La Nina

• Obama, wiping tears, makes new push to tighten gun rules (Reuters)
• Global stocks hit by China worries, North Korea nuclear test (Reuters)
• Oil hits 11-year low, Saudi-Iran row cuts chances of output restraint (Reuters)
• North Korea says successfully conducts first H-bomb test (Reuters)
• Valeant Planning to Appoint New Leader as CEO Remains Hospitalized (WSJ)
• Treasuries Extend 2016 Winning Start With Growth Outlook Clouded (BBG)

-If you're thinking of buying that dream house on the ocean in the Sunbelt, wait a year - there will be some bargains. If you're a seller - call the broker soon....

It rose out of the tropical Pacific in late 1997, bearing more energy than a million Hiroshima bombs.

"...the waters of the Pacific off the coast of California are a clear, shimmering blue today, so transparent it’s possible to see the sandy bottom below... clear water is a sign that the ocean is turning into a desert, and the chain reaction that causes that bitter clarity is perhaps most obvious on the beaches of the Golden State, where thousands of emaciated sea lion pups are stranded."

Have we passed the tipping point for Brazil? We'll know in a few months.

As of today, the forecast of fall/winter rain is in doubt.

When the US economy underperforms expectations, the weather is blamed; and now, on the heels of Japan's pre-emptive blaming of weather for crushed consumer spending patterns; The FT proclaims that El Nino is responsible for the weakness in gold (as monsoon season will reduce physical demand from India)... welcome to mainstream media meteoronomics 101. What is odd about this reasoning is that we are actually more prone to a La Nina than an El Nino pattern this year based on the Southern Oscillator Index.

In what should be the biggest joke of the day, Bank of America has just released its GDP forecast not for the next several quarter, but making a mockery of the IMF's 2022 Greek GDP forecast, it predicts US growth for the next decade! The punchline: after expecting a surge in growth to 3.4% in 2016, the bailed out bank tapers off its forecast which evens off at 2.2%... some time in 2025. And throughout this period its crack economist team headed by Ethan Harris anticipates precisely.... zero recessions. Indeed, in what will be a first time in history, the US is expected to grow for 16 consecutive years since its last official, NBER-defined recession (which "ended" in the summer of 2009) without entering a recession.

Agricultural commodities have been among the best performing assets of the year so far, but, as Diapason Commodities's Sean Corrigan warns, there are starting to be some glimmers of concern.

Really? It's all climate change?

My thoughts on what is headed our way

Would taking dead deer out of my water be too much to ask?

A New York City story

My other passion. Like markets, this is not predictable.