Zerohedge

Update (0810ET): Piling on to the chaotic swings in Evergrande, Bloomberg reports that the embattled property developer’s electric-car unit has missed salary payments to some of its employees and has fallen behind on paying a number of suppliers for factory equipment, according to people familiar with the matter. Most employees at Evergrande NEV are paid at the start of every month and again on the 20th, however for some mid-level managers, the second installment for September hasn’t arrived, the people said. Several equipment suppliers, meanwhile, began withdrawing their on-site personnel from the Shanghai and Guangzhou sites as early as July after payments […]

One day after the Fed issued a hawkish statement effectively advising the market tapering will begin in November, and just hours after Norway’s Norges Bank hiked rates to 0.25% (as expected) from 0% where rates had been since the covid crisis, moments ago the BOE voted unanimously to keep interest rates at 0.1% and by a majority of 7-2 to maintain the amount of quantitative easing at £875bn. The Monetary Policy Committee voted unanimously to keep interest rates at 0.1% and by a majority of 7-2 to maintain the amount of quantitative easing at £895bn. https://t.co/vBNgvGdPT8 #BankRate pic.twitter.com/XZ3ksTbHST — Bank of […]

Authored by Egon von Greyerz via GoldSwitzerland.com, Will the autumn of 2021 be the end of the everything bubble? Are investment markets very soon coming to the end of market insanity? Since there is very little sanity left in markets or the in the world economy, we have now reached a point where we must accept madness as sanity, as George Bernard Shaw said: “When the world goes mad, one must accept madness as sanity; since sanity is, in the last analysis, nothing but the madness on which the whole world happens to agree.” George Bernard Shaw Investment markets today are all […]

The bribes incentives to buy an iPhone appear to have ramped way up for the launch of the iPhone 13 Pro. All of the major phone carriers are in the midst of battle in terms of offering incentives for customers to upgrade to the newest model iPhone. Verizon, for example, has recently decided it was going to match both AT&T and T-Mobile with an offer to give away the new model. The major carriers are already taking orders for the latest model from customers who have qualifying trade-ins and unlimited data plans, Bloomberg wrote this weekend. Verizon was previously offering up […]

Authored by Venand Melikstian via OilPrice.com, The long-awaited Nord Stream 2 (NS2) pipeline is arguably the world’s most contentious energy project. While its completion was uncertain for a long time, favorable political, economic, and environmental developments have worked in its favor. Recently, Gazprom, the owner and operator of the pipeline, announced its completion. However, legal challenges remain which threaten its quick startup, a startup that would be in Russia’s long-term and Europe’s short-term interest. By now, most readers who follow international energy developments know the Russian gas pipeline project has split Europe. Eastern Europe, which has a distrust of Moscow due to historic […]

Gunmen opened fire on a vehicle occupied by the top adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine on Wednesday in what authorities deemed an “assassination attempt,” according to AFP.  Sergiy Shefir,57, the first assistant advisor to Zelensky, was unscathed this morning after a hail of 7.62 caliber rounds fired from automatic weapons penetrated his unarmoured Audi A8L. However, his driver was seriously injured.  Speaking with journalists after the incident, Shefir said the attack was intended to spook senior policymakers. “All I can say is that the assassination attempt was carried out to intimidate the highest echelon of power,” he said.  He explained more […]

US company CF industries will restart carbon dioxide (CO2) production this week at one of its two shuttered UK plants after the government offered financial support. CF closed both plants last week after soaring natural gas prices made it uneconomical to produce CO2, a byproduct of fertilizer that is derived from natural gas.  According to FT, CF’s ammonia plant at Billingham will “immediately restart operations” after the government signed an “exceptional short-term arrangement” with the company.  “The government will provide limited financial support for CF Fertilisers’ operating costs for three weeks while the CO2 market adapts to global gas prices,” the Department for Business, […]

Via Global Risk Insights, Overview of Prior EU Bureaucratic Actions  The vestiges of the Trump administration’s “America first” foreign policy have forced Europe to consider more autonomous defense initiatives. The EU lacks the military capabilities required to confront mounting geo-strategic concerns. Limited defense budgets increase Europe’s reliance on US expenditures, and uneven national allocations to NATO threaten the political viability of the alliance.  To rectify strategic shortcomings, the EU introduced the European Defense Fund (EDF). The EDF establishes the industrial foundation required for a resilient European defense program. The EU’s 2016 Global Strategy report included the EDF. The strategy sought to integrate Europe’s […]

Russia is now weighing in on the AUKUS agreement unveiled last week and which has enraged France given it effectively got cut out of its prior $66 billion deal to deliver submarines to Australia, and instead now Washington will give Canberra nuclear-powered submarines for the first time. The Russian Foreign Ministry highlighted NATO disunity and “shock” within the alliance after EU leadership said the bloc was caught completely off-guard, only learning about the pact when it hit the media. Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova pointed out on Wednesday, “It came as a total surprise and a shock for NATO.” She continued: “It came as […]

If you’re wondering what, exactly, Bill Gross and his wife have decided to take on as a hobby during their “retirement”, we might know. It appears the Gross household has made it the family’s life work to bicker with their neighbor, Mark Towfiq, until the end of time. That’s because the feud you may have foolishly thought ended with a court decision back in December 2020 has once again reignited, with Gross’s wife, Amy, claiming that Towfiq has “driven her from her oceanfront home,” according to Bloomberg.  Amy Gross and Bill Gross  “I fear going into my backyard. I couldn’t have my wedding reception […]

Authored by Brian Jones via TheAmericanConservative.com, Early treatment of symptoms is the last remaining enemy of the global Covid consensus… In his March 17, 2020, article in Stat, Stanford epidemiologist Dr. John Ioannidis argued for a vast reconsideration of the societal response to the emerging SARS-COV-2 pandemic, commonly called Covid-19. For unknown reasons, the scientific and medical tradition forming the foundation for how to respond to pandemics was being quickly disbanded. Abandoning such previously established traditions entailed filling the void with the appearance of a new global consensus: The combination of unending non-pharmaceutical interventions (masks, social distancing, etc.) and universal vaccination was the key that would […]

Authored by Pepe Escobar via The Cradle, As a rudderless West watched on, the 20th anniversary meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was laser-focused on two key deliverables: shaping up Afghanistan and kicking off a full-spectrum Eurasian integration. The two defining moments of the historic 20th anniversary Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Dushanbe, Tajikistan had to come from the keynote speeches of – who else – the leaders of the Russia-China strategic partnership. Xi Jinping: “Today we will launch procedures to admit Iran as a full member of the SCO.” Vladimir Putin: “I would like to highlight the Memorandum of Understanding […]

