Zerohedge

By Ian Lyngen and Ben Jeffery, rates strategists at BMO Capital Markets In what appears to be a backtrack of the recent ECB sentiment on the rise in global rates, European central bankers apparently see ‘no need for drastic action’ to address the situation. At least ‘according to officials familiar with internal discussions’ as BBG so aptly put it. The gist of the argument is that […]

Ahead of today’s very disappointing ADP print, which badly missed expectations of 200K by nearly half, coming at just 117K, the whisper number was far higher, somewhere in the 300-400K range (to be expected following JPM’s latest prediction that the US will add 675K jobs per month for the next year), which in turn pushed yields sharply higher ahead of the print. Alas it was not […]

Once again market sentiment has reversed violently – or rather the opposite – overnight, with yesterday’s late day spoo slump inspired by the short squeeze in Rocket Mortgage – which forced hedge funds to liquidate their best positions – being faded and on Wednesday Emini futures jumped 0.6%, global shares gained with European indexes echoed positive moves in Asia, as a recent retreat in Treasury yields […]

Las Vegas Sands shares jumped more than 3% in premarket following news the company has reached “definitive agreements” to sell its Las Vegas property and operations (including The Venetian Resort Las Vegas and the Sands Expo and Convention Center (collectively, “The Venetian”)) for approximately $6.25 billion, a company press release read. LVS shares rose 3% in premarket on the news, up around the 66-handle. Shares in the company have […]

Via SchiffGold.com, Gold and silver continue to struggle with significant selling pressure. Last Friday, gold dropped some $40 as bond yields rose yet again. There continues to be this expectation that rising inflation and economic growth are going to force the Fed’s hand and cause it to pivot to tighter monetary policy sooner than expected. But in his podcast, Peter Schiff reminds us that inflation is […]

Astounding new figures out of France suggest what is no doubt a broader global trend of hesitancy and skepticism when it comes to the current big push to ‘vaccinate all’.  Reuters in covering the country’s vaccine rollout finds that merely around “half of health workers in French care homes do not want to be vaccinated” — even after many of these routinely witness the ravages of COVID-19 […]

Authored by Joakim Book via The American Institute for Economic Research, For decades, those of us skeptical of our central banks’ monetary experiments have tried to punish them for their excesses – reign them in, have them follow a stated rule, or at least provide a way for us critics to opt out of their system. Immunize ourselves from whatever havoc they’re wrecking.  Projects have come […]

Pope Francis’ upcoming trip to Iraq is being widely considered a security nightmare as both his own Vatican protection service and local police and military officials scramble to ensure nothing goes wrong. The visit scheduled for March 5-8 will mark the first time a Roman Pontiff will visit Iraq. Most foreign dignitaries who arrive in Baghdad do so under secrecy, with their official visits published typically only upon arrival or […]

Authored by Jonathan Turley, We have been discussing erosion of free speech and academic freedom protections at colleges and universities around the United States. Most faculty have been conspicuously silent as their colleagues are attacked, suspended, or even fired for taking opposing views on systemic racism, police brutality, or movements like Black Lives Matter. In Sweden, the response has been quite different after Professor Jonas Ludvigsson, […]

The entire EV world looks at Europe as the “holy grail” of electric vehicles – since the continent is buying EVs at a record pace. But that euphoria, fueled by subsidies and dozens of new choices, may be short lived. Europe’s share of global EV sales doubled to 43% last year, while at the same time China and the U.S. saw market share decline, the Wall Street […]

Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com, On Monday, the Pentagon announced a $125 million military aid package for Ukraine. The $125 million package includes two armed Mark VI patrol boats, giving Ukraine a total of eight such vessels provided by the US. The Pentagon said the package also includes “capabilities to enhance the lethality, command and control, and situational awareness of Ukraine’s forces.” This means additional counter-artillery radars, other tactical equipment, […]

Hong Kong’s health authority is investigating whether the death of a 63-old man is related to inoculation with the Covid-19 vaccine, it said in a statement late Tuesday. The Department of Health said the man had received the shot on February 26 at Kwun Chung Sports Centre in Jordan, one of the government’s designated vaccination sites.He was sent to Queen Elizabeth Hospital on February 28 after […]

After the Chinese Communist government previously decriminalized homosexuality in 1997 and removed it from the country’s official list of things deemed mental disorders in 2001, a major court decision in China this week has “shocked” various rights monitors by once again classifying homosexuality as among “common psychosexual disorders.” According to South China Morning Post, this latest ruling began with a legal dispute over a higher education textbook, namely […]

