Archive - Sep 2015

First he folded on his decision to hold a press conference explaining why he folded as House speaker. Then he unfolded. Here is the now former US house speaker whose bout of "deyhdration" appears to have ended.

For the 4th week in a row , US oil rig counts declined (down 4 to 640) leaving the count as 10-week lows. This is the largest 4-week decline since May. Crude prices are undecided on how to react for now with stop runs higher and lower so far...

Earlier today yet another "very serious policy maker" confirmed that cash as we know it, may be on the endangered species list - again, a necessary precondition to make global NIRP effective - when overnight former Bank of England central banker, Charles Goodhart, told a London audience that bills such as the Swiss National Bank’s 1,000-franc note and the European Central Bank’s 500-euro note should be abolished, adding this "move that might also prove beneficial by trimming interest rates."

With just 3 months left on the calendar, many investors are down on the year for one simple reason: nothing is really working.  That leaves them only a short period to show a positive return, or at least a less-negative result than whatever index they track. To do that, many will have to make very specific and concentrated bets. It might be about equities generally – will they recover from the current growth scare?  Or it might be asset allocation – will bonds finally go up on the year?  For stock pickers, the key question is certainly “Play the winners, or look for laggards?” All we know is that with 69 days left to play catchup, time favors the fleet.  And the bold.

Oh, the irony. A senator of the world's largest creditor nation has demanded America's allies do 'whatever it takes' to support Ukraine in breaking international law by refusing to pay back $3bn of debt owed to Russia in December. As RT reports, US Senator Chris Murphy of the Foreign Relations Committee exclaimed, "the international community should make it clear that we should take whatever steps necessary to give Ukraine the legal cover it needs to walk away from that debt... I don’t think Ukraine should be obligated to pay Russia back a dime." One can only wonder how US's creditors will feel about this perspective (maybe China and EM are already showing theirs).

Clash of the Titans? President "we don't spy/cyberhack other nations" Obama and President "we don't devalue our currency" Xi will hold a joint press conference to show the world how much US and China love each other (despite China dumping Treasuries and looming US cybersecurity sanctions on China)... grab your popcorn as Xi is supposedly taking questions from the Western press...

You'd have to be in full denial mode not to see that it's getting ugly out there in global markets: currencies are melting down, trade and shipping are tanking, commodities are swooning and global stock markets are increasingly on central-bank life support.

When will the “nothing is happening” crowd finally wake up?

NSA Is Making It Easier for Malicious Actors and Hackers to Steal the Family Jewels

As Russia gears up for an offensive designed to rout anti-government forces operating in Syria, the US finds itself in the awkward position of having to partner with two of Washington's fiercest critics in the fight against terror. With the clock ticking on America's Mid-East strategy, Obama is set to sit down for a critical one-on-one with Putin that could have major geopolitical implications.

Just when you thought the idiocy couldn't get any more surreal, it does, courtesy of Reuters:

• BREAKING NEWS: House Speaker Boehner cancels press conference on resignation

And just like that, "folding" Boehner folded one last time, ironically, on folding his Congressional Career.

This is the sort of thing you’d expect to see in a Banana Republic. Which makes perfect sense, because America is a Banana Republic.

Despite the promises of all the central planners that wage growth is coming (any day, week, month, quarter now with the recovery promised originally in first half of 2012 now delayed to the 9th half ), it appears that Americans are starting to give up hope in that one most important economic component: income growth.

Just when the market was confused what event to trade in the last day of the week, here comes, or rather, goes John Boehner and announces he has folded one last time resigning from Congress and as House Speaker, unleashing a new wave of uncertainty in both the GOP and Congress, which as a reminder was blamed by Yellen as one of the reasons the Fed couldn't hike rates, and the FOMC.