China’s latest COVID outbreak continued to smolder through the mid-Autumn festival. In the Northeastern city of Harbin, where authorities imposed a new round of lockdown restrictions after discovering a single case. Another 5 new local infections were confirmed on Wednesday, bringing the total cases in the city to 8. Officially, China has recorded fewer than 100K COVID cases and fewer than 5K deaths, although the true number may never be known. Recently, the country has seen a handful of outbreaks as new variants have finally invaded the country, overpowering China’s domestically produced COVID jabs. In total across the country, China reported […]

Another day, another “cost of doing business” fine likely on its way for one of the big banks.  J.P. Morgan is being investigated by Brazilian authorities about whether or not the bank “played a role in an alleged bribery and money laundering scheme that dated back to 2011 and involved state-run oil company Petrobras”, according to a new exclusive from Reuters.  The probe is in preliminary stages, according to the report.  Authorities are looking at the purchase of 300,000 barrels of Petrobras fuel by the bank in 2011, according to court documents and sources. The documents included email messages, witness testimony and bank […]

The Biden administration is looking for a private contractor to operate a migrant detention facility at the US naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, according to NBC News, citing government records. One requirement – some of the guards must speak Spanish and Haitian Creole, and the contractor itself needs to be able to build temporary housing facilities. The razor wire-topped fence of Camp 6 detention facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, seen in 2014. Photograph: Mladen Antonov/AFP/Getty Images “The service provider shall be responsible to maintain on site the necessary equipment to erect temporary housing facilities for populations that exceed 120 and […]

Chinese leader Xi Jinping pledged at the United Nations General Assembly meeting on Tuesday to halt the construction of coal-fired power plants abroad.  “China will step up support for other developing countries in developing green and low-carbon energy, and will not build new coal-fired power projects abroad,” Xi said in a prerecorded video. The announcement comes one year after he said China is on a path to reach carbon-neutral by 2060.  Xi provided no timetable for ending overseas coal-fired power projects and didn’t address China’s increasing need to fire up domestic coal and fossil fuel power plants.  Watch part of Xi’s […]

During their respective addresses to the UN General Assembly meeting this week, Biden and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi both expressed a desire to continue talks focused on the restoration of the JCPOA nuclear agreement in Vienna. This even as Raisi blasted the “hegemonic United States” and its nation-building efforts abroad in places like Iraq and Afghanistan as having “failed miserably”.  On Wednesday Axios has revealed that secret talks between top Israeli officials and the White House have resumed, which are focused on putting in place “plan B” actions should nuclear talks fail to resume. The talks are said to be between Biden’s national […]

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times, Top American health officials are ignoring or downplaying so-called natural immunity, or the protection people enjoy after recovering from COVID-19, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) told The Epoch Times. Science the senator has reviewed, including a real-world study from Israel, indicates that natural immunity is at similar levels as or even better than vaccination. But U.S. health authorities continue urging everybody, regardless of prior infection, to get a COVID-19 jab. “We’re ignoring natural immunity, even though the Israeli study now shows it’s 27 times more effective,” Johnson said. That makes sense because natural immunity “recognizes the […]

Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog, This complete capture of all avenues of regulation and governance can only end one way, a kind of hyper-stagflation. Zeus Y. and I go way back, and he has always had a knack for summarizing just how insane, disconnected from reality, manipulative and exploitive the status quo narrative has become. I’ve occasionally published his commentaries and essays here since 2008 Imaginary Worth, Empire of Debt: How Modern Finance Created Its Own Downfall (October 15, 2008), not coincidentally, in the midst of the previous debt-fueled speculative bubble popping. Here is Zeus’s recent commentary on my opting out essay: “Regarding […]

The saga of Snopes co-founder David Mikkelson just keeps getting worse.  Mikkelson, who made headlines in 2016 for cheating on his co-founder wife and marrying an escort – only to be suspended by Snopes last month for mass plagiarism – has been accused of raping his now-ex escort wife ‘every morning’ and playing mind games with her, according to Newspunch. In a September 9 Facebook post, Elyssa Young – who split with Mikkelson at some point in 2020, wrote: “The worst thing about covid-19 for me personally is how complete my comprehension is that if i were to contract it I […]

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has found an investor for his new 10-figure private equity fund in an old friend of the Trump Administration: SoftBank. The latest iteration of SoftBank’s infamous Vision Fund has decided to invest in Mnuchin’s new firm, which has a fundraising target of $2.5 billion, and will feature a private equity model. Mnuchin’s new Liberty Strategic Capital, which was launched earlier this year, has also raised money from sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. Ironically, the Saudis were a major backer of SoftBank’s first vision fund, but declined to invest in […]

As we previewed back in August when we said that the Fed may soon have to raise reverse repo limits, with usage on the Fed’s facility rising every day, moments after we learned that the Reverse repo hit a new all time high of $1.283 trillion, the Fed announced that it would double its reverse repo counterparty rate from $80 billion to $160 billion as the large counterparties are now hitting the limit on how much repos they can park at the Fed. This is what the NY Fed published alongside the Fed statement: The Federal Open Market Committee directed the […]

Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News, A survey conducted by risk management and advisory company Willis Towers Watson has found that more than half of U.S. companies expect to impose COVID vaccine mandates on their employees by the end of the year. The survey of 1000 companies, employing close to 10 million people, found that 52 percent of employers are planning some form of vaccine mandate for workers. The figure would be a massive increase on the 21 percent of employers who currently have mandates in place. More than half of U.S. companies are planning to impose COVID-19 vaccine mandates […]

A top Border Patrol official slammed the Biden administration over their kneejerk reaction to reports that border patrol agents in Del Rio, Texas have been “whipping” Haitian migrants who materialized roughly 1,800 miles from home across the Gulf of Mexico, where they’ve gathered in large numbers at the southern US border in recent days. In two separate interviews, Border Patrol agent and head of the National Border Patrol Council, Brandon Judd singled out White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki for condemning the agents’ conduct as “horrible to watch,” and something “they should never be able to do again,” accusing Psaki of […]

