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The default of Sherwin Alumina, a US subsidiary of Glencore, refocused the market's attention on the one company which in September was among the hardest hit in the post-China devaluation rout, and the immediate result was that while Glencore stock plunged and is once again approaching all time lows, a more ominous development was that GLEN's CDS spiked to as much as 950 basis points, the highest since April 2009 and suggesting far more pain is in store for the commodity trading giant.

The collapse of China's economy will have serious implications for India, the country's top investment banker warns. With exports in free fall and the government caught between fiscal retrenchment and the need to keep the economy afloat, it could be a rough year for the country Goldman swears will be a top economic performer in 2016.

An angry bear has been released after nearly seven years in hibernation, and the entire world is going to be absolutely shocked by what happens next.

The risk of a fracture in risk markets when lower liquidity meets forced selling, is high in our view. Should this weakening of spread sectors in fixed income continue, we will see a further rally in Treasuries – back in Aug/ Sep, 10y USTs broke below 2%, and there is no reason we can’t get there later this month.

"Police and medical officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters, say the gunmen set off a car bomb at the entrance to the mall on Monday before moving in."

Carnage continues. Small Caps have now joined Trannies in bear market territory (down 20% from the highs to September 2014 lows). S&P 500 is now in correction mode (down 10.7% from all-time-highs) as is Nasdaq.

Just days after a man waving a meat cleaver barged screaming into a police station in northern Paris, a teenager wielding a machete and shouting "Allahu Akbar" attacked a worshipper at a Marseille synagogue on Monday. The man was saved by the Torah - literally.

With rate hike odds for March plunging from over 55% a week ago to just 38% now, it appears faith in The Fed has utterly failed. WTI traded down to $30.97 - the lowest ssince Dec 2003.

But here is a giant freebie for all those stupid, clueless oil executives out there in North America.

"Bikers, hooligans, and bouncers" - oh my! It's vigilante justice time in Cologne, where "gangs" of angry Germans organized a "human hunt" on Facebook before attacking a group of Pakistanis in the city center.

"Commerce between Europe and North America has literally come to a halt. For the first time in known history, not one cargo ship is in-transit in the North Atlantic between Europe and North America. All of them (hundreds) are either anchored offshore or in-port. NOTHING is moving. This has never happened before. It is a horrific economic sign; proof that commerce is literally stopped."

While some central banks prefer to stealthily 'manage' their markets, a bid here, a stick-save there, today's epic intervention, short-squeeze, carry-trade-carnage in Offshore Yuan is the most visible hand yet in the new normal world of central planning. USDCNH is now down over 850 pips on the day - a record 1.25% strengthening in the offshore Yuan...

In what may be the latest bad news for Hillary Clinton, whose various "previous life" scandals - from emails, to Clinton foundation donations - refuse to go away, the Hill reports, citing Fox News, that the FBI has expanded its investigation of Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server during her time as secretary of State to determine whether her Clinton Foundation work violated public corruption laws.

Saudi Arabia’s deputy crown prince Muhammad bin Salman made headlines this week when he said that the kingdom was considering an IPO of Saudi Aramco, the nation’s state-owned oil company. But there are reasons to doubt that 1) the Saudi government will actually follow through on the plan, 2) even if some shares are listed, operations will change significantly, and 3) that such a move presents a huge opportunity for investors. Sure, Aramco might be worth trillions in theory. But returning cash to shareholders is not and will not be the top priority.