Archive - Jun 18, 2015

In conclusion: another month in which the Fed's trillions in reserves end up almost entirely in the stock market and NYC penthouses, with little trickling down into clothes and other "core" items, even as beef prices and asking rent hit record highs month after month.

Initial Jobless Claims dropped 12k this week to 267k - with no unusual factors - pushing the data back towards its lowest since 1973.

We are more convinced than ever that the FOMC is simply trying to scare a recovery into existence. The Fed is going to raise rates (or, in actuality, make you think it wants to so bad that you think they actually might) in order to signal a strong economy, in order to get people acting like a strong economy, in order to create a strong economy. In June 2015, the commands of the central planners are almost openly mocking common sense. "No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?"

Police have released photos of a white male they say is a suspect in the shooting that took the lives of nine people at a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina on Wednesday evening.

European creditors will reportedly consider writing down their Greek debt in order to get the IMF back to the table and make the country's long-term prospects more sustainable. Meanwhile, Greeks are taking to the streets and one portfolio manager warns of anarchy. 

We want to highlight today's absolute failure at investigative reporting, and the worst example of journalistic capture by the Federal Reserve that we have ever seen because at stake is the criminality, competence and corruption of that most important of organizations in modern society, the US Federal Reserve.

• WSJ urges Fed to blow uberest of all bubbles: Memo to Fed: Let the Economy Overheat (WSJ)
• Gunman at large after killing nine at black South Carolina church (Reuters)
• Nine Dead in Charleston Shooting Labeled a 'Hate Crime' (BBG)
• Hong Kong Votes Down Beijing-Backed Election Plan (WSJ)
• Greece Has Already Cost Investors $897 Billion This Year (BBG)
• Merkel Maintains Tough Stance on Greece as Deadline Looms (WSJ)
• Small U.S. frackers face extinction amid drilling drought (Reuters)
• Brian Williams to Stay at NBC, but Lester Holt Will Be Anchor (WSJ)

All those saying the Fed will never be able to raise rate are looking particularly smug this morning, because if the market needed a green light that despite all the constant posturing, pomp and rhetoric, the US economy is simply (never) ready for a rate hike, it got it late last night when Goldman is pushing back its forecast for the first Fed rate hike from  September to December 2015 saying that "in large part this reflects the fact that seven FOMC participants are now projecting zero or one rate hike this year, a group that we believe includes Fed Chair Janet Yellen. We had viewed a clear signal for a September hike at the June meeting as close to a necessary condition for the FOMC to actually hike in September, but the committee did not lay that groundwork today."

As we reported last year, inflation was raging in food prices. This came at a time, when the FED had the audacity to claim that inflation was "too low".

9 people are confirmed dead, including State Senator Clementa Pinckney, after a white gunman opened fire inside one of Charleston’s oldest and most well known black churches tonight. Mayor Joe Riley exclaimed, "this is an unspeakable and heartbreaking tragedy in this most historic church, an evil and hateful person took the lives of citizens who had come to worship and pray together.” As The Post and Courier reports, a bomb threat complicated the investigation and prompted police to ask nearby residents to evacuate. The shooter is still at large...