Via SchiffGold.com, The gold-silver ratio has ballooned again, indicating that silver is once again a bargain buy. During a gold bull market, silver typically outperforms gold. We saw this during the big runup in the price of both metals through the early months of the pandemic. In the third quarter of last year, silver charted its best quarter since 2010, finishing up 27.62% through the three months ending Sept. 30. Going back further, silver spiked 106.6% off its March 2020 low. Prior to the pandemic, the gold-to-silver ratio was well above 80-1. In February 2020, it stood at 88-1. The ratio […]

Authored by Michael Lebowitz via RealInvestmentAdvice.com, There has been much talk of “transitory inflation”, but the evidence is starting to suggest the term may overstay its welcome. The Fed chose the word “transitory” to describe this instance of rising prices because of its imprecision. Transitory can denote hours, months, or decades. Using transitory versus a specific period provides the Fed freedom to be wrong but be grammatically correct. While the Fed uses ambiguous words, Mr. Market may have more defined expectations. If investors grow impatient with the Fed’s transitory, bond markets may react. In such a case, how will the Fed respond […]

Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News, CBS News reported Tuesday that the press pool of White House reporters have launched a formal objection over the fact that Joe Biden refuses to answer any questions, with reporters routinely being yelled down and physically pushed away by Biden’s handlers. The revelation came after an embarrassing scene in the Oval Office with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson answering questions, but Biden not being allowed to by aides. Watch: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson takes questions from British media and is interrupted by White House aides trying to prevent U.S. reporters from asking questions:pic.twitter.com/BMAmf61pim […]

After two anxiety-filled days during which China was on holiday and traders hammered Hong Kong trader property stocks, contagion fears arising from China Evergrande Group’s debt crisis moderated overnight with mainland stocks declining less than expected on Wednesday as they resumed trading, after Evergrande’s onshore unit unveiled vaguely worded plans to pay interest due Thursday on a yuan bond, while leaving the fate of a $83.5 million offshore bond coupon payment in limbo. As we noted earlier, in its filing to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, the Evergrande unit said that it reached an agreement with yuan bondholders on an interest payment […]

Two weeks ago, Fed Presidents Robert Kaplan and Eric Rosengren (and to a lesser, though still notable extent, Fed Chair Powell himself) were ‘outed’ for their multi-million-dollar stock and bond trades, sparking widespread outrage, bolstering claims that not only is the market rigged and manipulated by the Fed but that it is rigged directly for the benefit of Fed members like Kaplan and Rosengren who – whether they intended or not – benefited monetarily from their own decisions and their inside information that nobody else was privy to.. While none of the transactions appears to violate the Fed’s code of conduct, CNBC […]

By Shen Hong, Bloomberg Markets Live commentator and reporter A vaguely worded bond filing by China Evergrande Group is a fresh reminder of the risk when investing in the country’s onshore credit market. Poor or insufficient information disclosure has long been a major obstacle in expanding the role of the yuan debt market. It’s also a big turn-off for global investors seeking exposure to domestic corporate bonds at a time of surging defaults. In its filing to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, the Evergrande unit said that it reached an agreement with yuan bondholders on an interest payment due Sept. 23. It, “has been resolved […]

Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News, Conservative presidential candidate Xavier Bertrand warns that France faces the risk of a “civil war” due its problems with gang violence and uncontrolled mass immigration. Bertrand is president of the Hauts-de-France Regional Council and is currently polling in third behind President Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen ahead of the national election, which will take place in April next year. “There is today a real risk of civil war,” Bertrand told the Grand Jury program, adding, “The president of the Republic must do everything to avoid it, and this requires above all the […]

The cost of a key building material used in everything from vinyl siding to gutters to windows and doors to flooring to plumbing jumped to a fresh record high.   U.S. Gulf Coast export PVC spot prices printed $1,900 per metric ton for the week ending Sept. 10, up more than 30% since June.  According to Bloomberg, the latest jump in prices is due to Hurrican Ida disrupting 60% of the U.S.’ polyvinyl chloride production. The hurricane delivered a devastating blow to petrochemical factories on the Gulf Coast as buyers go elsewhere for plastics.  “We’re now hearing some buyers there are looking to Asia […]

Authored by Lorenz Duschamps via The Epoch Times, People who have received two doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine should be able to travel to the United States once restrictions are eased, even though the vaccine hasn’t been approved yet by U.S. regulators, the European Commission (EC) said on Tuesday. “From our point of view, obviously it would make sense for people who have been vaccinated with AstraZeneca to be able to travel,” Eric Mamer, a spokesperson for the EC, said during a press briefing. “We believe the AstraZeneca vaccine is safe,” Mamer added, although he also noted that the final decision remains with American authorities. The […]

There’s a growing risk that a bankruptcy wave of power providers is nearing as several small firms stopped accepting new customers Tuesday amid a worsening energy crisis, according to Bloomberg.   Ampower, Green, Igloo, NEO, and Utilita Energy posted notices on their websites earlier today that they weren’t accepting new customers. This comes as several weaker rivals have already gone bankrupt as natural gas and power prices surge to record levels, leaving power suppliers who sold energy at lower prices underwater.  We noted Monday, out of the 55 or so power suppliers, only six to ten will be left standing after the smoke […]

Authored by Joaquin Flores via The Strategic Culture Foundation, While AUKUS formally exists to counter China, it does so on the basis of shared history and spheres of influence. That means that the logic of containing China within such a framework also contains AUKUS. The surprise announcement of the new AUKUS alliance has predictably provoked an outcry from the European side of NATO, in particular France whose $90B plans with Australia were nixed without forewarning or mutual agreement. The entire fiasco only pushed the realization of a European continental army further along its path, a path that is all but inevitable and […]

Authored by Aaron Maté via TheGrayZone.com, In accusing Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann of lying to the FBI, Special Counsel John Durham offers new evidence of the fabrications behind the Trump-Russia conspiracy theory. The indictment of Hillary Clinton attorney Michael Sussmann offers new evidence that the Trump-Russia conspiracy theory that engulfed Trump’s term in office was itself the product of fabrications involving Clinton’s 2016 campaign. Although Sussmann faces just one count on a false statement charge, the 27-page charging document offers an expansive window into how the Russiagate scam began, and how Democratic operatives, intelligence officials, and establishment media figures dishonestly fed it […]

For the first time newly installed Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi addressed the UN General Assembly meeting on Tuesday afternoon, hours after Biden spoke wherein the US president said the White House still wants a full return to the JCPOA nuclear deal “if Iran does the same”. Raisi addressed the UN body via remote feed, given sanctions on him could make the trip into New York difficult. Raisi, who has long been described as more hardline than his predecessor Rouhani, wasn’t so conciliatory in his tone. He took the occasion to lash at the foreign policies of both Trump and Biden, saying “The world doesn’t […]

Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com, On Monday, President Biden’s new Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall made it crystal clear that China is his main focus during a speech at the Air Force Association’s Air, Space and Cyber conference. According to an Air Force press release, Kendall mentioned China 27 times in his remarks compared to a single mention of Russia. “So what are my intentions now that I have this job? At a breakfast on Capitol Hill shortly after I was sworn in, I was asked by Sen. Jon Tester what my priorities were. My answer was that I had […]

Congressional Democrats and the Biden administration are working towards an ambitious goal of eliminating coal-fired electricity and ‘decarbonize’ the US electric grid by 2035. To meet such an aggressive deadline, House Democrats unveiled a $150 billion ‘clean electricity’ program to incentivize utility companies to phase out fossil fuels for clean energy. The Clean Electricity Performance Program, or CEPP, would reward utility that boost their percentage of electricity supplied to the grid from green sources – such as solar, wind and hydro, between 2023 and 2030.  Exhaust rises from the East Bend Generating Station, a coal-fired power plant owned and operated by Duke […]

Despite its marketing promise of privacy, Apple has become more creepy over the decade in the amount of data it collects from users. Some of that data includes location information, usage time, health data, and transaction data, among others. The company uses the data for targeted advertising. According to a WSJ, it wants to repurpose the data and determine if users are depressed, anxious, or experiencing a cognitive decline. Citing internal Apple documents and people familiar with the matter, WSJ said Apple is working with scientists to collect users’ health data that can easily be extracted from iPhone and other Apple devices that […]

US equity futures markets and cryptos are surging higher as headlines from China that Evegrande Onshore Property Unit would pay the bond coupon on Thursday September 23rd. This headline alone sparked panic-buying in futures… And bitcoin spiked too… But… Of course, the buy first, think later mantra is in full play here as shortly after the first glorious headline, Bloomberg reported that the September 23rd yuan coupon payment had been negotiated with bondholders away from the clearing house. Morgan Stanley had previously suggested this plan of action, forecasting that Beijing may initiate a managed debt restructuring of “a troubled property developer” […]

Via Southfront.org, On September 21st, Indian officials said they had seized nearly three tonnes of heroin originating from Afghanistan worth an estimated 200 billion rupees ($2.72 billion). More than 2,988 kg of heroin was recovered in one of India’s biggest such hauls to date. According to DRI (Ahmedabad zone) officials, a consignment had been imported by Aashi Trading Company, a Vijaywada-based company, from Iran’s Bandar Abbas Port to Mundra Port. The company had declared the imported consignment as “semi-processed talc stones” which had originated from Afghanistan. “Specific intelligence was developed by the DRI that a consignment imported by Aashi Trading Company […]

Shortly before two Evergrande creditors confirmed to Bloomberg (under the guise of anonymity) that the Chinese developer-giant had missed bond payments due Monday, Hayman Capital founder Kyle Bass returned to CNBC for an interview Tuesday morning for a telephone discussion with CNBC’s Joe Kernen to discuss the toxic Chinese economy and its unsustainable debt pile. Bass, one of the most vocal China hawks on Wall Street, has said it’s important to understand what, exactly, President Xi is looking for. According to Bass, China is “experiencing similar problems that we are in the US” when it comes to housing prices. Xi has […]

Google plans to purchase a Manhattan office building for $2.1 billion, the most expensive for any single US office building since the virus pandemic began, according to WSJ.  The deal for the St. John’s Terminal building in the Hudson Square neighborhood of Manhattan comes as the tech giant already leases the building and plans to exercise the option to buy in the first quarter of 2022.  The plans add to Google’s massive footprint in Manhattan. The company previously announced it would invest $250 million into the metro area to expand its headcount from 12,000 to 14,000 over the next few years. “Our […]

In his first ever address to the United Nations General Assembly since taking office on Tuesday, Biden pledged that “We are not seeking the new Cold War, or the world divided into rigid blocks,” in what observers took to be a clear reference to China tensions. “The United States is ready to work with any nation that steps up, that pursues peaceful resolution to shared challenges, even if we have intense disagreement to shared challenges, because we will all suffer the consequences of our failures if we don’t come together to tackle COVID-19, climate change or threats like nuclear proliferation,” he said. […]

FedEx Corp. and rival United Parcel Service Inc are raising shipping rates for customers at the fastest pace in nearly a decade, which begs the question if inflation is not “transitory” but rather structural.  On Monday, FedEx announced it would begin to raise shipping rates on Nov. 01. The bulk of the rate increases would occur throughout January by around 5.9% or 7.9%, depending on the service.  A company press release explained the new surcharge changes for FedEx shipping services:  *Effective Nov. 01, 2021, a fuel surcharge increase will be applied to FedEx Express (U.S. domestic package and freight services), FedEx Ground, […]

Authored by Daniel Lacalle, This week, Ned Davis Research published a note titled “turns out, growth looks like it was transitory – inflation is more sticky”. There are many factors that show us that consumers and salaries are being eaten away by inflation, leading to an abrupt halt in the recovery. Autos and new home sales plunged, real disposable personal income has plummeted, and real median wage growth is lower than inflation. Policymakers have pushed inflation at any cost with the most aggressive monetary policy in decades and it took a normal recovery after the re-opening to prove why inflation is […]

Authored by Felicity Bradstock via OilPrice.com, Despite promises of improved infrastructure and better disaster preparedness, governments and energy giants are failing to provide backup energy provisions to areas hit hard by extreme weather conditions again and again. As these events are becoming more frequent and stronger, how will the energy industry prepare for the future of energy provision? The ongoing discussion over energy infrastructure resilience which is brought up year after year peaked in February in the U.S. as Texas battled against a severe winter storm that saw the electrical grid shut down and thousands of buildings lose power. Many across […]

Tehran is signaling that it plans to re-enter Vienna nuclear talks within the “next few weeks” after the negotiations have been stalled since June, which has lately left Biden admin officials in doubt over whether a deal is salvageable at this point. Iran’s newly installed President Ebrahim Raisi is set to address Tuesday’s United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) via video feed, given he’s currently under Washington human rights sanctions, making physical travel to UN headquarters in New York complicated. US President Joe Biden, meanwhile, in his speech before the UNGA said that he’s offering a full return to the deal “if Iran does the […]

