Trump Asks "How Has The 'System' Worked Out For You?"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/15/2016 - 08:08
"The political insiders have had their way for a long time. Let 2016 be remembered as the year the American people finally got theirs."

U.S. Economy 2016: 3 Classic Recession Signals Are Flashing Red

by Michael Snyder, The Economic Collapse Blog:

Those that were hoping for an “economic renaissance” in the United States got some more bad news this week.  It turns out that the U.S. economy is in significantly worse shape than the experts were projecting.  Retail sales unexpectedly declined in March, total business sales have fallen again, and the inventory to sales ratio has hit the highest level since the last financial crisis.  When you add these three classic recession signals to the 19 troubling numbers about the U.S. economy that I wrote about last week, it paints a very disturbing picture.  Virtually all of the signs that we would expect to pop up during the early chapters of a major economic crisis have now appeared, and yet most Americans still appear to be clueless about what is happening.
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US Industrial Production Plunges As Auto Manufacturing Tumbles

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/15/2016 - 09:26 The US economy has never - ever - seen Industrial Production drop YoY for seven months in a row without being in a recession. Down 2.0% YoY in March, the weakest since December and down 0.6% MoM (weakest since Feb 2015) the decline in factory output is driven a 1.6% plunge in vehicle production (2.8% collapse in motor vehicles specifcally) in March.

The Bank Of Japan Already Owns Over Half Of All ETFs; It Wants To Own More

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/15/2016 - 08:55 Less than six months after we pointed out that the BoJ owns 52% of the entire Japanese ETF market, Reuters reports that the Kuroda's Peter Pan fairy tale, aka the Bank of Japan, is thinking about buying even more. The BoJ is said to be currently buying $30 billion of ETF's a year under its current policy, however since the Nikkei is down over 10% this year, that figure is apparently not enough to keep the market propped up.

As Empire Fed Prints Highest In Over A Year, Are The Fed's "Global" Concerns Easing?

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/15/2016 - 08:42 Janet - you have a problem. Following the all-clear from China, soaring stock prices, and 'stability' in oil, Empire Fed business conditions just hit a 17-month high. In other words, The Fed is gonna need some bigger 'turmoil' excuses or defending "no rate hikes" is going to look a whole lot more political than their independence would suggest.

Angela Merkel Caves To Turkish Pressure, Authorizes Criminal Probe Against Comic

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/15/2016 - 08:22

Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday authorised a Turkish demand for criminal proceedings against a German TV comedian over a crude satirical poem about President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a bitter row over free speech. "The government will give its authorisation in the case at hand," Merkel told reporters, adding that it was up to the courts to decide on his guilt or innocence.

Default Cycle Now In Full Swing As Goodrich Petroleum Is Latest To File Chapter 11

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/15/2016 - 07:57 This morning another troubled energy producer, Goodrich Petroleum announced a prepackaged Chapter filing meant to implement a financial reorganization after struggling to restructure its debt amid declining energy prices. This follows the filing of Energy XXI just 24 hours ago. Since the start of 2015, about 50 oil and gas producers have gone bankrupt, owing more than $17 billion, according to law firm Haynes & Boone LLP.

Too Big to Jail

from Zen Gardner:

A CASE STUDY IN HOW GOLDMAN SACHS AND THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT COLLUDED TO AVOIDED CRIMINAL PROSECUTION AFTER THE 2008 FINANCIAL COLLAPSE

Chances are that if you clicked on this article to read, you probably already know that government and big banks are heavily colluding behind the scenes. In fact, most people know this, even if it is just at a very basic level. Most people also recognize that the big banks played a large role in the 2008 financial collapse, which saw the global economy lose trillions of dollars in wealth. The question is: If it was so apparent that they were heavily involved, then why were no banks or executives criminally prosecuted as a result? 

