Thursday, April 28, 2016

"No Brainer" - Carl Icahn Dumps Entire Stake Of AAPL



And just like that the "no brainer" party's over. Remember when in January 2014 Carl Icahn laid out his extensive thesis on why being long AAPL is the best investment out there?  Or when a little over a year later, hoping for even more stock buybacks (even as he was decrying short term activism) he boosted his price target on AAPL to $240?  All that is now over and moments ago Carl Icahn admitted that the hedge fund hotel holding AAPL stocks, which consisted of 163 hedge funds as of December 31, has one less member, and he has sold his entire Apple position.


ONLY HALF OF AMERICANS REALIZE ELECTION SYSTEM IS RIGGED

by Melissa Dykes, The Daily Sheeple:

In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way. – Unknown, commonly misattributed to Franklin D. Roosevelt
According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll, about half of American voters believe that the system U.S. political parties use to pick their candidates for the White House is “rigged” and more than two-thirds want to see the process changed.
Only half?
One would think that, by now, most (if not ALL) people would realize that the entire voting system is a sham.
Read More




Congress Fixes "Sexist" Draft - Votes To Require Women To Register For Selection

"This is not about women serving in the infantry. The administration has made that decision unilaterally disregarding what the Marine Corps and special operations communities have said. But that's not what this is about. Right now the draft is sexist. Right now the draft only drafts young men. Women are excluded."



This Is Where America's Runaway Inflation Is Hiding

Deflation, deflation everywhere... except for those 43 million Americans who are being slammed with rent inflation soaring at just over 8% every year, the highest on record.



An Inconvenient Truth For Equity Bulls

Yes we know "Facebook crushed expectations" but...




WTI Crude Soars To $46 - Highest In 5 Months

The panic-buying continues in the crude complex. Oil prices are up for the 3rd day in a row, trading up to $46 for the first time since December 4th 2015. Despite continued growth in inventories and worse than expected economic growth, it appears speculative traders in black gold just can't get enough...



As Oil Rises, US Shale Companies Have Begun Increasing Oil Production

With the price of oil creeping ever higher, mothballed shale oil production is quietly going back online.



Trump Ties Hillary In Latest National Poll

And just like that, they are tied. In the latest poll from Rasmussen Reports, a national telephone survey of Likely U.S. Voters finds Trump and Clinton tied at 38% each.



John Boehner Calls Ted Cruz "A Miserable Son Of A Bitch, Lucifer In The Flesh"

Is the establishment's fervent hatred of Donald Trump starting a U-turn? It's still too early to know, however at least one core Republican, former house speaker John Boehner, has made it very clear he is not a fan of Ted Cruz. At all. So much so that according to NBC the former Republican House Speaker told an audience at Stanford University Wednesday that the Texas senator is "Lucifer in the flesh" and a "miserable son of a bitch...  I have never worked with a more miserable son of a bitch in my life."



Krugman's Solution Is "The Fiscal Equivalent Of War" - Japan Agrees

In the wake of the Bank of Japan (BoJ) decision to stand pat, Japan looks to be in ever more desperate straits, given the growing danger of sliding into its second recession since Abenomics was introduced. Such a recession would be the nail in the coffin of Abenomics, launched with high hopes and much fanfare three years ago. It made sense, therefore, for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to seek the advice of Paul Krugman, who has been one of the chief cheerleaders for Abenomics, in a private meeting last month meant to lay the groundwork for the G7 Summit at Ise-Shima next month.



Blistering 7 Year Auction Stops Through, Driven By Surge In Foreign Central Bank Demand

This week's preceding 2 and 5 Year auctions, both tailing, were nothing to write home about, or as we characterized them "mediocre." We also said that a big part of the reason may have been the overhang from yesterday's Fed decision. But now that the Fed is out of the picture for 2 months, the real shape of the primary TSY market could show itself and sure enough it did with blistering demand for today's $28 billion in 7 Year paper.



Did Bernie Sanders Just Go Full Establishment?

Comments made by Bernie Sanders this week may just have blindsided and disillusioned swathes of his support base. Some of those with higher expectations of the ‘peacenik’ candidate breathed a collective sigh of disappointment after he endorsed Obama’s extrajudicial drone assassination program.



Volume Collapses As China Commodity Exchanges Ordered To "Curb Speculation"

We have been warning about China's speculative commodity trading bubble - spewing false signals around the world about the strength of the real economy - and now, as we suggested previously, Chinese authorities have decided to burst yet another bubble they created.Reuters reports that China's Securities regulator has ordered three major commodity exchanges to "control intraday speculation in commodity markets," ordering them to "curb trading for investors with no commodity industry background." Volume has crashed... and just as it did in the equity markets, price will follow.



Ted "Lucifer" Cruz Responds To John Boehner





Gold & Silver Soar - Lead The Way Post-Japan "Policy Error"

It seems - just as we have seen since The Fed's December rate-hike decision - that The Bank of Japan's "shock" decision not to pour more punch into the global equity bull's bowl overnight has sparked another leg higher in the market's indicator of monetary policy incompetence. Gold and Silver are surging back near cycle highs...



