A Major Warning From Tom McClellan : "Can This Possibly End Well?"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/27/2016 - 09:08
"VIX futures ETF extremely popular now. Can this possibly end well?" - Tom McClellan

"Carnage" - Dan Loeb Explains Why This Has Been A "Catastrophic" Time or Hedge Funds

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/27/2016 - 09:54 "The result of all of this was one of the most catastrophic periods of hedge fund performance that we can remember since the inception of this fund...  There is no doubt that we are in the first innings of a washout in hedge funds and certain strategies."

America's Millennial Dream: Making 20% Less & Drowning In Debt

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/27/2016 - 09:31 Millennials have now overtaken baby boomers as America's largest living generation according to Pew Research. Americans aged 18-34 are going to college, getting into debt, entering into the workforce at minimum wage, and living with their parents. The very definition of the American dream isn't it? Imagine if Obama hadn't saved the world's economy, as he so humbly said he did.

With Tech Tanking, Can Anything Save The System?

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/27/2016 - 08:52 The big questions are: 1) Can an economy grow when its banks, energy companies and tech giants are all losing ground? 2) Can a hyper-leveraged global financial system survive if its main economies can’t grow? The answer to both questions is almost certainly “no.”

Economy In Decline: Apple Reports Massive Revenue Decline As iPhone Sales Plummet Dramatically

by Michael Snyder, The Economic Collapse Blog:

Corporate revenues in the United States have been falling for quite some time, but now some of the biggest companies in the entire nation are reporting extremely disappointing results.  On Tuesday, Apple shocked the financial world by reporting that revenue for the first quarter had fallen 7.4 billion dollars compared to the same quarter last year.  That is an astounding plunge, and it represents the very first year-over-year quarterly sales decline that Apple has experienced since 2003.  Analysts were anticipating some sort of drop, but nothing like this.  And of course last week we learned that Google and Microsoft also missed revenue and earnings projections for the first quarter of 2016.  The economic crisis that began during the second half of 2015 is really starting to take hold, and even our largest tech companies are now feeling the pain.
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German Nuclear Power Plant Confirms It Was Infected With Computer Viruses

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/27/2016 - 08:33 We finally got confirmation of news from two days ago that a German nuclear power plant had been infected with malware after Reuters reports that the nuclear power plant was indeed infected with not one but several computer viruses. But don't worry, Reuters is quick to calm a concerned public, "they appear not to have posed a threat to the facility's operations because it is isolated from the Internet, the station's operator said on Tuesday." The Gundremmingen plant in question is located about 120 km (75 miles) northwest of Munich, is run by the German utility RWE.



"Wrong Way Gartman" strikes again...

After Saying Oil Would "Not Hit $44 During My Lifetime", Gartman Flip-Flops, Turns Bullish

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/27/2016 - 08:10 “When the facts change, I change; What then do you do, Sir?” The facts are changing in the world of crude oil; demand is still rather strong and supplies seem to be rising but only modestly. Further, the term structures are shifting. We had been, on balance and really quite openly, bearish of crude for the past several years, erring always to sell crude’s rallies rather than to buy crude’s weakness. That has been wrong for the past two months and it is time to acknowledge that “wrongness.” If the facts are indeed changing… and certainly they seem to be… then we too must change.

Venezuela Economy Literally Grinds To A Halt As Maduro Orders "Five Day Weekend" For Public Workers

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/27/2016 - 07:46 Overnight things went from comical to farcical overnight when the Venezuela gift kept on giving, and the nation expanded the three-day weekend to five days, declaring a two-day work week for government workers, adding it was seeking international help to save its power grid amid a drought that threatens the capital’s main source of electricity. The two-day work week, after the government added Wednesdays and Thursdays as non-working days to save more power.

