Archive - Jun 2015

"As this critical domino chain of local governments in China’s credit risk situation begins to wobble, there could be significant ramifications for broad financial market stability. Such a chain reaction seems to have begun."

"A judicial victory doesn’t automatically translate into a political victory, let alone a policy success."

In a free society, debate is over only when the people decide it’s over.

Germany’s financial regulator says departing Deutsche Bank co-CEO Anshu Jain may have lied to the Bundesbank about LIBOR manipulation when he apparently denied having any knowledge of rumors that the fixes may have been fixed (so to speak) even as his inbox told a different story.

Update: TSIPRAS SAYS WILL CALL REFERENDUM ON GREEK DEAL WITH CREDITORS 

"When I think of America’s place in the world today, the image that comes to mind is of a very large animal, perhaps a huge bull elephant or even prehistoric mammoth, which long roamed as the unchallenged king of its domain but has become trapped by its own missteps, as caught in a tar pit or some quicksand, and it is violently flailing about, making a terrifying noises in its effort to free itself and re-establish its authority. Any observer immediately knows the animal ultimately cannot succeed but certainly is frightened by the noise and crashing that it can sustain for a considerable time."

Scared by the recent surprise CHF event that caused many Forex brokers to completely collapse, brokers are taking no chances as Greece sits on the brink.  From one broker:

As we await the final capitulation by the ECB, EU and IMF to provide Greece another bailout (or not), we have assembled a list of reading for you that has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with Greece.

"You're cruisin' for a bruisin'." - Kenickie, Quote From "Grease"

This is it, warns one water advocate, "it really does (make critical) the fact that we have to start changing." Lake Mead water levels have sunk to their lowest levels on record (below the levels when the dam was built) at 1075 feet. This is a major problem, as USA Today reports, since Las Vegas water authority's current "straws" glean water from 1,050 feet and 1,000 feet - leaving the first straw just 25 feet away from pulling in air. With the drought only set to get worse as the summer begins, the water wars are just beginning as Lower-basin states are still taking more than the river system can sustain.

Presenting: Bank of America's chart showing who the undisputed victor in that age-old war between Wall Street and Main Street, truly is.

Looking at electricity consumption, adjusted or otherwise, things are definitely looking very sluggish in the US economy right now.

Today will almost certainly be the busiest trading day of the year, as the Russell indexes go through their annual rebalancing/reconstitution. But, as ConvergEx's Nick Colas notes, Friday’s close will be the end of a trade that began almost 2 months ago, as traders began handicapping which equities would be included for the first time or swapped between various Russell indices. Since the beginning of May, for example, the stocks that will be added to the Russell 2000 are up 11%, and those being deleted from the same index are down 2% over the same time period.  In short, for one day – and this is the day - every U.S. equity market participant, no matter what their investment mandate, needs to think like a trader.  Throw in a little Greek drama going into the weekend, and it could be quite a day...