Archive - Mar 2015
March 30th
Despite Abysmal Weather, Feb Pending Homes Sales Surge By Most In 9 Months
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/30/2015 09:08 -0500Putting the last nail in the coffin of "the weather is to blame" meme, pending home sales surged in the abysmal weather conditions of February by the most since May 2013. Up 12% YoY, any rational economic being would be hard pressed to explain how the weather is impacting the economy when brave home-buying souls ventured out in such masses to buy... as The Midwest region saw the biggest surge in sales... up a stunning 11.6% MoM.
Shooting Reported At Gate Of NSA Headquarters In Fort Meade - Live Stream
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/30/2015 08:59 -0500The day is starting off on a very bizarre footing after not only Ben Bernanke became a blogger and joined Twitter, but moments ago at least one American appears to have had enough with the Big Brother state, and moments ago WNEW reported that there has been a shooting, two injured and according to local reports, there appears to be one fatality at the gate of the NSA's Fort Meade, Maryland headquarters.
Market Opens - Panic Buying Ensues
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/30/2015 08:50 -0500While the narrative claims China QE rumors, the chart shows that when the casinoes open, the algos gamblers rush in...
Germanwings Co-Pilot Head Been Treated For "Suicidal Tendencies" In The Past
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/30/2015 08:31 -0500The horrible events of last week just go from bad to worse, if that is possible, as investigators dig further into the disturbed past of murderous co-pilot Andreas Lubitz and find more problems, as Reuters reports:
GERMANWINGS CO-PILOT HAD BEEN IN TREATMENT FOR SUICIDAL TENDENCIES IN THE PAST
Reports have suggested he was troubled by his sexuality and also seeking treatment for vision problems. While careful to note that recent treatments suggested no suicidal tendency, this merely raises questions about historical screening and ongoing monitoring among a group of people who are ultimately responsible for the lives of many others... especially after finding "a small mountain of anti-depressants" in his apartment.
‘Peak Gold’ in 2015? - Goldman Sachs Research Warns of Peak Gold Production
Submitted by GoldCore on 03/30/2015 08:27 -0500New report says there are only "20 years of known mineable reserves of gold." Most of the larger gold producing countries, not just Australia, the U.S. and South Africa but also Canada, Peru, Indonesia and others, have all seen production drops in recent years - see charts.
$20 Oil Looms As Iran-Nuclear Deal Nears Deadline
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/30/2015 08:22 -0500As the deadline for Iran nuclear talks looms, the possibility of a deal which in some way lifts crude export sanctions is starting to be realized. As we warned 2 weeks ago, despite all the rhetoric, a confluence of political factors makes a deal highly likely at this point; and as The Telegraph reports, Iran is a sleeping oil giant holding 9% of the world’s proven oil reserves and with an estimated 2m barrels per day of excess supply already sloshing around international markets, any significant increase in Iranian output could easily trigger a further rout in prices. While OPEC may well clamp down on this in June, as The Telegraph concludes, by then a barrel of oil may already be selling for $20.
The New Normal: Making Up Your Mind For You
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/30/2015 07:58 -0500Regarding the major problem of the more domestic issue of economic recovery, unless we would agree, which we really shouldn’t, that making a small group of the population richer while the much larger rest is made poorer, is how we define ‘recovery’, we have no recovery. But it is still accepted and proclaimed like a gospel: our economies are in recovery. If you take a step back and watch things from a distance, it’s truly too silly to be true, but endless repetition of the same lines, be they true or not, has them accepted as being cast in stone. It’s like selling detergent. Of course it doesn’t hurt that people very much want to believe a recovery is here. The stories we are bombarded with 24/7 under the quite hilarious misnomer ‘News’ have been prepared, pre-cooked and pre-chewed for our smooth and painless digestion, and as such they contain only tiny little flakes of reality. They are designed to make us feel good, not understand the world around us. And, as Scott Minerd says, the economic future for your entire families will look utterly bleak. Because that recovery they talk about? It’s not for you.
US Savings Rate Jumps To Highest Since 2012 As Spending Continues To Miss Expectations
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/30/2015 07:38 -0500For the 4th month in a row, personal spending growth missed expectations. With a 0.1% gain in February (against expectations of a 0.2% rise), this growth rate remains below all of 2014's growth. Income rose slightly more than expected at 0.4% (against +0.3% exp) but this is the same growth as January's upwardly reviused +0.4%. That leaves the powers that be very disappointed as the savings rate jumps to the highest since 2012... not exactly the Keynesian pump-primed, low gas prices tax cut spendfest all the smartest people in the room promised...