On Revolutionary Attitude

from Washington’s Blog:

The news that Philip Green systematically asset stripped British Home Stores of hundreds of millions of pounds, and that these were paid to his wife in Monaco so there was no tax, is simply an everyday story of the society we live in. Not only will there probably be 10,000 redundancies, a much larger number will see their company pensions disappear due to the unexplained hollowing out of the company pension fund. Meantime Green is buying a new £100 million luxury yacht.
I am willing to predict that Cameron, Blair and Clinton all find their way on to Philip Green’s new yacht. I am willing to bet that no ex-employee of BHS ever does.
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Frontrunning: April 27

• Trump, Clinton press closer to general election showdown (AP)
• Acela primaries: Winners, losers (Hill)
• Trump Says He's `Presumptive Nominee' as Clinton Wins Four (BBG)
• In the battle for Hollywood endorsements - and cash - Clinton rules (Reuters)
• U.S. Oil Rises Above $45 a Barrel for First Time Since November (BBG)
• Spin: Near-Zero Growth Happens Often in Slow-Motion U.S. Economy (BBG)

"We Are Disappointed" - Goldman Removes Apple From "Conviction Buy" List, Cuts Price Target From $155 To $136

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/27/2016 - 06:51 The tide has finally turned on what until recently was every sellside analyst's favorite stock.

Futures Ignore Apple Plunge; Oil Rises Above $45 As Yellen Looms

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/27/2016 - 06:39 For those who thought that the world's biggest company losing over $40 billion in market cap in an instant on disappointing Apple earnings, would have been sufficient to put a dent in US equity futures, we have some disappointing news: with just over 7 hours until the FOMC reveals its April statement, futures are practically unchanged, even though the Nasdaq appears set for an early bruising in the aftermath of what is becoming a disturbing quarter for tech companies. Instead of tech leading, however, the upside has once again come from the energy complex where moments ago WTI rose above $45 a barrel for the first time since November after yesterday's unexpected 1.07 million barrel API inventory drawdown.

A Manhattan "Pool In The Sky" - For The Billionaire Who Has Everything Else

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/27/2016 - 05:00 If you have a lot of disposable cash, and a desire to go swimming 28 storeys above the Manhattan streets in a pool connecting two buildings, you're in luck.

On the 30th Anniversary Of Chernobyl, Here's What We Are Still Not Being Told

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/27/2016 - 04:00 On the 30th anniversary of the world’s worst nuclear catastrophe yet, a new report shows radioactive contamination from the 1986 explosion at Chernobyl in Ukraine still lingers in startlingly large amounts across the border in neighboring Belarus. In an exclusive report by the Associated Press, fresh milk from a Belarusian dairy farm contained a radioactive isotope, traceable to the Chernobyl disaster, at “levels 10 times higher than the nation’s food safety limits” - thirty years after the accident occurred.

Sweden On High Alert After Reports ISIS Militants Enter Country To "Target Civilians"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/27/2016 - 03:01 The Swedish Expressen newspaper reported that the country's security service received information from their Iraqi colleagues about an imminent terror threat in the country. About seven to eight Islamic State terrorists arrived in Sweden to carry out attacks in Stockholm, Expressen sources claimed and added that "according to the information, the terrorists are planning to attack civilian targets in the capital.' 

Aussie Dollar Plunges As Inflation Slumps To Record Low

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/26/2016 - 23:53 Despite surging commodity prices in China - which must be real and represent demand growth and price increases, right? - Aussie core inflation slowed to the weakest on record as headline prices unexpectedly fell last quarter (CPI -0.2%). RBA Rate-cut odds tripled instantly sending AUD down over 1.2% (its biggest drop in 2 months). Perhaps, just perhaps, that collossal credit injection in Q1 via China did not make it into the AsiaPac economy after all and merely fueled a speculative frenzy in commodities that merely "looks" like a recovery?

Hillary 4 - 1 Bernie As The Donald Sweeps 5 East Coast Primaries: "As Far As I'm Concerned, It's Over"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/26/2016 - 23:09

Censored, Surveilled, Watch-Listed, & Jailed: The Absurd Citizenry Of The American Police State

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/26/2016 - 22:30 With the help of automated eyes and ears, a growing arsenal of high-tech software, hardware and techniques, government propaganda urging Americans to turn into spies and snitches, as well as social media and behavior sensing software, government agents are spinning a sticky spider-web of threat assessments, behavioral sensing warnings, flagged “words,” and “suspicious” activity reports aimed at snaring potential enemies of the state. It’s the American police state’s take on the dystopian terrors foreshadowed by George Orwell, Aldous Huxley and Phillip K. Dick all rolled up into one oppressive pre-crime and pre-thought crime package.

