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The start of the Fed's most eagerly awaited two-day policy meeting in years has finally arrived with the market expecting Yellen to announce the first 25 bps rate hike in 9 years tomorrow with nearly 80% probability, and so far US equity futures are enjoying a last minute relief rally, while emerging market stocks rose for the first day in ten after the longest losing run since June. Europe's Stoxx 600 Index has also rebounded from a five-day losing streak, the worst in over four months.

Despite the decline in stock valuations, US equities have performed far better than credit, causing investors to ask us, “What does the credit market see that the equity market does not?” Credit markets are reacting to a real deterioration in corporate balance sheets that the equity market has yet to digest. High yield (HY) credit spreads have widened dramatically since June and are currently in territory typical of recessionary environments. In contrast, the S&P 500 is just 6% below its all time high of 2131 reached in May of this year. Here are five observations...

If anyone on this planet could be accused of tying Marissa Mayer's sexuality to her career, I think one need look no farther than the woman herself.

"The Fed will drive home the lower and slower mantra. That is all spin, signifying nothing... There are so many unknowns, good and bad. Either way, absolutely ignore the "it’s priced in" claims... The Fed is going to raise rates next week, and anyone who claims it is not a huge deal is fooling you, as well as themselves."

This afternoon we got another completely amorphous claim from The Pentagon regarding the death of a “senior” ISIS commander when Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL (whatever that is) Brett McGurk took to Twiiter to announce the death of an Islamic State FinMin.

Flashing red headlines, business media anchors exuberant as gun-maker stocks weresold after CT Governor Malloy unveiled his executive order and following White House chatter that officials were finalizing proposal that would expand background checks on gun sales without congressional approval. We thought the following charts would provide a little context for this "selling"...

"2015 was like commuting by rollercoaster. There were heart-stopping drops, there were nearly vertical ascents, and when it was all over you got off just about where you started and it cost you money."

After yesterday's rollercoaster session in both the S&P and in oil, where initially stocks soared alongside oil, only to promptly tumble as stops were taken out and as the refiners' inventory strategy was exposed after the DOE's latest weekly numbers were released, it has been a quieter session so far, though maybe not for China where stocks jumped at the open only to fizzle and close at the lows in what appears to be ever less intervention by the market manipulating "National Team."

FCX announced today that its Board has suspended its annual common stock dividend of $0.20 per share. This action will provide cash savings of approximately $240 million per annum and further enhance FCX’s liquidity during this period of weak market conditions. FCX’s Board will review its financial policy on an ongoing basis and authorize cash returns to shareholders as market conditions improve.

From Ecoli to Norovirus and from average-joes to college athletes, the success of CMG has become its down fall as something ugly is growing in the healthy fast food restaurant. The latest headline is a little intriguing, as amid all the carnage, Chitptle says it will have to raise prices... as new supplier standards will hurt margins, and require "significant cost" adjustment, according to CFO Jack Hartung. We will see if poeple wil pay more not to get siuck and lose 15lbs (or prefer to pay less).

Over the weekend, in its latest quarterly presentation, the Bank of International Settlements made what may have been a very premature assessment that China is now contained. Judging by events in the past 24 hours, the reality is anything but.

With Draghi's Friday comments, which as we noted previously were meant solely to push markets higher, taking place after both Europe and Asia closed for the week, today has been a session of catch up for both Asian and Europe, with Japan and China up 1% and 0.3% respectively, and Europe surging 1.4%, pushing government bond yields lower as the dollar resumes its climb on expectations that Draghi will jawbone the European currency lower once more, which in turn forced Goldman to announce two hours ago that it is "scaling back our expectation for Euro downside."

As we warned last week, Europe is about to change forever, and sure enough, Marine Le Pen's National Front party is on course for a historic result in regional elections on Sunday, winning more than 30 per cent of the vote and leading the country’s two mainstream parties. Our words from the day after the Paris attacks, when Le Pen called for "eradication" of Muslims and demanded the nation "re-arm itself," seem extraordinarlity prophetic now "if there is one 'winner' from last night's terrible events in Paris, it is France's anti-EU, anti-immigration far-right wing Front Nationale party leader Marine Le Pen."

"People are afraid. They don’t like to see the headlines and that is why they are withdrawing their money. It shows the panic that is going on from the investors’ perspective.”