Uranium

Fukushima Spews Radiation World-Wide

With a straight face, Barack Obama has been repeatedly telling us that the world is "more stable" and "less violent" than ever. In fact, he believes that this is the best time in history to be alive because of how peaceful and stable everything is. Just this week, his press secretary told the media that this administration has "substantially improved" the "tranquility of the global community". Apparently these guys don't think that we will notice all of the violence, war and terrorism constantly raging all around us.

We talk a lot about Peak Cheap Oil as the Achilles' heel of the exponential monetary model, but the real threat to the quality of our daily lives would be a sustained loss of electrical power. Anything over a week without power for any modern nation would be a serious problem. When the power goes out, everything just stops. A blackout of a few hours results in an inconvenience for everyone and something to talk about. But one more than a day or two long? Things begin to get a bit tense; especially in cities, and doubly so if it happens in the hot mid-summer months. Anything over a week and we start facing real, life-threatening issues.

Silver Up 10.3% YTD - Should Continue To Outperform Gold And Other Assets  - Silver’s Unique Properties  - Silver: Increasing Technological, Industrial and Medical Demand  - Increasing Investment Demand  - Silver Undervalued Versus Gold - Conclusion

With the mainstream media having moved on in the news cycle to Dow 'almost' 17,000 and the 'Border Crisis' Scandal, it seems The Islamic State (the terrorists formerly known as ISIS) have stepped up their game and come out swinging... by seizing 88 pounds of nuclear material (uranium compounds) from Mosul University. As Iraq's UN Ambassador warned, "these nuclear materials," despite the limited amounts mentioned, "can be used in manufacturing weapons of mass destruction... or in combination with other materials in its terrorist acts."

Felix Zulauf, James Montier and David Iben: Three legendary investors share their views on financial markets. Everything is pricey ("we will continue to swim in a sea of liquidity; but there might be other events and developments that may not be camouflaged by liquidity which could cause a change of investor expectations.") the European periphery is a bubble ("The Euro crisis is not over...the European economies are not going to change for the better for years to come despite all the cheating and breaking of laws"), Value investors need to venture to Russia ("when you look at today’s opportunity set, you’re left with a set of assets where nothing looks attractive from a valuation point of view") or buy gold mining stocks (" The down cycle could be much bigger than anybody believes if the market realizes that all the actions taken in recent years do not work.") Summing it all up, "there is no question that [sovereigns] lack the fundamental economic base to finally service their debts," trade accordingly.

Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko (C) poses with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso (L) and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy (R) at the EU Council in Brussels June 27, 2014 following the singing of Ukraine's trade agreement with EU. Euphoria ensues.

While barely covered in the western media as a result of the curious blackout of recent developments in the Ukraine civil war, for nearly a month Ukraine has had a new president, 48 year old billionaire businessman, Petro Poroshenko. In order to cut through the fog, we decided to go straight to the source on what the US has to say about the country's new leader, who for now at least, appears to be in the good graces of both Putin and the US, namely the leaked Wikileaks cables. Readers will hardly be surprised to learn that he features quite prominently.

• Attorneys Known for Large Civil Settlements Line Up to Sue GM Over Company's Handling of Defective Ignition Switches (WSJ)
• Pakistani Taliban attack airport in Karachi, 27 dead (Reuters)
• U.S. Official: Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl Has Declined to Speak to His Family (WSJ)
• Ukraine Gas Talks Resume in Brussels to Avoid Cut-off This Week  (BBG)
• China's Central Bank Flexes Muscle (WSJ)
• China says Vietnam, Philippines' mingling on disputed isle a 'farce' (Reuters)
• World Needs Record Saudi Oil Supply as OPEC Convenes (BBG)
• Kraft Raises Prices on Maxwell House, Yuban U.S. Coffee Products (BBG)
• United Continental: One Sick Bird (WSJ)

If oil is “just another commodity,” then there shouldn’t be any connection between oil prices, debt levels, interest rates, and total rates of return. But there clearly is a connection. As we have seen, rising interest rates will bring an end to our current equilibrium, by raising costs in many ways, without raising salaries. It will also reduce equity values and bond prices. A rise in the cost of extraction of oil, if it isn’t accompanied by high oil prices, will also put an end to our equilibrium, because oil producers will stop drilling the number of wells needed to keep production up.  If oil prices rise (regardless of reason), this will tend to put the economy into recession, leading to job loss and debt defaults. The only way to keep things going a bit longer might be negative interest rates. But even this seems “iffy.” We truly live in interesting times.

• Qatar Bank: Deutsche Bank to raise $11 bln with help from Qatar (Reuters)
• AstraZeneca rejects Pfizer's take-it-or-leave-it offer (Reuters)
• China Home-Price Growth Slowdown Spreads as Sellers Discount (BBG)
• The new face of NSA: Mike Rogers (Reuters)
• Putin orders troops near Ukraine to return home (AP)
• Wall of Worry Rebuilt as Nasdaq Rout Sends Cash to High (Nasdaq)
• Bank of England's Mark Carney highlights housing market's risk to UK economy (Guardian)
• Greek Selloff Shows Rush for Exit Recalling Crisis (BBG)
• Anti-austerity Greek radicals ahead in Athens local election (AFP)

If We Don’t Learn Our History … We May Very Well Blow Off Our Own Foot

6 Years After the Financial Crisis Hit, The Big Banks Are Still Committing Massive Crimes

• Two-Thirds of Insurance Exchange Enrollees Paid Premiums (WSJ)
• Panic: Criminal Charges Against Banks Risk Sparking Crisis (BBG)
• Did the junk bubble pop: Junk Loans Pulled as Investors Say No After Fed Raises Concerns (BBG)
• CME mulls price fluctuation limits for gold, silver futures (Reuters)
• AT&T Has Approached DirecTV About Possible Acquisition (WSJ)
• NBA sets wheels turning for Clippers sale; Oprah in wings (Reuters)
• One way to fix prison overcrowding: Florida Jail Hit by Deadly Blast (WSJ)
• New Boeing jets hold key to more than half of future sales (Reuters)
• Sony slashes profit estimate by 70% (Guardian)

This is an impressive, comprehensive analysis of the February 2014 Ukraine coup from the perspective of a senior Russian academic. It details the interests and affiliations of the main Ukrainian domestic players - oligarchical clans many of whose leaders have dual nationality - with some shocking and little known detail. It exposes the glaring hypocrisies and double standards of the western sponsors of the coup and their Russian/Ukrainian '5th Column traitors'. It sees the coup and Russia's successful incorporation of Crimea as major game-changing events in the on-going, US-lead post-WWII machinations of the West to subdue Russia to its own agenda and outlines how Russia should now respond. All-in-all a must-read for westerners needing to understand what is really happening in both the Ukraine and the wider Anglo-US-NATO globalisation drive which it brings into sharp focus