It's relatively quiet week where the highlights will be the latest global PMIs, the Aug 23 US-China tariff deadline, the minutes from the last FOMC and ECB meetings and, of course, Jackson Hole looms at the end of the week.
It is hard to escape the notion that we are approaching the edge of some profound historical moment that will have far-reaching, literally life and death consequences, both domestically and internationally...
During a quarter of broken or barely-kept promises, unprofessional outbursts on conference calls, rationality-questioning tweets, and a record loss, it is perhaps no surprise that some of Elon Musk's biggest backers are committing mutiny.
"Trump cancelled the Iran deal because a different group of billionaires are now in control of the White House, and of the rest of the US Government. Trump’s group demonize especially Iran; Obama’s group demonize especially Russia. "
A renewed round of tariffs against China by president Trump dented bullish sentiment, but nothing appears able to stop the S&P which is just 14 points from making a new all time high, a goal it will likely achieve today.
"The 'path to victory' for the S&P 500, if it loses the Tech sector, runs straight through Financials and Industrials. The former needs the yield curve to steepen.. the latter could really use some good news on the trade front .."
The Sea Breeze-2018 is a demonstration of strong will. It also demonstrates that the region remains a dangerous flashpoint with tensions running high..
"UBI isn’t an especially new idea; even Thomas Paine was an advocate. The idea gained traction and elicited debate in late 1960s (especially during the Nixon administration), but never really gained a foothold..."
The hallmark of an economic Ponzi scheme is that the operation of the economy relies on the constant creation of low-grade debt in order to finance consumption ...
In a move straight out of the Soviet Union handbook, PG&E has warned they may cut electrical power to some California residents during “extreme weather” to help prevent wildfires...
"Trump and Putin are likely to discuss the tricky situation in southern Syria when they meet; while the US president says he wants US forces back home, the CIA, Pentagon and Israel may be happier to see them stay so the war-torn state remains unstable..."
"...the media is deliberately trying to stir things up with breathless headlines about how awful the “other” side is. And it’s working so well it could lead us right to Civil War 2.0."