Authored by James Bovard via The American Institute for Economic Research, Acrimony and recriminations continue to swirl around the 2020 presidential election. Three out of four Republicans believe that there was “widespread fraud” in the election, while Democrats have sought to turn criticisms of the election into a “Big Lie” heresy against democracy. Senior congressional Democrats are pressuring the nation’s largest cable providers to cease carrying conservative networks such as […]

Authored by Steve Penfield, Investing trust in the wrong people and policies can be ruinous. How much dishonesty does it take before the public stops putting blind faith in debt dealers, corporate crooks and the servile politicians who do their bidding? The widespread acceptance of ‘healthy’ inflation, monopoly patent rights, the ‘retirement’ trap and enslaving corporate ‘benefits’ would suggest we enjoy the abuse. Read Part 1 […]

A couple of weeks ago, the Canadian government introduced a new set of rules forcing international air travelers to quarantine in hotels for three days upon arrival; the plan has since backfired, “after a series of endless, chaotic setbacks including food shortages and even alleged sexual assaults,” according to RT News.  Vancouver’s local radio station CKWX reports travelers have become upset at Sheraton Gateway Hotel in Toronto after they […]

Authored by Pat Buchanan via Buchanan.org, Thursday, in its first military action, the Biden Pentagon sent two U.S. F-15Es to strike targets of Kataib Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia just inside the eastern border of Syria. The U.S. strikes were in retaliation for a missile attack on a U.S. base in Irbil, capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, which killed a contractor and wounded a U.S. soldier. “We’re […]

By Brian Straight of Modern Shipper Many golfers wish they could reach for a cold drink moments after hooking their seventh straight tee shot into the woods. The lack of electricity and staffing issues prevent golf courses from offering this level of customer service on each hole. If you are lucky, your local course may have a vending machine at the ninth hole. But that could […]

Amazon quietly changed its new smartphone app logo that some on social media say resembles Adolf Hitler’s toothbrush mustache. The first redesign was released in January; and without a press release announcement, the second redesign was just released.  UK Technology Editor at the Guardian, Alex Hern tweeted: “lmao I completely missed that amazon quietly tweaked its new icon to make it look… less like hitler.”  Hern […]

As expected on Tuesday shortly after the European Union announced sanctions against top Russian officials accused in connection to the Navalny case, the United States rolled out with its own sanctions in a coordinated effort. “Today, as part of a robust inter-agency response to the poisoning and imprisonment of opposition figure Alexei Navalny, the Treasury Department is designating seven senior members of the Russian government,” the […]

Yet another US government report on Afghanistan has been published that chronicles the obscene waste that seems to have been synonymous with America’s longest running quagmire. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) on Monday revealed the findings of its careful review of $7.8 billion in taxpayer dollars that was spent since 2008. It was supposed to go toward buildings, infrastructure, and vehicles for Afghanistan –  but instead a mere $1.2 […]

On Monday, Homeland Security Director Alejandro Mayorkas confidently said there was no crisis at the southern border following reports that the Biden administration was reopening a Trump-era overflow facility to handle a flood of migrant children. “The men and women of the Department of Homeland Security are working around the clock seven days a week to ensure that we do not have a crisis at the […]

Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog, Any economy stupid enough to rely on the insane distortions of GDP “growth” as its primary measure will richly deserve a Darwin Award when it inevitably collapses in a putrid heap of squandered resources and capital. We’re told the gross domestic product (GDP) measures growth, but what it really measures is waste: capital, labor and resources that are squandered […]

Rocket Companies went to the moon today… RKT was ‘Gamma Squeezed’ over 60% higher today… As WSB’ers got a hold of the tech-driven real estate, mortgage, and financial services business that went public last year. It was quite a run… as deep OTM calls were bid in size ($45s thru $50s expiring in 2 weeks) Source: Bloomberg Largely thanks to this a massive short interest… $RKT […]

At least 15 people were killed after an SUV packed with dozens of people slammed into a semi-truck hauling trailers of gravel in Imperial County, California, on Tuesday morning, according to CNN.  “We believe there were 27 passengers in this SUV that struck a semi-truck full of gravel,” emergency room managing director Judy Cruz said in a Facebook Live video. Cruz said 14 people died at […]

Authored by Doug French via The Mises Institute, A gentleman who does work for us sent me a text recently saying the price of his supplies has increased 20 percent, so he wants to increase his monthly fee 10 percent. It was a nice way to ask, and I said sure, especially given that he’s willing to take a haircut on his labor to make the […]

