Someone Has Officially Called The CIA's Bluff Over Russia

“Believing something the CIA says is like trusting a meth addict with your car, and trusting the CIA when they’re working with the Washington Post is like trusting a meth addict with your car and leaving your kid in the back seat with the house keys and money for Taco Bell.”

China Warns "Peace Will Be Impacted" If Trump Violates "One China", Installs Weapons On Disputed Islands

"Upholding the 'one China' principle is the political basis of developing China-U.S. relations, and is the cornerstone of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait," said An Fengshan, a spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office. "Upholding the 'one China' principle is the political basis of developing China-U.S. relations, and is the cornerstone of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait."

Jeff Gundlach Warns 10Y Yields Above 3% Will "Punish Markets", Would Mark End Of Bond Bull

"We’re getting to the point where further rises in Treasuries, certainly above 3 percent, would start to have a real impact on market liquidity in corporate bonds and junk bonds. Also, a 10-year Treasury above 3 percent in my view starts to bring into question some of the aspects of the stock market and of the housing market in particular."

Industrial Production Disappoints For 15th Straight Month - Longest Non-Recessionary Streak In 100 Years

It's probably nothing...

Goldman Appoints Harvey Schwartz, David Solomon As Co-COO Replacements For Gary Cohn

As the WSJ reported last night, this morning Goldman Sachs confirmed it has promoted Chief Financial Officer Harvey Schwartz and investment-bank co-head David Solomon to the role of co-COOs and co-presidents to replace Gary Cohn, who’s leaving to take a job in the Trump administration, and said Martin Chavez will succeed Schwartz as CFO.

Rex Tillerson: "Russian Spy" Or Diplomatic Genius?

The news that Rex Tillerson, Exxon’s CEO, is Donald Trump’s official pick for the Secretary of State chair has sparked an outrage among Democratic and Republican legislators alike, both sides worried that his appointment would further warm relations between the U.S. and Russia. To an outsider with a limited understanding of geopolitical dynamics, this outrage would sound absurd...

PPI Comes In Hot: Core Producer Prices Jump Most Since 2014

While retail sales came in disappointing for the month of November with October revised downward, the Fed, which is certain to hike rates, got some help guiding its decision when moments ago PPI, or the Producer Price Index for Final Demand came in far hotter than expected, rising 0.4% in November, well above the 0.1% expected, and above last month's unchanged print.

Retail Sales Disappoint As Post-Trump Animal Spirits Fail To Appear

Retail Sales growth for November rose just 0.1% MoM, missing expectations of a 0.3% jump, and saw notable downward revisions to October's surge. The biggest drover of the weakness was sales of motor vehicles tumbled 0.5% MoM in November.

Dramatic Drone Footage Shows East Aleppo Devastation As Air Strikes, Shelling Return

Drone footage has revealed extreme devastation in eastern Aleppo, once Syria's largest city and thriving economic center with its renowned ancient sites, with crumbling homes and deserted streets replacing a once-lively area of the city.

Forget The Fed: For JPMorgan This Is The Biggest Catalyst Heading Into 2017

"The next very big catalyst for this market will be the Trump/Ryan tax reform plan and how it makes its way through Congress. Elevated political expectations are the single biggest risk for the tape and once the year-end chase rally euphoria wears off this will likely weigh on sentiment."

WTI Tumbles To $51 Handle After OPEC Warns Glut May Continue Longer Than Expected

On the heels of last night's big crude build, OPEC's overnight report stating that supply cuts won’t re-balance the market until the second half of 2017 has sparked further losses in oil prices, almost erasing the entire OPEC/NOPEC/Saudi cut ramp.

Head Of US Pacific Fleet Ready To Confront Beijing As China Warns Of US Carmaker Penalty For "Monopolist Behavior"

In what some have seen as the first warning shot of retaliation against Trump's threats of protectionism and part of China's escalating trade war involving the auto industry, overnight China Daily reported quoting a senior state planning official that Beijing will soon slap a penalty on an "unnamed U.S. automaker for monopolistic behavior."

Trump Formally Announces Choice Of Rick Perry As Energy Secretary

While hardly a surprise by now, having been leaked initially over the weekend, moments ago President-elect Donald Trump formally confirmed his plans to nominate former Texas Gov. Rick Perry as Energy secretary.

