Real estate

Is Apple going to produce more electric vehicles ten years from now than BMW?

"This is legal?" Stephanie Ruhle on CDS after watching "The Big Short" (Bloomberg TV) 

• European stocks up, oil slides as concerns ease over Russia-Turkey tension (Reuters)
• ECB discusses two-tiered bank charges, broader bond buys (Reuters)
• New agonies, alliances as Fed debates post-liftoff plan (Reuters)
• A New Military Power Rises in the Mideast, Courtesy of One Man (BBG)
• Russia's Gazprom says halts gas supplies to Ukraine over payment (Reuters)
• Other central banks set to act, but Swiss policy cupboard bare (Reuters)

The further you go towards the tails of the bell curve, the more similar social characteristics.  In a society that has been even more polarized, we increasingly see similarities between the very wealthy, and the very poor.  The declining middle class is more and more a world of it's own (as the elite used to be). 

In Summary, the Superclass "Elite" UHNWI and the ultra poor have the following in common:

It’s quite interesting indeed when both progressives and conservatives seem to be nostalgic for those good ol’ days in the 1950s, for different reasons, of course. Conservatives want to go back to the nuclear Leave It to Beaver family and what not while liberals like to talk about those 90-percent tax rates that we owe our prosperity to. Or something like that. However, what a tax rate is and what is actually paid are two very different things.

November has been a banner month for black swans. From Leftist political coups in Portugal to terror attacks in Paris to downed Russian fighter jets in Syria, the market is gradually learning to expect the unexpected. In its latest Quarterly Economic Outlook, SocGen outlines five political and economic black swans that could land in 2016.

2015 ends with the market cap of Amazon & Google exceeding that of every single Chinese company in the MSCI China index… the US stock market a mere 107 trading days away from becoming the 2nd longest bull market of all-time, with equity leadership driven by “growth” (longest duration of outperformance ever) & “quality” (at all-time relative high)… and $6trn of negatively-yielding government bonds, $17trn of bonds yielding <1%, and the Fed expected to raise the Fed funds rates for the 1st time since 2006.

If you think you're fighting the market, or the banks, or the Fed, you're dead wrong!

• Brussels on Edge as Lockdown Continues (WSJ)
• Stocks Pare Decline as Crude Oil Erases Drop on Saudi Comments (BBG)
• Italy’s Eni Plans to Pump Arctic Oil, After Others Abandon the Field (WSJ)
• Treasuries Decline as Economists Say GDP to Be Revised Higher (BBG)
• Why the Housing Rebound Hasn’t Lifted the U.S. Economy Much (WSJ)
• Argentina Fever Is Back for Investors as Kirchner Rival Triumphs (BBG)

If the government’s official statistics are to be believed the U.S. economy is moving full steam ahead. Consumer are spending, the job market is expanding, real estate has recovered, stocks are soaring and the U.S. dollar is stronger than it has been in a decade. But if you have yet to realize it, billionaire investor Eric Sprott says "it’s all a lie." The manipulation of precious metals, coupled with the supply and demand fundamentals which Sprott says will lead to shortages over the next few years as mining companies reduce output or close up shop, will leave many investors who think their gold holdings are easily convertible to physical assets with nothing more than depreciating Yellen Bucks at exactly the moment they’ll need precious metals in their possession.

With enough monetary deception anything’s possible. But, nonetheless, gravity still exists.

Spot rates for transporting containers from Asia to Northern Europe have crashed a stunning 70% in the last 3 weeks alone. This almost unprecedented divergence from seasonality has only occurred at this scale once before 2008! 

The sums in play are so staggering (an estimated $11 trillion in emerging market debts denominated in other currencies) that even the Fed won't be able to stop the meltdown.

Today’s financial world is a tough place for the average person but paradise for rich guys. As easy money raises asset prices, the owners of those assets make effortless profits. Then they buy expensive toys and trophy properties. Hence the recent boom in fine art, high-end real estate, yachts and private jets. But like all financial trends, this one has a limit, and that limit is now in sight. The 1%, it seems, is rolling over...

"The equilibrium, for now, is QE infinity – but political risk could be the breaking point"...