World Trade

All you can read.

All yu need to read.

All you need to read.

The business cycle ought to be thought of as a series of discrete phases, each one quite distinct from the other, rather than as a smooth and uninterrupted process through time. This is how Goldman Sachs describes what is a compelling view of the dynamics of macro acceleration-and-deceleration and expansion-and-contraction and how these separate phases of their so-called 'swirlogram' can be mapped into asset class performance. This means that unlike traditional business cycle momentum jockeys and the extrapolating 'rulers' of the world, trade positioning should depend not only on the current state of the cycle but also on the near-term phase transition. As the cycle turns, so do assets; economic acceleration serves as an early indicator of looming shifts. Hence, vigilance in monitoring the business cycle with an eye towards identifying cyclical turning points is instrumental to a disciplined investment process. These lessons are timely too. Back in March, the business cycle peaked. The GLI shifted from the Expansion phase to the Slowdown phase; growth remained positive but acceleration turned negative. More ominously, April GLI growth was quite modest, with downward revisions to the last few months of data too. If the current downbeat data trajectory is extended, current GLI readings may prove to be overly optimistic. And should acceleration remains negative (which today's Philly Fed will drive), there is not much of a growth buffer to prevent the cycle from slipping into the Contraction phase, where the message for asset markets is clear and sobering.

• Game Changer: China Starts Drilling It Own Rig Wells (China Daily)
• Cisco says customers delay tech purchases (FT)
• Greeks May Hold $510 Billion Trump Card in Renegotiation (Bloomberg)
• Liquid heroin addicts heart Chairsatan: Bernanke Gets 75% Approval From Investors in Global Poll (Bloomberg)
• How a Radical Greek Rescue Plan Fell Short (WSJ)
• Spain takes 45% stake in Bankia (FT)
• Facebook admits to mobile weakness (WSJ)
• FDIC Would Seize Parent, Allow Units to Operate While Mess Is Cleaned Up (WSJ) - Good luck
• AT&T Fast Network a Work in Progress in Race With Verizon (BBG)
• Pointed Spat Over World Trade Spire (WSJ)

The phrase “New World Order” is so loaded with explosive assumptions and perceptions that its very usage has become a kind of journalistic landmine.  Many analysts (some in the mainstream) have attempted to write about and discuss this very real sociopolitical ideology in a plain and exploratory manner, using a fair hand and supporting data, only to be attacked, ridiculed, or completely ignored before they get a chance to put forward their work.  The reason is quite simple; much of the general public has been mentally inoculated against the very whisper of the terminology.  That is to say, they have been conditioned to exhibit a negative reaction to such discussion instinctively without even knowing why....  The Liberty Movement has always defined the NWO as a concerted effort by elitist organizations using political manipulation, economic subversion, and even war, to centralize global power into the hands of an unelected and unaccountable governing body.  The goal; to one day completely dismantle individual, state, and national sovereignty.  However, what I and many others hold as fact on the New World Order is not enough.  We must examine the original source and how we came to our mutual conclusions.      

• Only the cattle cars are missing: Greece opens detention camp for immigrants as election looms (Reuters)
• China really wants that Iran oil - China mulls guarantees for ships carrying Iran oil (Reuters)
• U.S. eyes testy China talks, Chen backer expects Chinese decision (Reuters, FT)
• Possible arsenic poisoning probed in death of coroner's official (LA Times)
• Europe’s Anti-Austerity Calls Mount as Elections Near (Bloomberg)
• Law firm Dewey dumps executive; talks with rival end (Reuters)
• Greek bank appeals for fresh equity (FT)
• Banks seek to put pressure on small rivals (FT)
• Obama falls short of meteoric expectations abroad (Reuters)

9 Torture Myths DeBUNKED

China is preparing to avoid U.S. sanctions on Iran by paying for oil with gold.  Not only that but, as Forbes contributor Gordon Change also mentions, China has already been bartering with Iran to get a hold of petroleum using among other goods, Chinese washing machines, refrigerators, toys, clothes, cosmetics, and toiletries. The barter trade works, but Iran needs cash too - hence Gold. Thus, the leadership in America in its infinite stupidity has actually accelerated the demise of the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency. In a similar move on a more micro level, the government of Spain in a similar desperation has banned the use of cash transactions above 2,500 euros.  How do you think citizens are going to respond to this?  People are already in the streets. Everything is going to go black market and to a barter system.  It will happen country by country as governments get increasingly desperate and the authoritarian clamp down continues.  It will happen on an increasing level until all of these house of cards bureaucratic states fail and something new is reborn - just as we noted in a small town in Greece recently.

Senator Frank Church's Prophetic Warning in 1975

The WTO recently announced it expects global trade to fall again from 5% to only 3.7% growth - significantly lower than the 20-year average growth rate of 5.4%. But ThomsonReuters notes this week that their additional comment that 'severed downside risks' could put a further dent in growth rates could well have foundation in some very real data. Traffic through the Suez Canal - a key cargo transport route - has nosedived in recent weeks and months and is currently only just above the flat-line. While not a perfect indicator, given that 8% of world trade travel this route and the rising tensions occurring geographically, nevertheless the trends in global GDP growth and trade volumes have mirrored one another very closely and this downturn suggests considerably more contraction in global growth than even the most pessimistic of sell-side research shops believes is possible.

Nothing dramatic here, but the Chairman of the fermentation committee just has that unique flair in explaining things so simply, even an economics Ph.D., a caveman, or the other kind of 'Chairman', would understand...

All you need to read and some more.

Yesterday, Ben Bernanke dedicated his entire first propaganda lecture to college student to the bashing of the gold standard. Of course, he has his prerogatives: he has to validate a crumbling monetary system and the legitimacy of the Fed, first to schoolchildrden and then to soon to be college grads encumbered in massive amounts of non-dischargeable student loans. While it is decidedly arguable that the gold standard may or may not have led to the first Great Depression, there is no debate at all that it was sheer modern monetary insanity and bubble blowing (by the very same professor!) that brought us to the verge of collapse in the Second Great Depression in 2008, which had nothing to do with the gold standard. And as usual there is always an other side to the story. Presenting that here today, is Antal Fekete with "The Gold Problem Revisited."

Canada's natural resources minister told delegates at the International Energy Forum in Kuwait that his country was on the cusp of becoming an "energy superpower." Canada ranks No. 6 in terms of global oil production, but much of its crude exists in the form of oil sands. European leaders are considering a measure that would classify oil sands as an environmental issue, prompting Canada to threaten to take the issue to the World Trade Organization. With the U.S. political system in a deadlock over Canadian crude, the Ottawa government is now working to convince the international community that the global market is in jeopardy if polices "discriminate against oil sands."