Meltdown

Piling on more debt is the worst possible way to correct structural trade and productivity imbalances, yet that is the Eurozone's "solution" to Greece's debt/ trade/ productivity/ corruption crisis.

On November 7, 2011 Dr. Eric Ben-Artzi walked into a conference room at Deutsche Bank’s U.S. headquarters in lower Manhattan. Seated at a conference table was Sharon Wilson from the Human Resources department. Lars Popken, DB’s head of market risk methodology and Ben-Artzi’s manager, was videoconferenced in. Ben-Artzi’s job, Popken said, was being moved to Germany. Ben-Artzi thought back to the summer when, in response to rumors that some U.S. positions were likely to be moved overseas, he had mentioned he’d be happy to relocate to Berlin. No such luck. Minutes later, he was terminated and Wilson hurriedly ushered him out of the building. Ben-Artzi wasn’t even allowed to collect his personal belongings.

With all hopes and dreams of economic renaissance in America pinned on small businesses (see ADP's recent gains), today's data from the NFIB will strike fear in the heart of the wealth-effect-creating Fed. The NFIB small business optimism index disappointed expectations in June (94.1 vs. consensus 98.5), falling to its lowest level since March 2014 - the biggest drop since 2012. All components were weaker but most notably hiring and plans to raise worker compensation tumbled. Furthermore, Deloitte's Q2 latest survery shows American CFOs are more worried than at any time since 2013.

In his Pulitzer-Prize-winning book, Lords of Finance, the economist Liaquat Ahamad tells the story of how four central bankers, driven by staunch adherence to the gold standard, “broke the world” and triggered the Great Depression. Today’s central bankers largely share a new conventional wisdom – about the benefits of loose monetary policy. Are monetary policymakers poised to break the world again?

"Exchanges around the world are avidly wooing high-frequency traders, those controversial speed demons of Wall Street. Despite the often explosive debate over this kind of trading in the U.S., bourses in Mexico, Turkey, South Africa and beyond are trying to lure HFT types to boost business," Bloomberg reports.

Next week's key events and data, if we can look beyond Greece and China.

Greece needs a bailout and China's stock market is in meltdown mode. But the global economy has another rising red flag: Latin America.

Perhaps the most concerning is the fact that should a “systemically important” financial entity go bust, any deposits above $250,000 located therein could be converted to equity… at which point if the company’s shares, your wealth evaporates.

Non-bombastic look at the price action and speculative positioning, with the hope of anticipating next week's developments.

Every nation has a right to defend itself against attack – financial attack just as overt military attack. That is an essential element in the principle of self-determination. Greece, Spain, Portugal, Italy and other debtor countries have been under the same mode of attack that was waged by the IMF and its austerity doctrine that bankrupted Latin America from the 1970s onward. International law needs to be updated to recognize that finance has become the modern-day mode of warfare. Its objectives are the same: acquisition of land, raw materials and monopolies. A byproduct of this warfare has been to make today’s financial network so dysfunctional that nations need a financial Clean Slate.

The Chinese economy is in an obvious deepening swoon and the median company on the Shanghai exchange had a PE ratio of 60X before the recent break. But no matter. Not only does everything financial race the skyscrapers to the sky in the land of red capitalism, but valuation upside is apparently whatever the comrades in Beijing want it to be. Says Goldman’s chief stock tout for China,“It’s not in a bubble yet.”. Why? Because “China’s government has a lot of tools to support the market.”

“The energy sector of the high-yield market continues to be a silo of misery... If we stay near these levels, marginal high-cost producers won’t be able to survive.”

• Fed Chair Yellen To Speak As Global Tensions Rise (WSJ)
• Greek PM Tsipras seeks party backing after abrupt concessions (Reuters)
• France Hails Greek Aid Proposals as Germany Reserves Judgment (BBG)
• Greek PM says does not have mandate to exit eurozone (Reuters)
• France Intercedes on Greece’s Behalf to Try to Hold Eurozone Together (WSJ)
• Frozen Funds, Fleeing Tourists: Greek Startups Feel the Pinch (BBG)
• Doubts Simmer Despite China’s Gain (WSJ)

It's officially Groundhog day... and month... and year... and so on.

With just six days to go until the government begins Jade Helm 15, expect the rumor mill to come alive because as The Washington Post reports, the media will not be given access to the drills.