In our post detailing how Evergrande became a “too big to fail” anchor of China’s shadow banking system, we noted that a key missing piece in the company’s funding was selling wealth management products  – i.e., unregulated “shadow banking” products – to outside investors, as well as its own employees and their families, promising returns up to 13%. It is these WMP investors that are currently besieging the company’s offices across the country in hopes of getting some of their principal back, and which include everyone from paint suppliers to decoration and construction companies. To them, Evergrande owes more than 800 […]

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com, New tax laws by Democrats are on deck and in the books. And if you have an IRA or will inherit one, these changes may impact you in a huge way. Proposed Tax Law The Responsibly Funding Our Priorities Act as proposed by the Democrats Ways and Means Committee in the House will kill private placements in IRAs.  Section 138312 Sec. 138312. Prohibition of IRA Investments Conditioned on Account Holder’s Status. The bill prohibits an IRA from holding any security if the issuer of the security requires the IRA owner to have certain minimum level of assets […]

After an unexpectedly large plunge in July, Housing Starts were expected to rebound (very modestly) in August while July’s small jump in Building Permits was expected to be erased by a drop in August. In reality, both Starts & Permits beat expectations handily. Housing starts rose 3.9% MoM in August (vs +1.0% exp) and July’s 7.0% drop was revised higher to 6.2% drop. Building Permits soared 6.0% MoM in August (vs -1.8% exp) but July’s 2.6% rise was revised lower to a 2.3% rise – the August jump is biggest since January. Source: Bloomberg Notably, single-family starts fell 2.8% to 1076k […]

Anti-lockdown protests have become more common in Australia since the latest round of “snap” lockdowns began two months ago. Initially, those lockdowns were supposed to last a week. But months later, with tensions running high, millions of Australians are fed up with the government’s lockdowns and vaccine requirements. And although Aussie health authorities have at the very least acknowledged that their “COVIDZero” approach isn’t actually feasible, frustrations among the Australian people are running high (perhaps intensified by the country’s latest diplomatic faux pas, which angered France and made PM Scott Morrison look like he stabbed President Macron in the back). On […]

Twitter has reached an $809 million class action lawsuit settlement to resolve claims that the company “provided misleading user-engagement info to investors”. A lawsuit filed in 2016 alleged that Jack Dorsey and former CEO Dick Costolo, in addition to board member Evan Williams, hid information about the social media company’s slowing user growth while they sold their personal stock holdings. The sales netted “hundreds of millions of dollars in insider profits,” the suit alleged, according to Variety.  Among the allegations were that the company didn’t reveal that to investors that its DAU figures showed that user engagement was flat or declining […]

Last week Fertilizer producer CF Industries Holdings Inc suspended operations at two UK plants because of soaring natural gas prices. As a result, these fertilizer plants that make carbon dioxide as a byproduct are in sudden shortages and are rippling through the UK food sector, according to Bloomberg.  The shortage of carbon dioxide has forced Online grocer Ocado Group Plc to halt all deliveries of frozen products to customers, and the meat industry warned slaughterhouse operations could “grind to a halt” in weeks.  The UK food industry, already stressed from supply chain woes and labor shortages due to Brexit and the pandemic, is under even more […]

Authored by Doug Bandow via ResponsibleStatecraft.org, The chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal has renewed talk about striking out and leaning less on the U.S. But is it possible? German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen , Eric Trappier and Emmanuel Macron attend the 53rd International Paris Air Show at Le Bourget Airport and the unveiling of the French-German-Spanish New Generation Fighter (NGF) model, June 17, 2019. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/PoolPhoto by Jacques Witt/Pool/ABACAPRESS.COM Photo by Jacques Witt/pool/ABACAPRESS.COM Europeans are a moody lot. Whenever they feel neglected by America – meaning most anytime Washington is busy elsewhere – there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth. […]

After suffering one of the worst quarters in the Swiss bank’s 165-year history. Credit Suisse was forced to suspend its dividend amid the fallout (while also being forced to raise $2 billion in convertible notes) from the the bankruptcies of Greensill Capital – the troubled Australian trade finance firm – and Archegos Capital Management – the family office of former Tiger Global trader Bill Hwang that was a client of Credit Suisse’s prime brokerage. The two blowups, which occurred within weeks of each other, just happened to fall most heavily on Credit Suisse, which had the largest exposure to Archegos of […]

Authored by Isabel van Brugen via The Epoch Times, The Taliban terrorist group has ordered the majority of women employed in Kabul’s city government to exit the workforce and remain at home, the interim mayor of Afghanistan’s capital announced on Sept 19. During his first press briefing since being appointed by the Taliban, interim Kabul Mayor Hamdullah Namony said that women must remain at home regardless of their employment status, pending a further decision. Exceptions may be made for women who can’t be replaced by men, including some in the design and engineering departments, and the attendants of public toilets for women, he […]

Robusta coffee prices continued to soar to record-highs this week as concerns deepen over the outlook from Brazil, the world’s top producer.  “Cheaper robusta-coffee beans, used widely in instant-coffee beverages such as Nestle SA’s Nescafe brands, are sold out in Brazil. After drought and frost ruined crops of the higher-end arabica variety favored by cafes like Starbucks Corp., local roasters are racing for robusta replacements and driving prices to new records each day,” Bloomberg wrote. Spot prices for Brazil robusta Espirito Santo have nearly doubled this year, up 356 reais per 60-kg bag, or about 87% to 769 reais.  Much of […]

Once again on Monday, markets re-focused on Beijing as the CCP scrambled to deal with the teetering developer Evergrande. But elsewhere, Didi co-founder and President Jean Liu has told some of her closest associates that she intends to step down, two sources said, potentially making her the latest casualty of President Xi Jinping’s “community crackdown”. Ironically, Liu is a former Goldman Sachs banker who rose to become an MD at the Vampire Squid before jumping to Didi in 2014.  A few weeks ago, sources told Reuters, Liu told a couple of executives close to her in recent weeks – including those […]

North Korea has weighed in on the major tussle among Western allies which has seen France become isolated in the Indo-Pacific as it lashes out against the “duplicity” of partner nations Australia and the US. The north’s foreign ministry said in statements carried by the official KCNA news agency that Washington’s intentions to transfer nuclear-powered submarines to Australia sets a “dangerous” precedent for the region which threatens to set off a nuclear arms race. “The US has recently struck the trilateral security partnership with Britain and Australia, and decided to transfer the technology of building a nuclear-powered submarine to Australia,” the […]

