George Soros

The sole focus of gold in dollar terms and the 10% fall of gold priced in dollars has led to some negative comment about gold's annual fall, the "third year of losses."

Once China set the Yuan fixing some 0.5% lower, the biggest drop since the August devaluation, all hell broke loose and unleashed a global selling panic after China's stock market was promptly shut down less than 30 minutes into trading, then European shares dropped the most in more than 4 months as Asian equities plunges, as did US stock futures, the dollar weakened against the euro and the yen; crude plunged to fresh 12 year lows. Gold rose.

Surging volatility in global equity, currency, and credit markets and significant stress in a major world economy have George Soros on edge. Speaking at an economic forum in Sri Lanka, the billionaire hedge fund manager warned global markets are facing a crisis and investors need to be very cautious. On the heels of the second trading halt in four days, Soros exclaimed "I would say it amounts to a crisis... which reminds me of 2008."

Look out Stefan Ingves, the 2 and 20 crowd smells blood: "The market seems eager to challenge the Riksbank and there are rumors that many foreign hedge funds are long kronor and see a weakening of the krona after a possible intervention as a good buying opportunity.”

Operating largely out of public view - in tax court, through arcane legislative provisions and in private negotiations with the Internal Revenue Service - the wealthy have used their influence to steadily whittle away at the government’s ability to tax them. The effect has been to create a kind of private tax system, catering to only several thousand Americans. This is precisely what Obama will be remembered for by history, bailing out and protecting the 0.01%, at the expense of everyone else.

It appears that no matter what he says, does, or is alleged to have said or done, The Donald's rating continue to rise. As Bloomberg notes in the following chart of his 'success' so far, Trump's controversial comments appear highly correlated with his poll standings as the latest poll shows his support is now larger than that of his next three rivals combined...

It appears The Establishment has decided to bring in the big guns to dislodge The GOP's nightmare scenario as Donald Trump goes from strength to strength in the polls. Writing in an op-ed for The Guardian, billionaire puppet-master George Soros urges Americans "to resist the siren song of the likes of Donald Trump," adding that "the terrorists and demagogues want us to be scared. We mustn’t give in."

The premises of the rate increase are several: that the Fed knows best what interest rate is good for the economy... that a recovery is sufficiently established to permit an end to the emergency micro rates of the last seven years... and that otherwise everything is more or less hunky-dory. And they are all false!

Confidence in central bankers is now hanging by a thread. Mario Draghi (and his fellow Goldman Sachs alum Mark Carney at the Bank of England, for that matter) might want to adopt a little humility before that thread snaps completely. It is always tragic when we filthy peasants stop banging rocks together momentarily to listen to the awe-inspiring intellects at the central banks, only to misunderstand them. Perhaps the real problem is one of overconfidence. Not our overconfidence. Theirs.

Are the "globalization gloves" finally coming off?

"Today is a historic day. It’s the changing of an era. We can live in an Argentina without poverty, where we can all aspire to have our own homes with running water and a sewage system." 

"The question is whether this is going to be something like the rebirth of Argentina or another failed dream that people get excited about, but then they can’t overcome the challenges.”

• S&P 500 Futures Slip as Aussie Gains on Rate Outlook; Oil Rises (BBG)
• Xi Says China Needs at Least 6.5% Growth in Next Five Years (BBG)
• Ben Carson Vaults to Lead in Latest Journal/NBC Poll (WSJ)
• World's Biggest Banks Still Not `Truly Resolvable,' FSB Says (BBG)
• Keystone XL's builder faced darkening prospects (Reuters)
• Merkel Says Germany Must Step Up World Role in Refugee Crisis (BBG)

Janus Capital shares have tumbled back from earlier gains after WSJ reports that a firm run by George Soros has pulled a $500M investment with Bill Gross. The firm reportedly invested the money a year ago after Gross started at Janus Capital.

"His name is perhaps the strongest example of those who support anything that weakens nation states, they support everything that changes the traditional European lifestyle. These activists who support immigrants inadvertently become part of this international human-smuggling network."