For the past three months, we have been especially constructive on the uranium sector (and its handful of beaten down stocks), which we believe are set to benefit tremendously as the sector gets swept up in the ESG euphoria. Some of our recent observations can be found at the following links: Then, as uranium stocks did move significantly higher in recent months as investors rekindled their […]

Progressive Democrats are livid over the failure to include a minimum wage increase to $15 an hour in the COVID-19 relief package – a move President Biden promised on the campaign trail, yet Democrats have been unable to enact with only a slim majority in Congress. Following an adverse decision from the Senate parliamentarian on the matter, Democrats can’t force the issue using a special budgetary […]

Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News, Israel has rolled out what it is calling a ‘Freedom bracelet’, a tracking device that will serve as an alternative to a two-week quarantine for anyone entering the country from abroad. The device, which looks like a smart watch is being produced by a company called SuperCom, which has previously worked with governments of several countries on systems to […]

Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com, As I worked through this past weekend’s newsletter, I noticed that multiple markets are starting to exhibit topping patterns. It will be crucial for markets to reverse these patterns in the short-term if the bullish advance continues. As we discussed with our RIAPRO.NET subscribers yesterday: “The good news is that the S&P 500 held its 50-dma during its recent selloff. With the market […]

Via SpotGamma.com, We noted in a video last night that RKT was setup for a gamma squeeze, and the stock is up over 20% this morning. The stock has been rangebound for months and our proprietary indicators identified the setup for a gamma squeeze / stock breakout. As call positions increase, options market makers may need to purchase increasingly large amounts of RKT stock. There is significant increase […]

Two weeks ago, on Feb 16, when discussing the persistently high and sticky level in the spot VIX, we referenced a recent report from Goldman according to which retail investors were flooding into long VIX ETP and calls, creating an upside “vega vacuum“… … perhaps in anticipation of another VIX spike, perhaps in a (misguided) attempt to spark a VIX short squeeze (as Morgan Stanley previously […]

Yesterday, we detailed the rise an rapid fall of Lex Greensill – the so-called “king of supply-chain finance” – as major partners pulled funding amid questionable valuations in the illiquid investments the fund parlays in. This morning, things have escalated as, following Credit Suisse and Softbank’s decisions to abandon the fund yesterday, Swiss asset manager GAM Holdings is closing the GAM Greensill Supply Chain Finance Fund […]

The US Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear arguments in two Republican-backed vote integrity laws in an Arizona case which could affect how the nation’s lower courts resolve election disputes over ballot harvesting and casting ballots in the wrong precincts. The case, for which virtual oral arguments will begin on Tuesday, will be a test of the Voting Rights Act – which the Supreme Court significantly […]

While some financial experts are increasingly hopeful the US economy will soar in 2021 due to vaccine rollouts, stimulus, and pent-up demand, there is still tremendous pandemic stress emanating across multiple large metro areas. Bloomberg analysis of the latest Census Bureau data shows Houston, Los Angeles, and Detroit received a low score by households, suggesting their overall economic situation continues to deteriorate.  The Census research was […]

Submitted by Christophe Barraud U.S. 30-year mortgage rates have rebounded sharply since two weeks with the 30-year treasury yields spiking above 2.25% on Thursday (highest since January 2020). The recent shock to the Fannie Mae 30-year mortgage — used as a benchmark for U.S. home loans — was meaningful. On a 5-day basis, outside of one time during the Covid crisis last spring, it was the […]

Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News, A man in Wales was arrested by police for going for a walk too far from home and failing to identify himself before he claimed he was taken to the police station and subjected to a strip search. The incident was highlighted by Welsh member of Parliament Neil McEvoy, who posted a video of the arrest to Twitter. […]

Ukrainian border guards arrested Ukrainian diplomats who attempted to smuggle hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of goods – including gold, cigarettes, and foreign currency, into Europe.  The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) released a statement on Mar. 1 that said counterintelligence officers “exposed and stopped the illegal activities of current and former officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine” who “used official documents from the […]

Submitted by SouthFront.org, Escalation in the Middle East appears imminent, due to various incidents that took place throughout the region. On February 25th, the Israeli-owned vehicle carrying vessel – MV Helios Ray was rocked by a heavy explosion, but didn’t sink. According to the owner of the vessel, it wasn’t known what had struck the Helios Ray, but likely it was “missiles or a mine placed […]

