commodity firms and countries that depend directly or indirectly on commodity prices.

Oregon Standoff: A Terrible Plan That We Might Be Stuck With

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/03/2016 - 22:00 The Oregon standoff potentially forces the hand of the Liberty Movement, not the hand of corrupt government - the exact reverse of what should be happening. Ammon Bundy and companions are not the tip of the spear.  Not even close.  What some fear is that they are cannon fodder beckoning a nationwide government crackdown to which others will then be forced to personally respond to with equal measure.  And all of this on the worst possible terms and at a very inconvenient time (executive actions on gun control mere weeks from now).

Why Silicon Valley May Be At "DEFCON 1" Status

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/03/2016 - 19:00 The amount of wasteful over investment on companies and ideas that should have never seen the light of a ledger book, let alone day, has been astounding. Without the intervention of the Fed’s QE (quantitative easing) free money enabling risk taking to supersede business fundamentals to fund and fuel speculative investments in ways that mirror the dot-com days: there would be no "Valley" as it currently stands. Unicorns, Non-GAAP, IPO’s, and more were the terms bandied or used to encapsulate what it was to be a "disrupter." Now with iconic Silicon Valley impresarios such as Theil or others being reported that to be looking for ways to cash out without an IPO, a nuclear winter pertaining to the world of Unicorns may be as '1' is said to represent: imminent.

The Movies Are Becoming Just Like The Markets: A Handful Of Blockbusters And Tons Of Losers

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/03/2016 - 20:41 As go the markets, so go the movies. According to the WSJ, Hollywood just had its biggest-ever year at the box office in 2015, collecting $11.1 billion in ticket sales, up 7% from the previous year and surpassing the record of $10.92 billion set in 2013. All of the growth, however, occurred at the top of the heap, or in other words, 2015 was a record year "thanks to a handful of blockbusters that left a whole lot of duds in the dust." In other words, just like in the stock market, a record high portion of Hollywood "gains", or rather box office ticket sales, came from just five movies.

Dow Futures Dump 300 Points From New Year's Eve Highs As China Crashes

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/03/2016 - 23:37 With China closing the morning session limit down (and Yuan collapsing), US equity futures are extending their losses (even though crude futures are holding some of their gains). The initial knee-jerk jump as crude rose on Saudi tensions has been entirely erased and Dow Futures are now down 300 points from New Year's Eve highs... Happy New Year.

Fukushima radiation causes debilitating deformities in US Navy sailors

by J. D. Heyes, Natural News:

U.S. Navy sailors and Marines dispatched to provide aid to Japan following the massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011 are now suffering a variety of rare and undiagnosed health problems, including many involving horrifying and visible changes to their bodies.
After the tsunami, the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet, led by the USS Ronald Reagan, was diverted to the coast of Japan to provide relief work. The soldiers were not told that the disaster had triggered multiple meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, or that a radioactive plume was spreading across the Pacific Ocean.
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Puerto Rico Is Greece, & These 5 States Are Next To Go

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/03/2016 - 22:10 As Wilbur Ross so eloquently noted, for Puerto Rico "it's the end of the beginning... and the beginning of the end," as he explained "Puerto Rico is the US version of Greece." However, as JPMorgan explains, for some states the pain is really just beginning as Municipal bond risk will only become more important over time, as assets of some severely underfunded plans are gradually depleted.

2016 Off To A Miserable Start: Asian Stocks Drop; Futures Slide After China PMI Tumbles On Dire Commentary

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/03/2016 - 21:31 Earlier in the session, after the surge in oil prices on fears of a spike in belligerence between Saudi Arabia and Iran, bulls were hopeful that after a poor close to 2015, at least the first trading day of 2016 would set a positive mood: after all, if there is one thing war is good for, it is to lift stock markets. And it did... for about 3 hours.  Then moments ago, Caixin Media and Markit Economics released the latest December PMI, which was, in a word, a total disaster, one which promptly sent US equity futures sliding, and the Shanghai Composite tumbling some 4%... and CSI-300 Limit down.