Worst GDP Print In 2 Years Sparks Stock Surge To Scene Of Kuroda's Kamikaze Moment

Comfortably green, the VIX-smashing algos have lifted US equities non-stop since the NYSE machines were unleashed. While the Dow is lagging a little, Nasdaq and S&P futures have now made it all the way back up to Kuroda's Kamikaze moment...



JPM Summarizes Earnings Season So Far: "At -8%, The S&P500 Q1 EPS Growth Is The Worst Since ’09"

80% of US companies beating EPS estimates is above the historical average. However, we note that in the last 10 years, the proportion of EPS beats was always well above the 50% threshold, suggesting that companies typically do a good job at managing analysts’ expectations. The actual delivered EPS growth is a better indicator of the underlying earnings backdrop, in our view. At -8%, the S&P500 Q1 EPS growth is the worst since ’09.



What Americans Spent The Most Money On In Q1

what did they spend the most amount of money on? The answer, drumroll.... Recreational goods and vehicles. Not cars, which actually were a huge negative to Q1 GDP growth, reducing the headline consumption number by $13.4 billion nominal, but recreational vehicles, and other sundry related goods, which amounted to to $11.3 billion in Q1 spending.


Key Gold Stock Index DOUBLED in 2016. But Nobody Noticed.

by Peter Diekmeyer, Sprott Money:
Gold investors learn early that one of the best ways to leverage their exposure is to buy gold stocks. That strategy has performed well recently. As of Friday, the NYSE ARCA Gold Bugs Index , which trades under the symbol HUI, had nearly doubled since its January low. The index far out-performed the yellow metal itself, which increased in the low double digits.
However, as one expert points out, while the hard money community followed the rise every step of the way, the public is totally unaware. “ Mainstream media and leading economists throughout 2015 ridiculed gold “bugs,” said Marc Faber , editor of the Gloom, Boom and Doom Report . “They now find it embarrassing to talk and write about gold stocks, which are up by approximately 100% in 2016.”
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THE ROAD TO CONFETTI

from The Burning Platform:

Ben S. Bernanke, the former Fed chairman turned capital-introduction professional for Pimco, keeps his hand in the policy-making game with periodic blog posts. He’s out with a new one about “helicopter money,” the phrase connoting the idea that, in a deflationary crisis, the government could drop currency from the skies to promote rising prices and brisker spending. Attempting to put the American mind at ease, Bernanke assures his readers that, while there will be no need for such a gambit in “the foreseeable future,” the Fed could easily implement a “money-financed fiscal program” in the hour of need.
No helicopters would be necessary, of course, Bernanke continues. Let the Fed simply top off the Treasury’s checking account—filling it with new digital scrip.
Read More

Trump Is Crushing All Resistance-The Criminal Elite Are Running Scared

by Dave Hodges, The Common Sense Show:

In a set of five primaries in the Northeast, Trump destroyed the competition by not just winning the elections; he garnered nearly 60% of the vote in a three-person race. This is unheard of. RNC officials are quaking in their boots because they know that if they steal the election from Trump, America’s response will be extremely volatile. There would nowhere that these GOP election thieves can hide and they know it.
After his clean sweep, Trump declared himself to be the presumptive GOP nominee for President. Is he correct?
Below, Trump tells America, in his own words, where the nomination process is at.
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Trump’s ‘America First’ Foreign Policy Vision – Washington Speech

from The News Doctors:

Contradictory at times, long on criticism and short on detail, GOP frontrunner Donald Trump’s foreign policy speech on Wednesday nonetheless focused on the idea of “America first.” He outlined his strategy on Iran, Israel, ISIS, nukes and ‘outdated’ NATO.
Since entering the presidential race last June, Trump has caused outright panic in the US foreign policy establishment with a series of positions which no one in Washington previously dared to advocate, including dismantling NATO and banning Muslim immigration. He elaborated on those pronouncements in Wednesday’s speech at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC, saying his policy would “replace randomness with purpose, ideology with strategy, and chaos with peace.”
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People Who Beat Their Cancer with Cannabis Oil

from Zen Gardner:

After several decades of stigma and criminalization, the image of cannabis is finally being reconsidered. Myths and prejudices are now giving way to the recognition of this ancient plant’s incredible medicinal properties. Indeed, if we had to make a full list of the positive effects marijuana has on one’s mental and physical health, that would be a huge one.
If you don’t want to take my word for it, make your decision after reading these amazing stories of survival thanks to the use of cannabis oil. It’s true, this miracle herb has saved the lives of many people!
Read More…

More Steps Toward WW III

from Washington’s Blog:

On April 27th, NATO member-state Turkey, which on 24 November 2015 had shot down a Russian Su-24 fighter jet near the Syria-Turkey border, refused Russia’s request to investigate Turkey’s having murdered the surviving Russian pilot. (The plane’s weapons-systems officer was rescued, but the pilot was shot dead while parachuting down from the plane.) Turkey admits having in custody the man, Alparslan Celik, who murdered the parachuting pilot. On April 25th, Turkish authorities had said that they might try Celik for murder; but, now, the Turkish Ambassador in Moscow says Turkey won’t. 
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