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Big Pharma Trips Over the Maxed-out American Consumer

from Wolf Street:

Even as Prescription Drug Volume Stagnates, Prices Soar.
Total US spending on prescription drugs in 2015, at the manufacturers’ level and as measured by “invoice pricing,” jumped by 12.2% to $424.8 billion, after having already soared 14.2% in 2014! A two-year increase of 28%!
So you’d think we’d get some results for all this moolah. But no.
Life expectancy in the US, at 78.7 years at birth, ranks between 34th and 52nd place globally, depending on who does the counting, wedged somewhere between Bahrain and Cuba, and about 5 years below the top.
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Frontrunning: April 15

• Global stocks, dollar and oil cool ahead of Doha meeting (Reuters)
• Oil Falls Before Doha as Global Markets Brace for Weekend Risk (BBG)
• China Growth Slows; Revival Policies Appear to Gain Traction (WSJ)
• White House hopefuls Clinton, Sanders joust in Brooklyn brawl (Reuters)
• Trump talks up 'New York values' as protesters demonstrate against him (Reuters)
• Sanders Can’t Clarify Wall Street Plan in Testy Clinton Debate (BBG)

This Is What You Spent Your Entire Pay Raise On

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/15/2016 - 07:15 Here's the math: across the nation, the median rent for a two-bedroom apartment is $1,300, according to Apartment List. So a 3.7% rent rise, or about $48, which means that just the official rise in asking rent prices... swallowed the entire salary "gain"of $48 in after tax dollars. Oh and that excludes Obamacare: as the government also reported, medial bills soared, in fact in February, medical care grew at the fastest rate in more than three years.

Futures Fade As Chinese "Good News Is Bad News" For Fed, Oil Drops As Doha Concerns Emerge

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/15/2016 - 06:45 Good news is still bad news after all. After last night's China 6.7% GDP print which while the lowest since Q1 2009, was in line with expectations, coupled with beats in IP, Fixed Asset Investment and Retail Sales (on the back of $1 trillion in total financing in Q1)  the sentiment this morning is that China has turned the corner (if only for the time being). And that's the problem, because while China was a good excuse for the Fed to interrupt its rate hike cycle as the biggest "global" threat, that is no longer the case if China has indeed resumed growing. As such Yellen no longer has a ready excuse to delay. This is precisely why futures are lower as of this moment, because suddenly the "scapegoat" narrative has evaporated.

What is Coming? Elite Feverishly Building Survival Bunkers: "Fear Of Uprising From The 99%"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/14/2016 - 23:00 It certainly says something when the individuals with wealth continue to plot their escape from society. Are things crumbling? Teetering on edge? The smart money says get ready to get out.

Deutsche Bank Admits It Rigged Gold Prices, Agrees To Expose Other Manipulators

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/14/2016 - 22:48 Well, that didn't take long.

Fed Cornered: Stocks Slump As "Everything Is Awesome" In China: GDP Meets, Rest Of Data Beats

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/14/2016 - 22:12 Heading into tonight's datagasm from China, SHCOMP tumbled and Yuan was strengthening (while money-market rates were ticking higher). Then it began... Retail Sales BEAT (+10.5% vs. +10.4% exp), Industrial Production  BEAT (+6.8% vs. +5.9% exp), Fixed Asset Investment BEAT (+10.7 vs. +10.4% exp) and last - but not least - GDP MEET (+6.7 vs. +6.7% exp) - though still the weakest since Q1 2009. The post-data reaction was initially opsitive but then faded fast as reality hit on the lack of stimulus coming. Now The Fed has a problem - solid inflation, solid wages, solid jobs, and no global turmoil - we are going to need some turmoil soon or rates are going up.

The Fed Sends a Frightening Letter to JPMorgan and Corporate Media Yawns

by Pam Martens and Russ Martens, Wall St On Parade:
Yesterday the Federal Reserve released a 19-page letter that it and the FDIC had issued to Jamie Dimon, the Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, on April 12 as a result of its failure to present a credible plan for winding itself down if the bank failed. The letter carried frightening passages and large blocks of redacted material in critical areas, instilling in any careful reader a sense of panic about the U.S. financial system.
A rational observer of Wall Street’s serial hubris might have expected some key segments of this letter to make it into the business press. A mere eight years ago the United States experienced a complete meltdown of its financial system, leading to the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression. President Obama and regulators have been assuring us over these intervening eight years that things are under control as a result of the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation. But according to the letter the Fed and FDIC issued on April 12 to JPMorgan Chase, the country’s largest bank with over $2 trillion in assets and $51 trillion in notional amounts of derivatives, things are decidedly not under control.
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