Authored by Victor Davis Hanson via AmGreatness.com, The United States should be at its pinnacle of strength. It still produces more goods and services than any other nation—China included, which has a population over four times as large. Its fuel and food industries are globally preeminent, as are its graduate science, computer, engineering, medical, and technology university programs. Its constitution is the oldest of current free nations. And the U.S. military is by far the best funded in the world. And yet something has gone terribly wrong within America, from the southern border to Afghanistan.  The inexplicable in Afghanistan—surrendering Bagram Air […]

Authored by Nathan Worcester via The Epoch Times, Should children be required to wear masks at school? A review of the costs and benefits, including some of the latest science, does not add much to the case for mandating school masks. First, some basics… The risk of death from COVID-19 among schoolchildren is very, very low. How Low? A Nature study estimating the COVID-19 infection fatality rate (IFR), or proportion of those infected who die, found IFRs of just 0.001 percent in children aged 5–9, and IFRs well below 0.01 percent in all those aged 19 and under. That’s less than one in 10,000 among […]

While the world is obsessing with the fate of Evergrande, and more importantly when, or if, Beijing will bail it out, another just as interesting question is how did the company many call “China’s Lehman” get to the point of no return and become a global systematic risk. For a fascinating look into how we got here, we turn our readers’ attention to a recent article from Caixin titled “How Evergrande Could Turn Into ‘China’s Lehman Brothers‘,” and which provides one of the most comprehensive insights into why Beijing will have to, even if it is kicking and screaming, bail out […]

By Ben Zeisloft of Campus Reform Louisiana State University has begun unenrolling students who failed to comply with COVID-19 regulations. As Fox 23 reports, seventy-eight students were told that they had been “resigned” from the school and would be refunded 50 percent of their fees. Louisiana State media relations director Ernie Ballard confirmed on Twitter that the students are “being contacted that they are being unenrolled from the university.” “As a student, you were sent numerous notifications regarding the Entry Test Requirement and reminders to comply,” read an email sent to the students. “Should you want to re-enroll at the university, […]

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times, A Black Lives Matter chapter confirmed it will hold a protest at a New York City restaurant to support three black women who were arrested after a melee with a hostess who allegedly demanded they present proof of COVID-19 vaccination. Black Lives Matter Greater New York confirmed to Fox News and other news outlets that they will side with the three women—identified by officials as Kaeita Nkeenge Rankin, 44, Tyonnie Keshay Rankin, 21, and Sally Rechelle Lewis—arguing that the city’s vaccine passport is being weaponized against black people. “I believe that this New York City […]

Starting this week and within the past days Cuba has become the first country in the world to begin a mass COVID-19 vaccination program for all children. Though the campaign was initiated earlier in September, CNN reporting on Monday observed the large scale campaign in action for children two and up. “During a single day at a policlínico in Havana, where CNN and other media were invited to film the vaccinations, more than 230 children ages 3 to 5 were vaccinated, the clinic’s administrator said,” the report observed.  What’s more is that to be considered “fully vaccinated”, Cubans – including children […]

In all the excitement surrounding the Evergrande crisis which hit risk assets like a ton of bricks today, market watchers may have forgotten that not only is the Fed scheduled to make a regular appearance on Wednesday but that the debate over the fiscal stimulus and the debt ceiling are still ongoing. So, as Goldman’s Alec Philips summarizes the latest newsflow out of the Beltway, there are two main risks out of Washington at the moment: First, the debt limit (late October deadline) and funding the government to avoid a shutdown Oct. 1 appear no closer to resolved. The House Rules […]

Authored by Charlotte Cuthbertson and Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times, Some of the thousands of illegal immigrants who have amassed near the Texas border are leaving the United States, going back to Mexico to pick up supplies or avoid being deported back to their home countries. Haitians and others were witnessed Monday crossing the Rio Grande River to enter Acuna, Mexico, as they consider their options following a U.S. crackdown on the illegal immigrant camp under the international bridge just north of the border in Del Rio. Phanel, a Haitian who has been living in Chile for three years, was one of the immigrants […]

Authored by Ron Paul via The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity, A few dozen protesters showed up to last weekend’s “Justice for J6” rally in Washington DC, but that did not stop the authoritarian Washington Beltway establishment from spending millions to again turn the area into a fortress, complete with a militarized Capitol Hill Police force and an army of undercover FBI agents. The protesters were easily outnumbered by reporters desperate for another “insurrection” story and by police officers who looked like they were ready for military combat. Of the reported four people arrested at the event, one turned […]

In a risky move inviting a showdown with Republican lawmakers, House Democrats are linking a suspension of the US debt ceiling to a must-pass spending bill required to keep the government operating past September. If it works, the debt ceiling – which GOP leaders have balked at raising – would be suspended through December 2022. If nothing is done, the federal government will shut down and default on payments as soon as next month – a prospect which already has anxiety through the roof as measured by the spread between Oct and Nov T-bill yields. “This week, the House of Representatives […]

Continuing the tradition of never seeing a dip he didn’t want to buy, JPMorgan’s Marko Kolanovic took one look at today’s liquidation puke and urged the bank’s client to buy it. Completely ignoring the sharp change in market fundmanetals, where it is now up to China to reverse the risk puke by rescuing Evergrande (or else suffer a Lehman-like collapse), something Beijing has so far refused to do, Kolanovic instead blamed CTAs for exacerbating selling flows in an “environment of poor liquidity”, and said that it is only a matter of time before normality is restored and just three months before […]

US equity markets crashed through several technical levels, with S&P finding some support (for now) at its 100DMA… As the spike in volatility (VIX is back up near 28)… …prompted forced sellers in size, Nomura’s Charlie McElligott – who correctly called this post-opex plunge – notes some remarkable flows going-through earlier this morning in response to the initial “vol squeeze” risk-off, as we witnessed brave vol sellers not waiting for the market purge- or Fed event risk- to clear, and instead, actively attempted to harvest “rich” index vol & skew / shorted it, while others monetized downside hedge gains (because the back-test on […]

The Canary Islands’ first volcanic eruption since the 1970s has resulted in the evacuation of 5,000 people and more than 100 destroyed building structures. The Volcanological Institute of the Canary Islands (Involcan) said lava flows from a sparsely populated area of La Palma are moving at 2,300 feet per hour.  El #volcán de #CumbreVieja, en la isla de #LaPalma (#Canarias) ha erupcionado y lleva desde el día de ayer expulsando lava y devastando a su paso casas, tierras agrícolas y ganaderas. Toda nuestra fuerza y ánimo a las personas afectadas. Estamos con ustedes!!!#desastresnaturales pic.twitter.com/w9e24ZNpYs — Ong Balanced World (@OngBalanced) September 20, […]

Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times, Democratic Del Rio Mayor Bruno Lozano has called out President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for failing to make an appearance at his town as it battles with an overwhelming illegal immigrant crisis that has left Border Patrol agents struggling to process thousands of people. More than 15,000 illegal immigrants, including Haitian, Cuban, and Venezuelan nationals, have illegally entered the United States in recent days and taken shelter underneath the border bridge connecting Del Rio, a Texas town of about 35,000 people, to Ciudad Acuña, Mexico. While numerous official figures and congressmen, including Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas) and Sen. Ted Cruz […]

Update (1224ET): Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng told Parliament Monday that the UK won’t bail out power suppliers, and the government expects some to fail in the coming weeks amid record wholesale costs of natural gas and electricity, according to Bloomberg.  This morning, we noted that the government has been strategizing with larger power suppliers regarding small unhedged companies going bankrupt. There have been discussions of how larger companies absorb smaller ones.  “The government will not be bailing out failed companies,” Kwarteng said. “We may expect to see further companies exiting the market over the coming weeks.” Kwarteng said the government remains “confident […]

A horrific school shooting in Russia’s large central city of Perm has left at least six people dead and 28 injured. Terrified students and faculty were filmed jumping out of windows at a university campus as a gun-wielding young man walked across campus and into buildings opening fire. CNN reports that “A suspect in the shooting was arrested and wounded after resisting law enforcement officers, according to Russia’s Investigative Committee, a state body that handles major crimes.” Unconfirmed social media video appeared to show the shooter suffered multiple wounds and paramedics initiated life-saving steps at the scene. Screenshots via Sputnik The […]

Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News, The narrative that black people are driving the ‘abolish the police’ calls, specifically in Minneapolis, has been again disproven as a survey found that way more white people support the move than black people do. KARE 11 reports that a poll found that 51 percent of white voters support replacing the Minneapolis Police Department with a new Department of Public Safety, while only 42 percent of black voters support the measure. In addition, 75 percent of black voters believe the police force should not be reduced in size, compared to 51 percent of white voters. The […]

As futures indicated, the US cash equity open was greeted by an avalanche of selling, breaking the S&P back below its 50DMA… This was the second largest sell-program in history with TICK crashing to -2067 (record low as -2069 on 5/11/21)… …which means that we were off by just 2 stocks from the biggest selling-wave in history. A sea of red in stonks… Perhaps one sign of capitulation is that we are at a more than 90%-down-day in early S&P 500 cash trading (actually 94% of the S&P are in decline). That’s the highest since about October 2020. But, bear in […]

Besides the “sudden” emergence of Evergrande contagion – which nobody could have possibly predicted – we are facing an extremely busy week chock-full of central bank announcements and two closely-watched elections in Canad and Germany. The most important event this week will be the Fed’s decision on Wednesday, and this meeting is also significant as we’ll get the FOMC’s latest economic projections (SEP) and the dot plot too. In terms of what to expect, DB economists write in their preview that they expect the statement to adopt Chair Powell’s language that a reduction in the pace of asset purchases is appropriate […]

Ahead of the results of a formal investigation being undertaken by the NHTSA into Tesla’s Autopilot, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has led the way in taking action. The regulator urged Tesla to address safety concerns associated with its vehicles already before expanding its self-driving features further, Bloomberg reported this weekend. Jennifer Homendy, chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said: “Basic safety issues have to be addressed before they then expand it to other city streets and other areas.” Homendy continued, arguing that the term ‘full self-driving’ was “misleading and irresponsible,” according to Bloomberg. It’s easily one of the boldest critical […]

A bid by Democrats to include 8 million green cards as part of their $3.5 trillion spending bill was just killed by the Senate parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough – a ‘significant blow’ to Democrats’ path-to-citizenship scheme, according to NBC News. Since Democrats hold such a narrow margin in the Senate, they’re ram their massive spending package through Congress via a reconciliation, which requires the simple majority they barely hold – and not one vote less. According to guidance issued by MacDonough and obtained by The Hill, “the Democratic plan doesn’t meet the strict rules on what can be in the spending bill, […]

Authored by Mark Steyn via The Gatestone Institute, It was certainly the weirdest year. It began with a supremely weird decision by the entire world, except China and Sweden, to tank the global economy. No one has ever done that before. The only major economic power to grow last year was China whose GDP is up by, I think, about 2.5 percent compared to declines everywhere else, including some actually catastrophic ones, such as 11% in the UK. This decision to tank the entire global economy is something that strengthened China, the creator of the virus, and the exporter of the […]

Looking for a 175,000% gain? There’s an ETF for that. And (of course) it can be yours for a fee, from your fine friends over at Goldman Sachs Asset Management.  The mega bank has started a brand new actively managed ETF called the Goldman Sachs Future Tech Leaders Equity ETF that seeks to invest in technology companies with market caps under $100 billion. The ETF will target names in both developed and emerging nations, according to a new report from Bloomberg. The goal? Find the next microcap turned too-big-to-fail tech company “moonshots” that will help the bank stay on “the right […]

Authored by Tsvetana Paraskova via OilPrice.com, Surging energy prices in Europe are hurting more than just consumers. The price spikes have started to hit industrial activities, threatening to deal a blow to the post-COVID recovery in European economies with a triple whammy of reduced consumer purchasing power, lower industrial production, and higher operating costs.   Giant European firms, from chemicals and mining to the food sector, say sky-high gas and electricity prices are hitting their profit margins and forcing some of them to curtail operations.  Some factories have shut down because of record natural gas prices. More idling of industrial activity across […]

Authored by Soeren Kern via The Gatestone Institute, Nearly a thousand migrants from Africa, Asia and the Middle East have attempted to cross the English Channel on small boats in just one day to illegally get into the United Kingdom. The record-breaking surge in illegal crossings is being facilitated by warm weather and calm seas. The British government is struggling to stop the crossings — partly because of its need for cooperation from France. British authorities have repeatedly accused their French counterparts of not doing enough to stop small boats from leaving French territorial waters. Although the UK has pledged to […]

An incredible amount of media focus was on Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, at the start of the year, culminating in a highly anticipated two-hour interview with Oprah Winfrey. As data from YouGov shows, the ensuing furore around the pair has led to a significant fall in popularity. When asked if they have a positive or negative opinion of 15 royals, Harry and Meghan came out with a net favourability of -13 percent each. However, as Statista’s Martin Armstrong shows in the infographic below, Prince Andrew is still firmly the least popular member of the royal family in the eyes of […]