A Rare Goldman "Sell" Recommendation Leads To Even More Muppet Slaughter
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/30/2015 07:17 -0500In addition to Janet Yellen's confused ramblings at 3:45 pm on Friday, which did all they could to push the S&P to close green for the year, the other catalyst that sent stocks higher on Friday afternoon was the unconfirmed rumor reported by the WSJ that Intel would purchase Altera, the news of which briefly sent INTC stock higher than the entire market cap of Altera on what can only be described as the latest short squeeze. Yet one entity that appears unhappy with this news is none other than Goldman Sachs which likely was snubbed as an advisor or an underwriter by Intel in recent months, and which all else equal, once again slaughtered the muppets who listened to its recommendation to Sell Intel stock (just days after another comparable slaughter by Goldman on SanDisk longs this time on the Conviction Buy side).
Frontrunning: March 30
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/30/2015 06:54 -0500- Apple
- B+
- Barclays
- BBY
- Ben Bernanke
- Ben Bernanke
- Best Buy
- Blackrock
- Bond
- China
- Crude
- Dallas Fed
- Evercore
- Ford
- General Motors
- Gross Domestic Product
- Hong Kong
- Iran
- Keefe
- Merrill
- Monetary Policy
- Morgan Stanley
- National Health Service
- New Normal
- People's Bank Of China
- Personal Income
- Raymond James
- Real estate
- Realty Income
- Reuters
- Time Warner
- Wells Fargo
- Yuan
- Setbacks and progress as Iran, six powers meet to end nuclear impasse (Reuters)
- Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to Leave Iran Nuclear Talks (WSJ)
- Obama Ramps Up Lobbying on Iran as Deadline Looms (WSJ)
- Greek yields edge up as lenders scrutinise reform pledge (Reuters)
- Oil prices drop on possible Iran deal, dollar (Reuters)
- Yemen’s Houthis Battle for Aden as Saudi Strikes Hit Rebels (BBG)
- Iran nuclear deal to see $20 oil if Tehran floods crude market (Telegraph)
- China’s Zhou Says PBOC Has Room to Act on Growth Slowdown (BBG)
Futures Jump On Chinese Easinng Speculation, False Rumor Of PBOC Rate Cut
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/30/2015 05:48 -0500- B+
- Bond
- Central Banks
- Chicago PMI
- China
- Consumer Confidence
- Consumer Credit
- Consumer Sentiment
- Copper
- CPI
- Creditors
- Crude
- Dallas Fed
- Dumb Money
- Equity Markets
- Fitch
- fixed
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- headlines
- Housing Starts
- Initial Jobless Claims
- Iran
- Italy
- Japan
- Jim Reid
- Michigan
- Money Supply
- Nikkei
- Personal Consumption
- Personal Income
- Price Action
- Reuters
- Saudi Arabia
- Trade Balance
- Unemployment
- University Of Michigan
With the rest of the developed world's central banks waiting for the Fed to admit defeat for one more year and delay its proposed rate hike (or launch NIRP/QE4 outright) it was all about China (the same China which a month ago we said would launch QE sooner or later) and hope that its central bank would boost asset prices, when over the weekend the PBoC governor hinted that more easing is imminent to offset the accelerating drag after he admitted that the nation’s growth rate has tumbled "a bit" too much and that policy makers have scope to respond. How much scope it really has now that its bad debt is rising exponentially is a different question. It got so bad, Shanghai Securities News leaked a false rumor earlier forcing many to believe China would announce an unexpected rate cut as soon as today, in the process sending the Shanghai Composite soaring by 2.6%.
What’s REALLY Going On In Yemen
Submitted by George Washington on 03/30/2015 00:48 -0500What the Heck Is This War About?
March 29th
Australia To Start Taxing Bank Deposits
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/29/2015 22:50 -0500Up until now, the world's descent into the NIRPy twilight of fiat currency was a function of failing monetary policy around the globe as central bank after desperate central bank implemented negative and even more negative (in the case of Denmark some four times rapid succession) rates, hoping to make saving so prohibitive consumers would have no choice but to spend the fruits of their labor, or better yet, take out massive loans which they would never be able to repay. However, nobody said it was only central banks who could be the executioners of the world's saver class: governments are perfectly capable too. Such as Australia's. According to Australia's ABC News, the "Federal Government looks set to introduce a tax on bank deposits in the May budget."






