Archive - Aug 20, 2015 - Story

"What, with a cloth or something?," Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton said earlier this week, in a sarcastic and fairly condescending reply to a reporter who pressed her on whether she had attempted to wipe her private e-mail server clean before turning it over to the FBI. That was the second time in a week that Clinton has attempted to deflect questions about the server with a dark mix of humor and disdain, and it’s backfired both times. Now, the Clinton campaign has admitted that in fact, classified information was stored on the Democratic frontrunner's home e-mail server.

Comedian George Carlin is known as one of the most controversial and outspoken entertainers of his time, and as far as the government is concerned, he could have possibly been a terrorist.

Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JP Morgan aren't satisfied with disparate, disorganized "reference data" which is why they're teaming up on an initiative called "SPReD". As WSJ reports, "using consistent data allows the banks to form accurate pricing for trades," and we all know what can happen when Wall Street gets together to "standardize" a reference point on which trades are based.  

It’s getting downright hazardous out there, and not just because the robo-machines were slamming the “sell” key today. The real danger comes from the loose assemblage of official institutions which claim to be running the world.

"The larger problem with repurchases is that debt-financed buybacks effectively put investors on margin. As corporations have borrowed in order to aggressively buy back their stock near the highest market valuations in history, existing stockholders have quietly become heavily leveraged, without even realizing it."

"Arguably the only reason to be bullish risk assets right now is there are no reasons to be bullish."

Two short weeks ago, Deutsche Bank's cross-asset-class research group suggested "caution" in markets as their "seven signs" signals were flashing red. Today, there are now 13 'cautionary' indicators - up from the 10 previously as the red caution flag just got red-er...

Persistently low oil prices have already inflicted economic pain on oil-producing countries. But with crude sticking near six-year lows, the risk of political turmoil is starting to rise. There are several countries in which the risks are the greatest – Algeria, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, and Venezuela – and, as we noted previously, RBC Capital Markets has labeled them the “Fragile Five.”

But, but, but...

For all those who need validation that they are part of a big hedge fund hotel club, which implicitly means there are few if any incremental fast money buyers left, and wish to know the top hedge fund holdings, here is a list of the 50 stocks which according to Goldman "matter the most" to hedge funds, the stocks which appear among the largest 10 holdings of hedge funds.

So why are so many prominent voices now warning that a global financial crisis is imminent? The answer is actually very simple: A global financial crisis is imminent.

When "whatever it takes" is not enough...

HFT critics are crowing over the ITG confession. You see! HFT is front running, plain and simple! Told you! And HFT defenders are largely silent because... well, you can’t defend the indefensible. However, if history is any guide at all, the existence of a clearly identifiable small-v villain will forestall the unmasking of what we believe is a Big Bad... the subterranean influence, bordering on control, of human investment behaviors by firms controlling advanced inference machines.

The Nasdaq has dropped almost 3.5% in the last 3 days - the biggest drop since October 2014 collapse. This drop has pushed the all-important tech high-flyer back below its 200-day moving average for the first time since Oct 10th... just before Bullard unleashed the threat of QE4...