Authored by Lindsey Snell via TheCradle.co, Turkish President Erdogan intends to play a role in post-conflict Afghanistan. But are his ambitions ‘Neo-Ottoman’ and Islamist, in service of NATO, or wrapped around his 2023 electoral goals? Prior to the Taliban’s rapid takeover of Afghanistan last month, Ankara had sought to promote dialogue and cooperation with the insurgent group, in particular, to ensure Turkey maintains a role in the operation of the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. Turkish troops provided security at the Kabul airport during the NATO occupation of Afghanistan, and are currently in talks with Qatar and the Taliban over […]

Gone are the days where you could hop in your car and escape to somewhere for a little privacy. That’s because cameras that were put in cars to catch drivers falling asleep are now catching…well, everything. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute have now developed a smart-car camera system that can “figure out exactly what a driver is doing,” according to a new Gizmodo report. And already the camera is being positioned as “potentially improving the safety of semi-autonomous driving features” and a feature that could help drivers in semi-autonomous vehicles pay attention to the road. The “appeal” of these points is […]

Authored by James Bowman, op-ed via The Epoch Times, The disease in its pandemic form is far from over. Our former hopes of its eradication and a return to normalcy in the new year now appear forlorn. We shall just have to live with it for the forseeable future, it seems. The president, it’s true, has told us that, although the virus “has been hitting this country hard, we have the tools to combat the virus, if we can come together as a country and use those tools.” But he was only talking about the coronavirus and not the much-less controllable but equally […]

Well, as we warned, the Evergrande contagion has finally arrived and with China closed for holiday traders are getting out while they can and where they can, and on Monday morning in Asia that means Hong Kong, where Evergrande – which is about to default – has crashed by another 13% this morning and is on track to close at its lowest market cap ever (to be expected ahead of a bankruptcy that will wipe out the equity)… … and with Evergrande property development peers such as New World Development & Sun Kung Kai Properties both down over 8%, and Sunac […]

While General Motors is in the midst of EV hell, dealing with a massive recall for its Chevy Bolt and shuttering production as a result of the ongoing semi shortage, Ford looks to be “full speed ahead” with plans for its electric F-150 Lightning. The company’s CEO, Jim Farley, said on Thursday that it had reached 150,000 reservations for the forthcoming electric pickup. As a result, the company has ramped up hiring and increasing capacity as it starts building prototypes. Joe White, global automotive industry editor for ThomsonReuters in Detroit, confirmed on Thursday that Ford would be expanding its F-150 Lightning […]

Representatives of the Taliban have continued to publicized funds which they say were unlawfully appropriated by corrupt former national government officials, among them ex-President Ashraf Ghani and officials close to him. The Central Bank of Afghanistan this week announced the Taliban seized more over $12 million in cash and gold from the homes of ex-government officials, which comes on the heels of last weekend a raid by Taliban militants on the home of the man who servied as Ghani’s vice president, Amrullah Saleh. A video from the search of the residence purported to show that the former longtime Afghan politician had about $6 […]

Another day, another Chinese crackdown targeting permissible online screen time for young Chinese users. This time, ByteDance, the maker of short-video mobile juggernaut TikTok, said that it would restrict access to Douyin, the Chinese version of the app, to 40 minutes a day for users under 14 years old. According to the WSJ, Douyin’s “youth mode,” which follows the imposition of new limits on younger Chinese users’ access to online videogames, will restrict under-14s to using the app between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. The app will be inaccessible to all users in that age group outside of those hours. While […]

Last March capital markets as we once knew them ceased to exist: that’s when the Powell Fed crossed a Rubicon even Ben Bernanke dared not breach and announced that it would start buying single-name corporate bonds and ETFs under its Secondary Market Corporate Credit Facility (SMCCF) with both IG and HY names eligible for purchases in the process effectively nationalizing the corporate bond market. Purchases under this facility, which were meant to reassure and stabilize the corporate bond market continued until December, at which point – with stocks at new all time highs – the Fed announced the cessation of its […]

By Larry McDonald, former trader at Lehman Brothers, author of “A Colossal Failure of Common Sense” and publisher of the Bear Traps Report My name is Larry McDonald, that is the UK cover above. In the years before the failure of Lehman Brothers, I ran a successful distressed credit business at what was the 4th largest investment bank in the U.S. – becoming one of the most consistently profitable traders in the fixed income division. In late 2008, early 2009 – with Patrick Robinson, we penned “A Colossal Failure of Common Sense” – the Lehman Brothers inside story. At least once […]

By Eric Peters, CIO of One River Asset Management Inference Allocators can no longer depend on bonds to offset the equity risk in their portfolios, said the CIO to his team, stating the obvious. We can debate whether the Fed will normalize interest rates in the coming decade – and I sincerely doubt they can – but we know for sure that they will not be able to do that in coming few years without causing a simultaneous stock and bond market collapse. We should be confident that the Fed won’t do that. So we can lean on that assumption in […]

Authored by Li Hai via The Epoch Times, In a rare public appearance, Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas defended the high court, warned against efforts “destroying our institutions,” and criticized the media for depicting the justices as politicians. Thomas gave a speech Thursday at the University of Notre Dame, the alma mater of the newest Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett. “They think that we make policy,” Thomas responded to a question about misconceptions to the court, criticizing the media. “I think the media makes it sound as though you are just always going right to your personal preference. So if they think […]

Soon after on Friday the Pentagon admitted its drone strike on what was initially claimed to be an “ISIS-K target” – but was actually an Afghan humanitarian aid worker and nine other civilians including seven children in Kabul last month was a horrible “mistake”, it became clear that no one has actually lost their job over it. Ten civilians snuffed out by a drone upon Biden’s orders as commander-in-chief… It remains from the intelligence which enabled the killings, to the commanders overseeing the operation, to those actually doing the targeting and pulling the trigger – not a single person appears to have […]

Following Friday’s FDA blow to Biden’s aggressive push to buy the Pfizer CEO a new yacht for covid booster shots, Anthony Fauci said booster shots for more of the US population remain a possibility soon, as additional data on the still-widening outbreak come in. Fauci, who is still Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser and is somehow employed as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases despite recent evidence that he funded Chinese gain-of-function virus research at Wuhan despite an explicit US ban and may have been indirectly responsible for the Covid pandemic, spoke two days after an advisory […]