Although fewer people have been able to grab a beer at the pub during this pandemic, Visual Capitalist’s Iman Ghosh note that the global desire for beer prevails. For example, sales of the Corona beer actually shot up in the past year, despite—or perhaps because of—associations with the coronavirus. This World Beer Index from Expensivity compares the average price of a bottle of beer in 58 countries […]

Authored by Con Coughlin via The Gatestone Institute, As Iran continues to maintain its defiance over its controversial nuclear programme, the failure of the UN-body responsible for monitoring Iran’s activities is only lending further encouragement to the ayatollahs to indulge in further acts of dangerous brinkmanship. In the latest example of Iran’s increasingly reckless approach to the nuclear issue, the country’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, […]

A controversial change in how bonuses were to be issued for 2020 has wound up pulling forward $400 million in expenses, which will be booked in Q1. The costs otherwise would have been spread out over the next four years, according to Bloomberg.  The bank’s CFO said on Friday: “In January, we made a change in one element of a portion of our incentive comp paid in 2020. […]

A new video montage of recent interviews with former NSA contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden exposes how the global COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns – which have been particularly severe and far-reaching in Western countries like the UK, Canada, and in a number of major US cities – coupled with the already immense power of Silicon Valley and its allies in the national security state, has served to keep […]

Authored by Jeff Carlson via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Newly released FBI documents shed light on two meetings between FBI Agent Stephen Somma and FBI source Stefan Halper, providing further insight into the wide scope of the FBI’s investigation into the Trump 2016 presidential campaign—and the active role played by Halper, who acted as a confidential human source (CHS) for the FBI. Although Halper was […]

Authored by José Niño via The Mises Institute, Secession is a four-letter word for the millions of Americans who have gone through the conventional educational pipeline that teaches them that the American state is indivisible and sacrosanct. However, intellectually honest historians whose minds haven’t been warped by educational institutions know better than to dismiss secessionism as some nefarious activity that only treasonous Southerners of the Confederacy are […]

The Los Angeles school district is launching a Microsoft-developed a COVID-tracking app for children, which allows students to schedule and view the results of COVID tests, post the results of off-campus COVID tests, and schedule vaccinations. According to a promotional video, however, “the real magic is your daily health check,” where students answer a questionnaire about whether they have any symptoms – after which the “Daily […]

Food prices are undeniably soaring faster than inflation and incomes around the world. As everyone’s favorite permabear, SocGen’s Albert Edwards, who, unlike Goldman, has already sounded the alarm on rising food inflation.  As a reminder, the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Food Price Index surged to a seventh consecutive month in December.  With the FAO food index rapidly rising, Edwards noted that “annual inflation in cereals reached 20%, the highest […]

The housing boom unleashed by the Federal Reserve during the pandemic was built on historically low mortgage rates (thanks Powell), low inventory, city-dwellers moving to rural areas, and remote-work phenomenon. In all, housing prices in 20 U.S. cities surged in December at the fastest pace since 2014 as mortgage rates fell to record lows. But a new rate regime is in town, one where bond traders […]

Over the weekend Chinese authorities launched a spate of arrests of Hong Kong pro-democracy activists over “conspiracy to commit subversion” related to initiatives to hold an unofficial primary election during the summer of last year.  Given that a whopping 47 mostly young activists were charged, it caught the attention of Washington. Secretary of State Antony Blinkin condemned the crackdown and urged their immediate release. “We condemn […]

Authored by Matt Taibbi via TK News, UCLA professor Sarah Roberts, co-leader of something called the UCLA Center for Critical Internet Inquiry – media critics whose stated goal is “strengthening democracy through culture-making” – went on a lengthy Twitter tirade against Substack last night, one that gained a lot of attention. I should probably respond since, as one prominent reporter put it to Glenn Greenwald and […]

By Jim Reid, chief credit strategist at Deutsche Bank My theme this year has been that it’s going to be very complicated for financial markets with volatility high. The forces working in both directions (high growth and stimulus versus inflation and higher yields) are huge and both sides will dominate for periods causing us to move between extremes. There is little doubt that US growth is […]

After a weekend of torrential rain, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency on Monday. State officials activated the State Emergency Operations Center to aid with rescue efforts as major flooding was observed, according to Lexington Herald-Leader.  The declaration activated the Kentucky National Guard to assist first responders in water rescues, deliver supplies, and aid municipalities.  “The impact of extremely heavy rainfall and flash flooding […]

Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog, Perhaps we need an honest national dialog about declining expectations, rising inequality, social depression and the failure of the status quo. Even as the chirpy happy-talk of a return to normal floods the airwaves, what nobody dares acknowledge is that “normal” for a rising number of Americans is the social depression of downward mobility and social defeat. Downward mobility is not a new trend–it’s simply […]

