Russian Pacific Fleet Warships Enter Mediterranean For First Time In Decades, To Park In Cyprus

Earlier we reported that the US has now officially landed a Marine force in Israel as well as an assault ship, in a visit that the US Navy promptly assured "is not associated with, nor a reaction to, any world events." It seems we were not the only ones who read this justification somewhat skeptically: so did Russia. And in a historic event, the Russian Pacific fleet, for the first time in decades, crossed the Suez Canal and entered the Mediterranean, direction Cyprus' port of Limasol (hi Cyprus - Russia will be arriving shortly) in what is now the loudest implied warning to the US and Israel amassing military units across Syria's border that Russia will not stand idly by as Syria is used by the Israeli "Defense" Forces for target practice. “The task force has successfully passed through the Suez Channel and entered the Mediterranean. It is the first time in decades that Pacific Fleet warships enter this region,” Capt. First Rank Roman Martov said. This is what is also known as dropping hints, loud and clear.

Philly Fed Misses, Key Indicators Negative Across The Board: Employment Index Lowest Since September 2009

It's just getting plain stupid out there. Just as stocks were exploding into the green (perhaps on expectations of an epic Philly Fed miss), the Philly Fed did not disappoint, printing at -5.2, down from 1.3, and crushing expectations of an increase to +2.0, the biggest miss since February and confirming that the Empire Fed index plunge was not a fluke. Virtually every components in the Philly Fed was red except for Inventories (up to 4.1 from -22.2 in March) and Prices Paid (up to 6.9 from 3.1 in March). Among the plungers, the key New Orders tumbled from -1.0 to -7.9, Shipments crashed from 9.1 to -8.5, Average Workweek slide from -2.1 to -12.4, and the Number of Employees imploded from -6.8 to -8.7, the lowest print since September 2009. And if all of this doesn't send the Stalingrad & Poor 500 to new historic highs, we don't know what will. All one can do now is just laugh at this "market."

Gold Demand In One Chart: Physical vs ETF

China's demand for gold jumped 20% to 294 tonnes in the first quarter of 2013, while global gold demand overall slid 13% thanks to the dramatic rotation of demand from paper to physical. Chinese demand in gold bars and coins grew to 109.5 tonnes - more than double the five-year quarterly average of 43.8 tonnes. Central banks added 109.2 tonnes of gold to their reserves in Q1 2013, the ninth consecutive quarter of net purchases. But it was the Q1 ETF outflows of 176.9 tonnes, equating to a 7% decline in total gold ETF holdings that obscured the strong rise in investment for gold bars and coins at the retail level. In the face of the huge 'paper' gold ETF outflows, 'physical' gold demand surged to its highest in 18 months...

Tragic Trifecta: Initial Claims Soar, Housing Starts Plunge, CPI Below Expectations

We didn't really need a confirmation that the economy was deteriorating and completely disconnected from the "market", but we got it nonetheless. First, Initial Claims coming at 360K, on expectations of 330K, the worst print and worst miss in six weeks, confirming that weekly data is largely noise and that there is no sustainable downward trend. The May 11 weekly print adjusted and unadjusted were 360K and 318K respectively, virtually unchanged from a year ago at 373K and 325K, showing that in one year there has been essentially no progress, and that weekly initial claims of 350K is the new normal. Of course, the last week's print was also revised higher from 323K to 328K, while initial claims also missed expectations of a round 3MM print, instead printing at 3009K.

US Amphibious Assault Ship "Kearsarge" And 26th Marine Unit "Visit" Israel

Two weeks ago, when we reported on the news of yet another aerial assault by Israel on Syria, we said that "while speculation a US-led escalation is ripe, the lack of any US naval support (as shown by Stratfor's naval update map from May 2) off the coast of Syria likely makes any immediate war is hardly likely, or that Israel will be on its own for at least the foreseeable future." Today this is no longer the case, following news that the US amphibious assult ship, LHD 3 and its cargo of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, have arrived in Eilat, Israel for a "reguarly scheduled post visit." Amusingly, the US Navy was very quick to point out that "This visit is not associated with, nor a reaction to, any world events." Just purely accidental then.

Wal-Mart Misses Revenue, Guides Below Expectations: Weather Among Factors Blamed

Remember when several months ago Wal-Mart leaked just how weak the economy was and that sales had been a "total disaster" (a piece of truthiness that promptly led to the termination of the leak source)? Guess what: they were not lying. Moments ago WMT reported Q1 results, which at the easily fudged bottom line were just in line with expectations, ot $1.14 driven by $2.2 billion in stock repurchases (30 million shares). However, it was sales, as warned, that came in well weaker than expected, posting at $114.2 billion on expectations of $116.1 - just as the guy warned. It gets worse:

• Q2 EPS expected in the range $1.22-$1.27, on expectations of $1.29
• Q1 comps ex-fuel -1.2% vs Exp. 0.4%
• Sam's Club implements first fee increase since 2006: raises membership fee to $45 nationwide
• During the 13-week period, the Walmart U.S. comp was negatively impacted by a delay in tax refund checks, challenging weather conditions, less grocery inflation than expected and the payroll tax increase. Comp traffic was down 1.8 percent, while average ticket increased 0.4 percent.

From the CFO, Charles Holley: "Although we believe our company will leverage expenses for the year, the second quarter will be challenging, given expense pressures in International and our corporate area.