Wall Street Journal

Here are the worst IPO fails of all time in the world. The ones that we thought would be unfailingly good. The ones that we thought we could bet our bottom dollar on and still strike it rich.

• Citigroup Facing $7 Billion Currency Hit on Dollar, Peabody Says (BBG)
• World has 10 years of shale oil, reports US (FT)
• ECB prepares to defend monetary policy in German court (FT)
• European Stocks Sink to Seven-Week Low as Treasuries Fall (BBG)
• Fitch warns on risks from shadow banking in China (Reuters)
• Obama administration to drop limits on morning-after pill (Reuters)
• ACLU asks spy court to release secret rulings in response to leaks (MSNBC)
• SEC Nets Win in 'Naked Short' Case (WSJ)
• SoftBank Raises Offer for Sprint to $21.6 Billion (WSJ)
• Chinese rocket launch marks giant leap towards space station (FT)

• S&P Revises U.S. Credit Outlook To "Stable" From Negative

• Fed's Bullard Details How QE Can Be Cut

• Fed Retreat From Bond Buying Expected By Fourth Quarter - Poll

• U.S., Japan Leading Recovery In Major Economies - OECD

• In Hong Kong, ex-CIA man may not escape U.S. reach (Reuters)
• Backlash over US snooping intensifies (FT)
• Apple to Revamp IPhone Software, Ending Product Funk (BBG)
• Nothing like revising history: Japan revises up Q1 growth to annual 4.1% (FT), just don't look at the trade deficit
• Coffee Exports From Indonesia Seen Slumping to Two-Year Low (BBG)
• Euro bailout Troika nears end of road with patchy record (Reuters)
• Treasuries Little Changed Before Bullard Speaks Amid QE Debate (BBG)
• Schwab Topping Goldman Sachs Presages Return to Stocks (BBG)
• Hedge funds take over another city: London’s Forced Renters Fuel Apartment Investing Boom (BBG)

Here are some of the most recent top insider dealing stories in the USA. The biggest in terms of fines!

• Reports on surveillance of Americans fuel debate over privacy, security (Reuters)
• Apple to Yahoo Deny Providing Direct Access to Spy Agency (Bloomberg)
• Misfired 2010 email alerted IRS officials in Washington of targeting (Reuters)
• Spy vs Spy: Cyber disputes loom large as Obama meets China's Xi (Reuters)
• When NSA Calls, Companies Answer (WSJ)
• How the Robots Lost: High-Frequency Trading's Rise and Fall (BBG)
• Japan's Pension Fund to Buy More Stocks  (WSJ)
• ‘Frankenstein’ CDOs twitch back to life (FT)
• China’s ‘great power’ call to the US could stir friction (FT)
• Toyota Tries on Corolla Look That’s Just Different Enough (BBG)

Yes, Government Spooks May Be Listening

• Global Stocks Tumble as Treasuries Rally, Yen Strengthens (BBG)
• China Export Gains Seen Halved With Fake-Data Crackdown (BBG) - so a crash in the GDP to follow?
• FBI and Microsoft take down botnet group  (FT)
• Quant hedge funds hit by bonds sell-off  (FT)
• Russia's Syria diplomacy, a game of smoke and mirrors (Reuters)
• Obama Confidantes Get Key Security Jobs (WSJ)
• BMW to Mercedes Skip Summer Breaks to Keep Plants Rolling even as European auto demand slides to a 20-year low (BBG) - thank you cheap credit
• Paris threat to block EU-US trade talks  (FT)

Given that ALL of the stock market gains since 2008 were based on Fed money printing… what do you think will happen when the Fed tries to taper QE?

• National Security Advisor Tom Donilon resigning, to be replaced by Susan Rice - Obama announcement to follow
• Japan's Abe targets income gains in growth strategy (Reuters), Abe unveils ‘third arrow’ reforms (FT) - generates market laughter and stock crash
• Amazon set to sell $800m in ads (FT) - personal tracking cookie data is valuable
• 60 percent of Americans say the country is on the wrong track (BBG)  and yet have rarely been more optimistic
• Jefferson County, Creditors Reach Deal to End Bankruptcy (BBG)
• Turks clash with police despite deputy PM's apology (Reuters)
• Rural US shrinks as young flee for the cities (FT)
• Australia holds steady on rate but may ease later (MW)
• The Wonk With the Ear of Chinese President Xi Jinping (WSJ)
• Syrian army captures strategic border town of Qusair (Reuters)

The airwaves are full of stories of economic recovery. One trumpeted recently has been the rapid recovery in housing, at least as measured in prices. The problem is, a good portion of the rebound in house prices in many markets has less to do with renewed optimism, new jobs, and rising wages, and more to do with big money investors fueled by the ultra-cheap money policies of the Fed. It seems entirely wrong that the Fed bailed out big banks and made money excessively cheap for institutions, and that this is being used to price ordinary people out of the housing market.  Said another way, the Fed prints fake money out of thin air, and some companies use that same money to buy real things like houses and then rent them out to real people trying to live real lives. At the same time, we are also beginning to see the very same hedge funds that have re-inflated these prices slink out of the market now that the party is kicking into higher gear – all while new buyers are increasingly having to abandon prudence to buy into markets where the fundamentals simply aren't there to merit it. Didn't we just learn a few short years ago how this all ends?

Despite the mainstream media's desperate need to play down any and every potential indication that all is not well with the "buy the dip" mentality, there is no hiding the fact that volatility is back and nowhere is that more evident in the guts of the Hindenburg Omen calculation. Just as we saw in October 2007, when NYSE margin was just as extended, credit spreads were just as compressed (and today's extreme range), and valuations were just as high, the Hindenburg Omen signals are starting to cluster (in a confirming manner). First on April 15th, second on Friday, and now third today marks the first such cluster since Bernanke saved the day in August 2010. Perhaps for those not running for the hills, UBS' Art Cashin's views are noteworthy, "proponents of the Omen will tell you there has never been a crash without the presence of the Hindenburg Omen. Sounds pretty compelling, indeed. Skeptics, however, note that every occurrence of the Hindenburg Omen has not been accompanied by a crash. In fact, three out of four times, there is no crash. Sounds a lot less compelling now. So, an omen is a caution – not a cause."

• Whale of a Trade Revealed at Biggest U.S. Bank With Best Control (BBG)
• ECB backs away from use of ‘big bazooka’ to boost credit (FT)
• Turkish unions join fierce protests in which two have died (Reuters)
• Europe Floods Wreak Havoc (WSJ)
• Beheadings by Syrian Rebels Add to Atrocities, UN Says (BBG)
• RBA Sees Further Rate-Cut Scope as Aussie Remains High (BBG)
• China’s ‘great power’ call to the US could stir friction (FT)
• J.C. Penney Continuing Ron Johnson’s Vision on the Cheap (BBG)

Today, there is almost zero truth in mainstream media. The fascist corporate-banking-government machine has ensured that mainstream media has now become the official department of propaganda, not only in political news, but also regarding nearly all financial news as well.

Are you ready for the next stock-market crash of the century? The Hindenburg Omen was spotted by eagle eyes on April 15th. It was confirmed by a sighting on May 29th. That gives us 40 days approximately before the market takes a plunge (apparently). That’s enough to spark fears on the market that we are in for a shaky time, but are those fears really justified and will the market plunge as the Hindenburg Omen predicts?