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A huge build in crude inventories started the ball rolling but a sudden "spoofer from above" sent US equities slumping this morning. The Dow and S&P have now joined the Nasdaq in the red...

• How Iranian general plotted out Syrian assault in Moscow (Reuters)
• China FX reserves post record quarterly fall as cenbank steps up yuan support (Reuters)
• MSF calls for independent inquiry into U.S. attack on Afghan hospital (Reuters)
• Yen Advances as Bank of Japan Refrains From Adding to Stimulus (Reuters)
• Abu Dhabi Said to Explore Asset Sales After Slump in Oil Price (BBG)
• U.S. Oil Approaching $50 Boosts Stocks as Emerging Markets Surge (BBG)

The Kremlin has thus far observed some semblance (and we do emphasize the word “some”) of decorum in criticizing the West’s approach to Syria. The nicetites just went out the window...

• Asian shares rise on fading Fed rate views (Reuters)
• U.S. Equity Futures Fall, Risking S&P 500 Rally as Copper Slides (BBG)
• More biotech pain, this time from the WSJ: For Prescription Drug Makers, Price Increases Drive Revenue (WSJ)
• VW Will Delay or Cancel Non-Essential Investments Due to Scandal (BBG)
• Russia Rejects No-Fly Zone Over Syria as Clerics Urge Reprisals (BBG)
• Historic Pacific trade deal faces skeptics in U.S. Congress (Reuters)
• German Factory Orders Unexpectedly Fall Amid Economic Risks (BBG)

News That Matters

While the US coast guard and search and rescue teams scour the Caribbean seas around the Bahamas for traces of debris from the missing cargo ship El Faro, which disappeared in the eye of Hurricane Joaquin with 33 mostly American crew members aboard more than three days ago, another tragedy struck moments ago when as AP reported an Amtrak train derailed in central Vermont near Northfield. It isn't immediately clear whether there are any injuries.

Following Friday's disastrous payrolls report, which confirmed all the pre-recessionary economic data and signaled that instead of approaching "lift-off" and decoupling from the rest of the world, the US economy is following the emerging markets into a slowdown in what may be the first global, synchronized recession since 2008, the market saw its biggest intraday surge since 2011 and the sharpest short covering squeeze in history, we are happy to announce that the "market" is now solidly back in "bad news is good news" mode.

The markets are beginning to show just how tall and flimsy this house of cards built on QE quicksand has grown. Entrepreneurs and ideas thrive in that type of environment. Exactly what we so desperately need. Yet, instead, all we have is this crony styled, unicorn imagined monstrosity of all that’s unholy to true business principles. "Markets right themselves with pain... That’s Capitalism. Back room manipulation to avoid that pain only increases the severity of it down the road."

Even a deflating balloon can still explode...

On Monday, a missile from a Saudi-led airstrike struck a Yemeni wedding reception in the village of Al-Wahijah, located near the Red Sea. The explosion resulted in 131 deaths, and the incident is being labeled as one of the deadliest attacks on civilians during the six-month conflict. In total, there have been 7,217 civilian casualties, including 2,355 killed and 4,862 wounded in the six months since the fighting began, according to the United Nations.

"We call on the Russian Federation to immediately cease its attacks..."

A Hillary Clinton staffer planted questions in a CBS 60 Minutes interview with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, according to email records released this week. At the time of the interview in early 2011, Assange had already leaked sensitive, embarrassing information from the State Department. The unclassified staff email to Clinton, released amid her ongoing email scandal, demonstrates not only that the former Secretary of State and her staff were out to discredit Assange, but that the government manipulates media and wields heavy influence over it.

The unforeseen consequences of the advent of electric cars will reverberate much farther than the demise of dealerships and significant shifts in market share in the auto industry.