Prudential

Bronzeye identified a weakness in the two-step authentication process used by most banks and reported it to the FCA in July of last year. It identified one “large British bank”, the name of which was redacted in the documents, that had “22 critical vulnerabilities”.

• RBS to cut up to 14,000 jobs in investment banking unit (FT)
• Doctors, patients scramble ahead of high court Obamacare decision (Reuters)
• Rajan Cuts India Rates After Modi Agrees to Inflation Target (BBG)
• Russia’s Putin Makes First Public Comments on Killing of Boris Nemtsov (WSJ)
• House breaks impasse, passes security funding without provisions (Reuters)
• How a 25-Year-Old Investor Spurred Lumber Liquidators’ Plunge (BBG)
• Jeff Immelt’s Overhaul of GE Impeded by Falling Oil Prices (WSJ)
• Sahara India Defaults on Luxury Hotel Loans From Bank of China (BBG)

• 'Glimmer of hope' for Ukraine after deal at Minsk peace summit (Reuters)
• Ruble Rebounds, Russian Stocks Surge on Ukraine Cease-Fire Deal (BBG)
• Greek PM Tsipras in Brussels as clock ticks on EU bailout (Reuters)
• Emerging-Market Currencies Rout Not Over for Traders (BBG)
• Little noticed, new Saudi king shapes contours of power (Reuters)
• In Wake of Financial Crisis, Goldman Goes It Alone (WSJ)
• AmEx Is Losing Its Millionaires (BBG)
• Thousands to Lose Health Insurance Over Residency Questions (WSJ)

• Greek Risk Draws Global Concern on Lehman Echo Warnings (BBG)
• Merkel to urge caution in U.S. as pressure builds to arm Ukraine forces (Reuters)
• West Races to Defuse Ukraine Crisis (WSJ)
• German-French Push Yields Ukraine Summit Plan With Putin (BBG)
• Swiss Leaks lifts the veil on a secretive banking system (ICIJ)
• Italy Lenders Seen Cleansing Books Amid Bad-Bank Plans (BBG)
• G-20 Finance Chiefs Face Tough Test in Istanbul (WSJ)
• Demand for OPEC Crude Will Rise This Year, Says Group (WSJ)... or rather prays
• U.S. Banks Say Soaring Dollar Puts Them at Disadvantage (WSJ)

• RadioShack files for bankruptcy; Sprint to take over some stores (Reuters)
• Kansas To Issue Bonds and Invest Proceeds to Boost Pension Returns (WSJ)
• Merkel to Make Last Push With Putin as Pessimism Prevails (BBG)
• Islamic State in Syria seen under strain but far from collapse (Reuters)
• Texas Swagger Fades Fast as Oil Town Squeezed Hard by OPEC (BBG)
• SEC probes Blackberry options trading ahead of Reuters report about Samsung talks (Reuters)
• Spanish Bonds Underperform Italy’s as Podemos Gains Popularity (BBG)
• Steelworkers Union Rejects Offer From Refiners (WSJ)
• Brazil January Inflation at Fastest Pace in Nearly 12 Years (BBG)

The fact is, the die is cast. In a couple of weeks, Guitar Center will need to report its Christmas performance to its bondholders. If things do not look good, its bonds will be ripped apart like RadioShack’s. Here’s what this really means: it’s the end of big box retail, an irrational addiction to growth, and the scourge of unregulated structured finance. For a few years, unwise urban planning and unregulated banks created a new bubble in the American suburbs. The objective truth is that the growth of the last decade was financed by banking fraud, and that financial trickery of this sort only fools people in the short-term. Eventually, you must have a product people demand, sold by competent people who care about the business, financed in a way that makes sense.

Martin Armstrong, Max Keiser and High-Level Economists Weigh In

According to Goldman's own calculations, the demand squeeze for the High Quality Collateral that is global "Developed Market" Treasurys is about to go through the roof mostly thanks to central banks which will - even in the Fed's temporary hiatus from the monetization scene - soak up an unprecedented amount of Treasury collateral from both the primary issuance and secondary private market in their scramble to push global equity prices to unseen bubble levels and achieve the kind of Keynes-vindicating, demand-pull inflation that Russia was delighted to enjoy in the past several weeks.
How much?  The answer: a lot, as in a whopping 20% collapse in supply, once the ECB joins the fray!

"My name is Jasmine and I support President Obama's move to give affordable auto insurance for everyone."

In its latest effort to counter financial instability - and show its commitment to maintaining order and support for the economy - Russia's Central Bank (CBR) has unveiled 7 new measures... Ranging from bank recaps to measures aimed at helping manage interest-rate and credit risks, the reaction in the Ruble is positive for now... as perhaps, taking a lesson from the US, The CBR removes Mark-to-Market accounting for various credit instruments.

• Shale operaters Goodrich, Oasis Petroleum cut spending for 2015 as oil slides (Reuters)
• Greece to hold elections in January if president vote fails (Reuters)
• Norway’s Shock Rate Cut Drives Krone to Lowest Since 2009 (BBG)
• ‘Severe Downturn’ Threatening Norway, Central Bank Governor Says (BBG)
• Russia’s Fifth Rate Increase Fails to Halt Ruble Slide to Record (BBG)
• SNB Says Deflation Risks Increased as Franc Cap Maintained (BBG)
• China eases bank lending restrictions, PBOC targets 10 trillion yuan in loans for 2014 (Reuters)
• Mobius Says China’s Bull Market Is Just Getting Started (BBG)
• How Wal-Mart Made Its Crumbling China Business Look So Good for So Long (BBG)

"...You never want to hear the phrases "low-rate environment," "investment solution," or "tapering" ever again. Or "China's unwind" or "low-return projections" or "quantitative easing" or "I've learned so much working for you these last few years and will really miss the team… but made me an offer I couldn't refuse."" Asset managers, prepare to nod vigorously.

Giant Banks Take Over Real Economy As Well As Financial System … Enabling Manipulation On a Vast Scale

"The time to liquidate a given position is now seven times as long as in 2008, reflecting much smaller trade sizes in fixed income markets. In part the current liquidity illusion is a product of the risk asymmetries implied by the zero lower bound on interest rates, excess reserves in the system, and perceived central bank reaction functions. However, interest rates in advanced economies won’t remain this low forever. Once the process of normalization begins, or perhaps if market perceptions shift, and it is expected to begin, a re-pricing can be expected. The orderliness of that transition is an open question."

If you were forced to admit that everything you believed about markets and monetary policy was in fact completely fallacious, as this week's Japanese GDP collapse proved of Abenomics and devaluing yourself to prosperity, could you do it? Or would you stick to your blinkered views of the world... The following characters continue to have faith in the self-proclaimed ponzi scheme...