Following The "Sell-Off" Gundlach Is Starting To Buy Treasuries

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/26/2016 - 21:58 This afternoon Jeffrey Gundlach held one of his periodic interviews with Reuters' Jenna Ablan in which he said that the selloff in Treasurys is over and that investors looking to purchase Treasuries in the wake of the bond market's sell-off - if one can call a move in the 10Y to 1.91% a selloff - are making a prudent move. "I think it is a reasonable strategy to start legging into the Treasury market."

A Torrid Week for the Transatlantic Corporatocracy

from Wolf Street:

A new survey conducted by YouGov for the Bertelsmann Foundation showedthat only 17% of Germans believe the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a good thing, down from 55% two years ago.
In the United States, only 18% support the deal compared to 53% in 2014.
Such low popularity ratings are an incredible feat for a trade agreement that until last year the public had barely even heard of, purposefully, even as it had been on the negotiation table for years, while the governments associated with it had expected to pass it with flying colors.
During his visit to Germany at the weekend, President Barack Obama tried to breathe life back into the deal, insisting that “the majority of people still favor trade” and “still recognize, on balance, that it’s a good idea.”
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Could Trump Beat Clinton in New York? Yes

from Liberty Blitzkrieg:
One thing Clinton supporters remain in complete denial about (other than the fact most Americans who don’t identify as Democrats find her to be somewhere in between untrustworthy and criminal), is that a significant number of Sanders supporters will never vote for Hillary. Forget the fact that I know a few personally, I’ve noticed several interviews with voters who proclaim Sanders to be their first choice but Trump their second. Are they just saying this or do they mean it? I think a lot of them mean it.
– From the post: Why Hillary Clinton Cannot Beat Donald Trump
I continue to see Hillary Clinton as one of the most overrated political figures in American history, and Donald Trump as one of the most underrated. This is why I think “the experts” are wrong about the outcome of a potential Clinton vs. Trump showdown in the general election.
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This Precious Metals Ratio Signals A Big Move Ahead: “We Will Ultimately See Triple Digit Silver Prices”

by Mac Slavo, SHTFPlan:

Earlier this year, as investors around the world panicked and stock markets crashed across the board, one asset class held strong and actually gained.
It was, by all accounts, a capital flow panic out of broader stocks and into precious metals. As a safe haven, precious metals like gold and silver have long been sought by a panicked populace during times of crisis and given the current economic and monetary debacle created by central banks, we can safely forecast a continued rise over coming years for this reason alone.
But according to Keith Neumeyer, there is another key reason for why we could see explosive prices, specifically in silver, because major shortages loom and current valuations for the precious metal are nowhere near where they should be.
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The Committee That Controls the World Meets Today

from The Daily Bell:
For the next two days, the Committee that controls the world will be huddled in the ivory tower known as the Eccles Building in D.C. There, ten people will tediously examine the data, look at the forecasts, and weigh options for an economy with a GDP of $17 trillion, a population approaching 320 million, and an official national debt of over $19 trillion.
This committee with unlimited, unquestioned authority will arbitrarily decide the course of the most important piece that ties the economy together: the U.S. dollar.
And as the U.S. dollar is the world’s reserve currency, by fixing interest rates they are effectively determining global monetary policy.
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What’s Behind Saudi Arabia’s Claim To Have Killed 800 Terrorists In Yemen?

by Brandon Turbeville, Activist Post:
As Saudi war crimes and crimes against humanity continue apace in Yemen, Saudi Arabia is now apparently attempting to gain public support and better reception from the viewing audience by painting itself as an enemy of al-Qaeda and ISIS, despite the fact that the feudal monarchy’s reputation for supporting these very same terror organizations has been documented time and again. From Syria and Libya to Yemen, Saudi Arabia has proven itself repeatedly as a funder, organizer, and supporter of ISIS and al-Qaeda while, at home, it has demonstrated that its own government and ISIS are more alike than they are different.
Still, Saudi Arabia is attempting to show that it is, in fact, the enemy of al-Qaeda by issuing claims that the Saudi “coalition” in Yemen has recently fought a large-scale battle against the terror organization and that it was able to capture the city of Mukalla after killing around 800 terrorists.
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