With All Eyes On The Fed, Stocks And Crude Slip, Bonds Rise

European stocks slipped from an 11 month high, Asian stocks and S&P futures were flat as caution pervades global markets before the Federal Reserve’s expected interest-rate hike on Wednesday. Treasuries slipped, after reaching the highest level in more than two years. Oil in New York slid to near $52 a barrel after API showed a build in inventories, and currencies of commodity-exporting nations fell. Gold headed for its biggest gain in a week.

40 Electors Demand Russian Interference Briefing Before They Vote

The establishment seems to have settled on "Russian interference in the election" as the angle that they will use to unleash this 'soft coup' to steal Trump's election, as today, the Hill reports more Democratic electors are joining the call for an intelligence briefing before they cast their votes for president on Monday.

What The Federal Reserve Will Do Today

Just about everyone expects the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) to raise its target interest rate today. But the decision to raise rates won’t have come about because of any strong economic data, be it inflation hovering around the Fed’s target or the low unemployment rate showing strength in the labor market. So why the green light now?

2017 Will Be The Year Of Inflation

With crude oil prices up over 50% YoY (the most in 6 years), and retail gas prices up over 10% YoY (the most in 5 years), Bloomberg's Garfield Reynolds suggests the Saudis have sealed it then, 2017 will be the year when inflation takes over. And if that’s curtains for global disinflation then we could see the start of a great unwind in central bank easing, something capable of spurring all manner of extraordinary market disruption.

Anti-Trump Elector Chris Suprun Paid For Ashley Madison While Bankrupt And Married With 3 Kids

Research into "renegade elector" Chris Suprun’s bizarre and unexplained flip-flop against President-elect Donald J. Trump has turned up Ashley Madison data, damning bankruptcy records, and a series of P.O. boxes and what appears to be an association with a payday loan scam site.

British Member Of Parliament Accuses Russia Of Manipulating Brexit Vote

Leading Remain campaigner Ben Bradshaw questioned the validity of the Brexit result, accusing Russian hackers of "probably" swaying the EU referendum vote, and claiming people were underestimating the extent of cyber warfare by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

House Passes Bill To "Microchip Citizens With 'Mental Disabilities'" - Who's Next?

We’ve all been warned that it is coming, but what is disturbing is that while technology surrounds us and some have concerns about privacy, most shrug at the massive amounts of data they are collecting about our lives, and the incredible level of control the system now has over each individual. This bill passed, clinging to the broadest base of “good intentions” that it could muster, i.e. caring for those with disabilities and decline with age. But in reality, it is a nose under the tent for a system that needs the ability to microchip dissenters, and to force cooperation on the part of the general population.

The Conspiracy to Shut Down Truth, Donald Trump, and The American People

by Paul Craig Roberts, Paul Craig Roberts:
There is circumstantial evidence that the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the rest of the presstitute media are part of a conspiracy with the oligarchs, the military/security complex, the Hillary Democrats, and neoconized Republicans to shut down the dissident Internet alternative media and to deny Donald Trump the presidency.
Consider the brand new website PropOrNot and its fake news list of 200 Internet Russian agents. PropOrNot is a website hidden behind multiple screens as would be an offshore tax avoidance scheme. In other words, no known, responsible entity is behind the site, which has libeled 200 other websites, or if it is, it is too ashamed of what it is doing to be associated with it publicly.
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Treasuries Melt Down, Junk Bonds Boom, Yield Spreads Collapse

by Wolf Richter, Wolf Street:
The Hot Money returns, bets on Oil Nirvana.
The costs of borrowing for the US government are jumping. On Monday, the US Treasury auctioned $34 billion of three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.53%, the highest since October 2008.
These short-term bills sell for less than face value and are redeemed at face value. The difference is the yield for investors. For a three-month bill with a face value of $10,000, the price was $9,986.60. Holding this bill for three months until redeemed will make investors $13.40 in yield. That’s an annualized rate of 0.538%.
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Historic Market Blow-Up Is Brewing

by Dave Kranzler, Investment Research Dynamics:
I was chatting with a good friend who works at a pension fund. He said that pensions are historically overweighted in stocks right now. But it looks like the latest push higher in the stock market is coming from hedge funds, who apparently missed a large portion of the “Trump rally.” We determined that the best reason to invest in stocks for both pension and hedge funds is “to avoid looking like an idiot.”
That’s it – that’s the “fundamental” justification for investing in stocks right now is because everyone else is and if your portfolio on Dec 31 is underweighted in stocks you’ll look like an idiot.
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NOVEMBER: Gold Price Down, Chinese Demand Strong Despite Import Curbs

