Archive - Jun 2015 - Story

Pope Francis says that global warming is a fact and that a new global political authority is necessary in order to save humanity from utter disaster. The new encyclical that was scheduled to be released on Thursday has been leaked, and it is being reported that this new global political authority that Pope Francis envisions would be in charge of “the reduction of pollution and the development of poor countries and regions”.

The mainstream media is still full of articles about the alleged evils of cash, which we regard as a typical “trial balloon” launched by the powers-that-be. A salami tactic is therefore employed, not least because this ensures that there will be little protest. A new law or regulation may not be seen as overly onerous in isolation. The average citizen may well think – if he or she is even aware of the adoption of a new law: “Oh well, it is a bit creepy” or “it does make life a bit more difficult”, but “if it helps to keep us safer/more prosperous/more free/saves the planet, I can put up with it”. And so one freedom after another is taken away. If pursued to its logical conclusion, no freedom will be left in the end.

Both France and Belgium have moved to freeze Russian state assets on Thursday, prompting an angry response from Moscow and serving to further inflame tensions between Russia and Europe amid escalating violence in Ukraine and an increasingly aggressive stance towards the Kremlin on the part of Washington and NATO.

"Last Wednesday — exactly one week before the Charleston church massacre — Roof told his friends and neighbors at the park that 'he was looking to kill a bunch of people on Wednesday.'"

Don't think, buy! Here's why...

The evolution of corporate earnings in their broadest form can provide a useful indication of the subsequent performance of the US stock markets. This makes intuitive sense. Growing earnings are generally a reflection of good economic conditions which should be bullish for equities. The opposite also applies of course. But it is at key turning points that this indicator becomes particularly insightful, in our opinion even more than the actual level of the price-earnings ratio.

Greece completes stage one of the dreaded "Russian pivot" as energy ministers from Athens and Moscow ink an MOU on Gazprom's Turkish Stream pipeline. Meanwhile, Gazprom signs a deal with Shell and others to double the capacity of the Nord line, a move which will, over time, decrease the energy giant's dependence on Ukraine for transport.

Having vehemently denied teh rumor that Benoit Coeure specifically said he questioned whether Greek banks will open on Monday, The ECB has, rather awkwardly, admitted that:

*ECB SAID TO HOLD UNSCHEDULED CALL ON GREECE ELA ON FRIDAY

Given the accelerating outflows and implicit bank run today's comments will create, if The ECB does not re-up the ELA, it is indeed over for Greek banks (unless Russia or China step in over the weekend) come Monday morning.

It’s over. Except for a short moment or a wild and self-exhausting governmental mandate (both of which are doubtful), there will never again be enough “good jobs” to go around. That model is gone and we need to root it out of our imaginations.

Distracted by The Dow, "white" black people, and Caitlyn Jenner? Well back in the real world...

Just minutes after Greek FinMin Varoufakis warned people were trying to "incite capital flight" from Greece and Dijsselbloem stated that "capital outflows from Greece are worrying," Reuters is reporting that The ECB dropped the bank run hammer:

ECB TOLD EURO ZONE FINANCE MINISTERS IT WAS NOT SURE IF GREEK BANKS WOULD BE ABLE TO OPEN ON MONDAY- OFFICIALS

Friday sees Russia-Greece meetings and Euro area leaders are supposedly meeting on Monday evening due to the seriousness of the situation so it appears the endgame is looming large one way or another.

The recent peak in profits, combined with substantially elevated P/E ratios, is likely suggesting that forward return expectations should be revised sharply lower.