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• CHINA CUTS BANKS’ RESERVE REQUIREMENT RATIO
• CHINA CUTS 1-YEAR LENDING RATE BY 0.25 PPT
• CHINA CUTS 1-YEAR DEPOSIT RATE BY 0.25 PPT
• CHINA CUTS RESERVE RATIO BY 0.5 PPT

If you thought we'd seen the depths of NIRP, think again because as Deutsche Bank notes, the ECB, Riksbank, SNB, and Nationalbank will likely dive further into the monetary Twilight Zone in the months ahead. Only when rates become negative enough to spark a depositor revolt will we have reached the "real" lower bound, but at that point, it will be far too late...

Given what the Japanese have been subjected to in the past two and a half years of QQE, it is nearly criminal to suggest they need only more of it. None of it has worked as promised and stated, so what might have changed? Absolutely nothing except the arrangement of qualifiers and excuses that litter the same shared central bank speech delivered over and over of late. Kuroda says “robust”, Yellen proclaims “strong”, and both only confirm they live not of this world’s economy.

Curious how Jim Cramer's stock picks perform? One person decided to test them out in an audited environment. Here are the results...

"The gratuitous labeling of Iran as part of a worldwide “axis of evil” by President Bush combined with strong U.S. criticisms of Iran’s nascent nuclear program and its meddling in Iraq led Tehran to the view that Washington had embarked on a course of confrontation in the region that would soon set a kinetic focus on Iran. Even Iran’s positive engagement in helping repair the post Taliban political environment in Afghanistan was met with indifference by Washington."

Complacency seemed ready to set back in, with Glencore stock recently rising as high as its recent equity offering price of 125p. And then today we noticed that not only is Glencore's CDS back above 700 bps, the widest it has been in three weeks, but that another mining company has fallen into the market's crosshairs, this time Belgium-based (with Zurich HQ) Nyrstar NV, Europe's largest refined-zinc producer, whose stock crashed the most since its initial public offering in 2007, while it bonds tumbled to a yield of 19%, suggesting a default may be imminent.

In one of the most-watched hearings in historuy on Capitol Hill, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton faces one of the biggest tests of her career – not to mention her presidential campaign – as she testifies before the Select Committee on Benghazi in the House of Representatives. This, of course, is not the first time, but one wonders if she will come out swinging with her "what difference does it make" persona, or be buried in the minutia of her private email server. As WSJ notes, the national response to the attacks that killed four Americans in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012, was complicated by secrecy, tragedy and national politics... and the people still want answers.

We have ceased to live in a free market economy a long time ago. The only sector of the economy that has managed to remain relatively free in many ways is the technology sector, because it innovates so rapidly that it tends to stay a step or two ahead of politicians and the oligarchies giving them their orders. They simply cannot catch up quickly enough with regulating all these innovations to death. Lately technology has begun to invade the turf of a number of established service businesses... and that appears to be a problem for the crony 'capitalist' crowd.

26 years ago, today was envisioned as day when cars flew, holographic movies were box office hits, hoverboards roamed, and people were fired by fax. None of the happened. Instead the only "back to the future" moment this morning is a deja vu one we have seen every day for the past 7 years: bad economic news leading to surging stocks.

This trade has become blood-soaked.

Two recent surveys, along with numerous other studies and data, reveal most American households to be living on the brink of catastrophe, but continuing to act in a reckless and delusionary manner. Telling people the truth today is meaningless, as they don’t want their illusions destroyed. But destroyed they will be, when this teetering edifice of debt comes crashing down on their heads.

When just days after Yum! Brands saw its biggest earnings disappointment in years sending its shares cratering following Chinese results which cames orders of magnitude below expectations and leading to a major guidance cut, it appointed Icahn protege, activist investor Keith Meister to its board, many speculated that some major spin-off, or split of the company's China facing assets, was just a matter of time. And so it was, less than a week to be precise. Moments ago Yum! Brands announced its intention to split into two companies creating a publicly traded Yum! China or ("Bad Yum") which will contain the ongoing Chinese weakness, while keepping legacy Yum! Brands.

The global elite have never been closer to their goal of a united world.  Thanks to a series of interlocking treaties and international agreements, the governance of this planet is increasingly becoming globalized and centralized, but most people don’t seem alarmed by this at all.  In the past 30 days, we have seen some of the biggest steps toward a one world government, a one world economy and a one world religion that we have ever witnessed, but these events have sparked very little public discussion or debate...

Free trade, as a matter of practicality, can only exist where all trade partners exist on a perfectly “level playing field”

"This positioning squeeze should have now run its course. Both positioning analysis based on our proprietary flows and the CFTC data suggest that the market is now short USD and long risk for the yea. A further increase in risk appetite will depend on central bank action, starting with the ECB this week."