China

As WSJ reports, "more than two dozen companies and groups and one foreign government paid former President Bill Clinton a total of more than $8 million to give speeches around the time they also had matters before Mrs. Clinton’s State Department."

The latest Chinese company to mysteriously "misplace" its books and as a result be unable to make an upcoming bond payment is China Shanshui Cement: "a former director of Shandong Shanshui, together with a group of gangsters, barged into the Headquarters by force on 27 December 2015, destroyed the properties in the offices therein and assaulted the employees of Shandong Shanshui."

Between Draghi's disappointment, Kuroda's un-dovishness, China's currency war, and flailing faith in The Fed (as policy errors loom), it appears European stocks were not the "no brainer" investment everyone promised them to be after all. December's 5% plunge was the worst for this time of year since 2002 (2nd worst on record).

As tensions continue to rise in both the South China Sea (see the recent protest by dozens of Filipinos in the Spratlys) and the East China Sea (where Beijing and Tokyo are feuding over disputed islands and claims on oil and gas fields), the PLA has begun building China's second aircraft carrier in yet another sign that Xi fully intends to build a true blue water navy.

America has never - ever - avoided a recession when Chicago's Business Barometer has collapsed to these levels. At 42.9, missing the expectations of 50.0 by the most ever, down from 48.7 in November, the final US economic data point of the year sums up perfectly what a disaster Yellen has hiked rates into.

Despite such endless financial engineering, sales for the S&P 500 have been declining for the last three quarters. And profits have declined for the first time since the 2009 expansion. Simply put: The recovery is a mirage... It isn’t real... And it isn’t sustainable.

• Oil ends 2015 in downbeat mood; hangover to be long, painful (Reuters)
• Recession, retrenchment, revolution? Impact of low crude prices on oil powers (Guardian)
• Midwest Flooding Might Make the Oil Glut Worse (BBG)
• From Oil Glut to Shortage? Some Say It Could Happen (WSJ)
• Ten Years After Blowup, Amaranth Investors Waiting to Get Money Back (WSJ)
• China Fires a Warning Shot at Yuan Speculators With Bank Bans (BBG)

It has come down to this: a year in which the US stock market (led by a handful of shares even as the vast majority of stocks has dropped) has gone nowhere, but took the longest and most volatile path to get there, is about to close either red or green for 2015 based on what happens in today's low-volume session following yesterday's unexpected last half hour of trading "air pocket" which brought the S&P back to unchanged for the year.

By that, I mean the normal supply and demand forces no longer make sense.

After looking over all the figures, it seems as if something broke in the U.S. Silver Market this year. By that, we mean the normal supply and demand forces no longer make sense.

America is being destroyed by problems that are unaddressed. Unbridled greed, short-term in nature, will continue to drive America into the ground.

The last two years rents have been rising primarily due to supply and demand issues.

If at first you don't succeed, try, try, keep trying again and again. That appears to be the mantra of Goldman's credit strategists.

In a guest article for Handelsblatt, Christine Lagarde warns that 2016 is likely to be a disappointment as the Fed hike and China's transition to a consumer-driven economy continue to weigh on global growth prospects. Sorry Janet, it looks like the IMF doesn't agree with your justification for liftoff.