Fed Vice Chair Explains Why The Fed Is Still Obsessing With Negative Interest Rates

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/03/2016 - 14:52 Another possible step would be to reduce short-term interest rates below zero if needed to provide additional accommodation... Could negative interest rates be a policy response that the Federal Reserve could choose to employ in a future crisis? ... these are transitional problems, but they might be sufficient to make a move to negative rates difficult to implement on short notice.

Meanwhile In Texas: Celebrating The New Open-Carry Gun Law

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/03/2016 - 18:27 As reported previously, in addition to celebrating the new year, starting January 1, Texans also celebrated a new open-carry gun law which took effect in the new year. As a result, Texans should get accustomed to sights such as this one which over the coming weeks and months will become increasingly recurring.

"Now Is The Time To Stand Up": Armed Activists, Militiamen Seize Federal Wildlife Refuge Office In Oregon

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/03/2016 - 12:00

Unmanageable Money: Hedge Funds Keep Losing (And Closing) - Why It Matters

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/03/2016 - 20:00 Main Street is vulnerable to leveraged trading algorithms and Brazilian bonds because it’s not just exotica that is overleveraged. Risk-off, in short, is no longer just a temporary swing of the pendulum, guaranteed to reverse in a year or two. As amazing as this sounds, we’ve borrowed so much money that as hedge funds go, so goes the world.

Puerto Rico Is Greece, & These 5 States Are Next To Go

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/03/2016 - 19:30 As Wilbur Ross so eloquently noted, for Puerto Rico "it's the end of the beginning... and the beginning of the end," as he explained "Puerto Rico is the US version of Greece." However, as JPMorgan explains, for some states the pain is really just beginning as Municipal bond risk will only become more important over time, as assets of some severely underfunded plans are gradually depleted.

Crude Oil Opens Above $38, Takes Out 1-Week Highs

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/03/2016 - 18:04 With hedge fund short positions near record highs and speculators at their least bullish in almost five years, oil prices have spurted higher in the early trading as the diplomatic gloves come off in The Middle East. Despite record levels of crude inventory around the world, WTI Crude is trading above $38, up over 3% from its $37.07 close on New Year's Eve. Algos ran the stops above last week's highs ($38.32) but for now prices are not as excited as many would have expected. Brent, for now, is outperforming and trade 45c rich to WTI.

Gail Tverberg: Something Has Got To Break

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/03/2016 - 18:00 Growing debt faster than your energy supply has hard limits. Gail Tverberg explains the tight correlation between the rates of GDP growth and growth in energy supply. For decades, energy has been becoming more costly to obtain, and instead of accepting lower GDP growth, we have been using debt to fund further energy exploration and extraction. That strategy has diminishing returns, Tverberg warns. And we are close to the moment of reckoning: "I’m afraid what it means is that at some point there’s got to be a discontinuity. Something has got to break."

Saudi Arabia "Doesn't Care" If White House Angered As US Urges 'Ally' To Ease Tensions

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/03/2016 - 17:28 "We believe that diplomatic engagement and direct conversations remain essential in working through differences and we will continue to urge leaders across the region to take affirmative steps to calm tensions," US officials said on Sunday on the heels of Saudi Arabia's decision to cut diplomatic ties with Iran following the execution of a prominent Shiite cleric and the firebombing of the Saudi embassy in Tehran. The response from Riyadh: "enough is enough."

The Looming Environmental Disaster In Missouri That Nobody Is Talking About

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/03/2016 - 16:40 What happens when radioactive byproduct from the Manhattan Project comes into contact with an “underground fire” at a landfill? Surprisingly, no one actually knows for sure; but residents of Bridgeton, Missouri, near the West Lake and Bridgeton Landfills - just northwest of the St. Louis International Airport - may find out sooner than they’d like. For now, it’s startlingly apparent no one knows exactly what’s happening - though the smoldering below the surface doesn’t cease and floodwaters continue to rise.

