Wall Street Journal

It doesn't get more flagrant than this: the full HFT criminal monty exposed for all to see.

The ratio of hires to job openings has been steadily falling.  The analysts the WSJ cited all felt that the growing number of job openings was a bullish sign, and that employers can’t find workers to fill the jobs they are offering because workers don’t have the skills employers need. However, The Journal failed to mention the other cause - that the jobs being offered are so crappy and so low paying, nobody wants to take them. More troubling though is the rise in layoffs, just as we saw in 2007...just before stocks turned down.

The "one-off" adjustment has now reached its 3rd day as The PBOC has now devalued the Yuan fix by 4.65% back to July 2011 lows.

PBOC tries to reassure: *CHINA PBOC SAYS YUAN REMAINS STRONG CURRENCY IN LONG-TERM

Trainwreck? Rail traffic fell in July from a year ago as WSJ reports an increase in container volumes couldn’t offset a steep decline in oil and coal shipments according to the Association of American Railroads. Despite almost constant reassurance that plunging oil prices are 'unequivocally good" for America, AAR analysts warn "railroads are overexposed, relative to the economy in general, to the energy sector," adding that traffic data indiates "growth is slow and the recovery could be threatened by an interest-rate increase by the Fed."

Do you remember when real reporters existed? Those were the days before the Clinton regime concentrated the media into a few hands and turned the media into a Ministry of Propaganda, a tool of Big Brother. The false reality in which Americans live extends into economic life. Last Friday’s employment report was a continuation of a long string of bad news spun into good news.

If GDP growth only averages 2.0% in the Second Half (which I think is likely), then 2015 growth will only be about 1.7% annually. Given that the Fed didn't raise rates in 2012, 2013, and 2014, when growth was well north of 2%, why would they do so now? Yet Wall Street and the media stubbornly cling to the notion that 3% growth and rate hikes are just around the corner. Old notions die hard, and this one has taken on a life of its own.

"I’ve just slogged through all ninety-two pages of Donald Trump’s financial disclosure submission to the Federal Election Commission, and I can’t make heads or tails of it. I cannot tell how much Trump is worth, if anything. His empire, if he has one, is as mysterious as his haircut, and as impervious as his skyscraper in Chicago - a gigantic phallic mirror named after himself."

In this case, it’s not just about theft and destroying the world economy. Giant financial firms can apparently just “settle” even when grotesque human rights abuses occur. This is how “justice” works in America.

It turns out making money trading stocks is not "easier than farmwork" and, as China Daily reports, a stunning 24 million Chinese 'investors' have shuttered their trading accounts since the end of June. Unlike in the U.S., where institutions dominate stock trading, retail investors are king in China, owning around 80% of listed stocks’ tradable shares, according to investment bank CICC. With the number of small investors holding stocks in their accounts sliding to 51 million at the end of July from 75 million at the end of June, it appears some grandmas and farmers have learned their lesson (for now).

What do you do when even wealthy people begin to face an increasingly hard time purchasing a home in a vertical market completely disconnected from income trends? You reduce downpayments and lower credit standards, of course. Where have we seen this story before...

"What can we do?"

Surprise! In what must be the most predictable geopolitical event in recent days, WSJ reports that Iran has refused to let United Nations inspectors interview key scientists and military officers to investigate allegations Tehran maintained a covert nuclear-weapons program.

Things not adding up with the current pricing structure...

...despite record stock prices and non-stop propaganda, fewer and fewer people are believing the hype.

Just days after China bans Citadel (and its high frequency trading) from trading Chinese markets, US Treasury and Federal Reserve officials have been forced to admit they "need to consider whether the race for speed, at this already advanced stage, helps or hurts market functioning." As WSJ reports, Fed governor Jerome Powell and Antonio Weiss, a senior counselor to U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, said Monday that the government should re-evaluate the structure of U.S. markets in light of recent events. They are growing more concerned about signs that financial markets have grown more volatile with the growth of fast trading. As Weiss concludes, "the constant pursuit to save one more millisecond not only consumes resources potentially better invested elsewhere, but increases the pressure on the plumbing of the system to handle ever-increasing speeds and messaging traffic." The pre-emptive blame-mongery is beginning...