“If the question is when markets will recover, a first-pass answer is never.” I have to feel sorry for Paul Krugman. The Nobel prizewinning economist was clearly gutted by Donald Trump’s victory.
For 90 min, the panicky speculator herd stampeded. Then market makers reasserted control. No, not over price--of spread! They did not manipulate the price of gold upwards. They decarried gold, that is, sold spot and bought futures.
One of the more amusing bits of fallout from last week’s election has been the safe-space response of many colleges and universities to the election of the “wrong” candidate. But on closer examination, this response isn’t really amusing. In fact, it’s downright mean.
The USA is squandering its vitality trying to maintain a half-assed global empire of supposed interests, economic, ideological, and existential. The financialization of the economy is already playing into its disastrous climax with bond markets tanking all over the planet. What this means is that the long-ignored chickens of risk associated with debt are coming home to roost.
Former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker Steven Mnuchin has been recommended by Donald Trump’s transition team to serve as Treasury secretary, according Bloomberg, and the choice is awaiting the president-elect’s final decision.
Having been bitterly disappointed last week that Rep. Jason Chaffetz did not automatically drop his investigation into Hillary Clinton's email indiscretions, Rep. Elijah Cummings has struck back by demanding a probe into President-Elect Trump's "vast financial entanglements" and his "unprecedented secrecy." Cummings proclaims that Trump's business dealings "raise serious questions about how he avoids conflicts of interest."
...the reality is that the current underlying demographic trends, economic realities, and market fundamentals do not provide the base to support current price levels much less the entrance into a secular bull market akin to that of the 80’s and 90’s.
Remember all those super-long-duration bonds that every Tom, Dick, and Henri bought with both hands and feet earlier in the year? Headlines roared of "six time oversubscribed", or "four times oversubscribed" as Draghi and his entourage 'guaranteed' to keep everything profitable - whatever it takes. Well, things have gone a little disastrous in the last few days as Irish and Belgian 'century' bonds, Austria 70 year, Italian and Spanish 50 year bond prices are collapsing.
With the Russian Syrian naval flotilla having arrived off the coast of Syria, and set to launch airborne missions against ISIS targets in Syria with the support of strategic Russian Tu-95 and Tu-160 bombers, an unexpected twist took place when a Russian fighter jet crashed in the Mediterranean Sea shortly after launching from its aircraft carrier near the coast of Syria Sunday, Fox News reports citing two US officials.
Offshore Yuan is down a stunning 600 pips, crashing to fresh record lows... and while bonds have modestly rallied in the last hour, it appears the selling is set to resume...
The decoupling between The Dow (well just a few stocks within The Dow really) and The Nasdaq is now at its widest in over 14 years (surpassing 2007 and 2003 peak divergences).
Swedish chef Anders Vendel became the latest target of the "inverse racism" backlash sweeping Sweden, when he was reportedly assaulted by three Muslim men who punched and kicked him in the face and head, sending him to the emergency room. Describing the assault on Facebook, Vendel said he was attacked because he looked like Donald Trump.
In the first signs of movement following years of legal limbo involving the exiled Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, whose releases of hacked emails over the past few months have had a dramatic impact on the US political system, Swedish Chief Prosecutor Ingrid Isgren arrived at Ecuador's London embassy to question Assange, following a prolonged deadlock in an alleged rape case opened in Sweden more than six years ago.
Following Friday's massive key reversal day - after a record 14 straight day higher - Copper prices are once again on the rise today, pushing the Relative-Strength-Index (RSI) to its most overbought ever (in 30 years)...
Regardless who was chosen as president for the next two terms, 80% of the population growth in the US will come from 65+yr/olds. This is the inverse from Bill Clinton's presidency which was the benefactor of the strongest demographic and population changes. The Fed has been dropping rates ever since to incentivize the decelerating growth among the young to spend more... but the population growth to consume(r) our way out of this debt bubble is never coming.
China's President Xi Jinping called Donald Trump and told him that cooperation was the only choice for relations between the world's two largest economies, with Trump saying the two had established a "clear sense of mutual respect". "The facts prove that cooperation is the only correct choice for China and the United States," China Central Television (CCTV) cited Xi as saying.
Gold prices are down almost 10% from Trump victory highs, testing down towards $1200 once again and pressing 5-month (pre-Brexit fear) lows. At the same time the USD Index has spiked back above 100 - the highest in over a year - as Offshore Yuan crashes to over 6.85/$, the weakest since inception... Simply put turmoil continues...