Nigel Farage's Car Sabotaged After Death Threats, Police Confirm "Foul Play"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/03/2016 - 16:00 Outspoken UKIP leader Nigel Farage, who has received numerous death threats during his tenure as a European parliamentarian, spoke for the first time last night about being the victim of an assassination attempt after his car was sabotaged, causing a terrifying motorway crash. As The Daily Mail reports, Farage careered off a French road after a wheel on his Volvo came loose while he was driving from Brussels back to his home in Kent. When the police arrived at the scene, they told him that the nuts on all of the wheels had been deliberately unscrewed...

More Ominous Charts For 2016

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/03/2016 - 15:20 If 2015 was the year in which no investment strategy worked, 2016 is looking like the year in which all economic policies fail.

The Battle Between Manufacturing And Services

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/03/2016 - 14:00 As we start the new year, there is a debate raging within the market.  No the debate isn’t whether there is weakness in the manufacturing economy, that is taken as a given, especially after Friday’s awful Chicago Purchasing Manager number of 42.9. Instead, the debate boils down to this: 'bears' believe the manufacturing economy and the service economy act in conjunction with each other – that one cannot turn, without the other; 'bulls' view each segment of the economy as relatively independent and they highlight the size of the service economy relative to the manufacturing. The answer lies in the missing cog - the 'wealth' economy.

This Is Going To Happen In 2016: “One Of The Greatest Commodity Plays Of All Time”

by Mac Slavo, SHTFPlan:

While stock markets held strong near their all-time highs, the last year saw massive financial destruction in global commodities markets. Oil, gold, silver, steel, coal and other raw materials experienced price drops not seen since just before the the Crash of 2008. As an example of how bad it has gotten in the raw materials space one need only look at the Baltic Dry Index, which is used to assess the cost of shipping raw materials by sea. Signaling serious economic problems, the BDI recently hit its all-time low, surpassing even the lows hit during the last financial crisis.
That a significant financial, economic or monetary event will soon be upon us cannot be denied.
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Spike Coming! Gold Cartel is Setting up an Endgame for End of Gold/Silver Manipulation – Bill Murphy

from CrushtheStreet:

Happy New Year: America’s Largest Utility Jacks up Rates the Most since 2006 Despite Total Collapse of Natural Gas Prices

from Wolf Street:

The power of monopoly and regulatory capture
“We want our customers and their families to know that we are here to help them make smart energy choices and save money whenever possible,” cooed Laurie Giammona, senior VP and chief customer officer of Pacific Gas and Electric, on Wednesday between Christmas and New Year’s, when no one was supposed to pay attention.
It was the propitious day when the beloved utility that distributes gas and electricity in the northern two-thirds of California announced that on January 1st it would jack up its rates.
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CORRUPTION

by James the Wanderer, The Burning Platform:

In 1981 I was a fresh young fellow, just out of college, and needed a job. I joined the Port Arthur Research Laboratories of Texaco Inc. in Port Arthur, TX, which was the most lucrative offer I had gotten out of college. It was one of a couple of offers I had received at the time; another was a company that made fibers for carpets and other things, Millikan. There was something of a stigma on them at the time, for periodically the owner would fire an entire corps of engineers if something went wrong, and was known for it; other companies would eagerly hire the fallen, since it was known that Millikan did this, despite having only hired the best he could find. But I was not interested in this, so I went for stability, which was TXC (their stock exchange symbol back then, hereafter a handy shortcut for the name); they were known for their veteran employees, and rarely fired anyone except for theft, incompetence or similar good reasons. I was neither a thief nor incompetent, so I took their offer.
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Trump Vs Hillary: The ISIS Perspective

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/03/2016 - 21:30 Presented with no comment...

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