by Koos Jansen, BullionStar:
From the moment Donald J. Trump got elected as the next President of the United States, on November 8, 2016, the price of gold tumbled 8 % in the remainder of the month – from $1,282 USD/oz to $1,178 USD/oz. Usually these cascades in the gold price go hand in hand with physical sell-offs in the West and strong demand Asia. It appears November has been no exception. The volume of physical gold withdrawn from vaults of the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) in November accounted for 215 tonnes, the highest amount in ten months. Year to date SGE withdrawals have reached 1,774 tonnes.
There have been rumours in the gold space about the People’s Bank Of China (the PBOC) curbing gold import into the Chinese domestic market in response to capital flight. Although my sources have confirmed these rumours, Chinese gold import in November was still very strong at an estimated 140 tonnes. I don’t expect the PBOC will halt gold import all together.
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SURPRISINGLY NO GOLD LEAVES THE GLD BUT 1.802 MILLION OZ LEAVES THE SLV/ AT THE COMEX A HUGE 64,164 OZ LEAVES ALL VAULTS AND THE DEALER GOLD INVENTORY DROPS 5 TONNES TO 54 TONNES

CHINA’S SGE WITHDRAWALS = DEMAND ROCKETS NORTHBOUND TO 215 TONNES FOR NOVEMBER OR 53.5 TONNES PER WEEK (SO MUCH FOR IMPORT RESTRICTIONS/PREMIUM OF SHANGHAI GOLD TO NY PRICING OVER 31.00 PER OZ/MOODY’S DOWNGRADES ITALIAN BANKS/UNICREDIT FIRES 14,000 WORKERS AND THEN RESTRUCTURES/THE WAR FOR ALEPPO IS OVER WITH ASSAD THE VICTOR (USA HAS EGG ON THEIR FACE)
from Harvey Organ:
It seems that Shanghai pricing is higher than the other two , (NY and London). The spread has been occurring on a regular basis and thus I expect to see arbitrage happening as investors buy the lower priced NY gold and sell to China at the higher price. This should drain the comex.
Also why would mining companies hand in their gold to the comex and receive constantly lower prices. They would be open to lawsuits if they knowingly continue to supply the comex despite the fact that they could be receiving higher prices in Shanghai.
Read More @ Harveyorganblog.com

War On Cash Escalates: Australia Proposes Ban on $100 Bill; No Cash Within 10 Years?

by Mike Shedlock, Mish Talk:
Global financial repression has picked up steam. Australian citizens are likely the next victim.
AU News reports Government Floats $100 Note Removal.
SAY goodbye to the $100 note.
Australia looks set to follow in the footsteps of Venezuela and India by abolishing the country’s highest-denomination banknote in a bid to crack down on the “black economy”.
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Leaked Memo Reveals Trump’s Energy Priorities

by Nick Cunningham, Oil Price:
The major news out of Trumpland this week was his selection of ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson to lead the State Department. Tillerson has sparked a bit of backlash, mainly revolving around his close relationship with Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Indeed, ExxonMobil has some high-profile drilling projects at stake – Exxon could presumably proceed with a major project in the Russian Arctic if U.S. sanctions on Russia were removed, which should present some conflicts of interest during Tillerson’s confirmation hearings.
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Medical scientists stunned as “magic mushroom” treatment found to heal mental illness… yet it remains illegal

by Robert Jonathan , naturalnews:
Two major clinical trials have reportedly reaffirmed the effectiveness of psilocybin, a naturally occurring psychedelic found in 200 varieties of mushrooms, in treating mental illness.
Earlier this year, researchers at London’s Imperial College found that after one week of high doses of psilocybin, twelve study participants no longer suffered with depression or self loathing. Eleven weeks later, five of them no longer had any lingering depression symptoms.
U.K. researchers had to go through a protracted amount of red tape to gain permission to administer the psilocybin capsules, however, given that magic mushrooms are illegal in most countries.
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Will Trump Defy McCain & Marco?

by Patrick J. Buchanan, CNSnews:
When word leaked that Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson, a holder of the Order of Friendship award in Putin’s Russia, was Donald Trump’s choice for secretary of state, John McCain had this thoughtful response:
“Vladimir Putin is a thug, a bully, and a murderer and anybody else who describes him as anything else is lying.”
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