After what DB’s Jim Reid wrote was an incredibly stable January, “February saw no such repeat as investors positioned themselves for the prospects of a much stronger-than-anticipated economic recovery over the coming months.” The effects, as everyone can recall, were seen across multiple asset classes, with sovereign bonds selling off sharply as investors brought forward their expectations of central bank rate rises. While equities saw modest […]

Almost two months ago, Nomura correctly predicted that once the 10Y breaches 1.50%, stocks would freak out and sure enough that’s precisely what happened (with Nomura’s forecast becoming self-fulfilling and sparking a stop loss cascade one the 10Y hit 1.50% last Thursday, sending the 10Y as high as 1.61% in a matter of seconds following last week’s dismal 7Y auction). So now that 1.50% is yesterday’s […]

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration has retained a prominent white-collar defense attorney following allegations of sexual harassment and Justice Department inquiries over COVID-19 nursing home deaths, according to the Wall Street Journal. Attorney Elkan Abramowitz – a former federal prosecutor – confirmed with the Journal that he is now representing Cuomo’s ‘executive chamber’, which includes the governor and his closes aides. Abramowitz is dealing with […]

Back in September 2015, Bloomberg first discovered a little known JPM quant named Marko Kolanovic, and wrote that “You know you’re a straight-up baller when Zero Hedge writes in a non-ironic way about your prediction.” After that, it didn’t take a long time for Marko – whose market analysis at the time was indeed second to none – to become a household name, and in some […]

WTI has suddenly crashed from a strong overnight open up to $63, down to below $60 this morning. While the catalyst is unclear, a number of market participants are pointing to a story in The Financial Times that warns the Brazil-variant of the virus has been found to evade natural immunity. The P. 1 Covid-19 variant that originated in Brazil and has spread to more than […]

Less than a month ago, Lex Greensill was heralded as “the king of supply-chain finance”… London-based Greensill Capital was heralded for apparently revamping the humdrum business of supply-chain finance, a kind of lending that speeds up payments between companies. Bloomberg reported in early Feb that the 44-year-old financier says the firm provided $150 billion to businesses and customers in 175 countries last year. However, in what is […]

The Arctic blast and severe winter storms that pounded Texas weeks ago have claimed another victim as the credit crisis widens. Texas’s largest power cooperative filed for bankruptcy protection in federal court in Houston Monday, citing a $1.8 billion bill from the state’s grid operator, ERCOT, according to Reuters.  According to court documents, Brazos Electric Power Cooperative, the largest generation and transmission co-op in the Lone Star State, […]

What is going on at Goldman? Whereas previously bankers would give at least one kidney to work at what until recently was the most admired investment bank on Wall Street, lately the flow of talent has completely reversed and one day after Bloomberg reported that none other than boring, old Walmart had poached Goldman’s two top bankers in charge of its consumer banking division to join […]

Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News, The free speech alternative to Twitter, Gab has been hacked, with those behind the action promising to release a treasure trove of information including passwords, private posts, and messages. The hacking group calling itself ‘DDoSecrets’ says it has obtained 70-gigabytes of data, and has dubbed it “Gableaks”. NEW: Far-Right Platform Gab Has Been Hacked—Including Private Data https://t.co/FaeQDfQTgI The transparency group […]

While last week’s price action was all about bonds with little focus on fundamentals, the main highlights this week will be on Friday’s jobs report as well as the Fed speakers in their final week of comments before the blackout period begins ahead of the March 16-17 FOMC meeting according to DB’s Jim Reid. Today we see Williams, Bostic, Mester and Kashkari speak but Brainard’s speech […]

China’s economy was the first to recover from the covid collapse thanks to trillions of credit pumped into the economy. It now appears to be the first to also reverse the expansion and shrink as the tidal wave of credit comes to an end. Back in December, we first pointed out that after a tremendous surge for much of the prior two years, China’s credit impulse […]

Authored by Bill Blain via MorningPorridge.com, “The wilder and more ridiculous something is, however, the firmer and more solid the evidence will have to be.” There is an old market rule – don’t fight the Fed. Jay Powell has been crystal clear: rates are staying lower for longer. But the ongoing sell-off in Treasuries, and rising global bond yields, paints an interesting story of a market […]

Authored by Irv Schlussel, Managing Director at IngleSea Capital, The SPAC market has become frothy and is reminiscent of the 1999 .com Bubble. SPAC evangelists (Bankers, Sponsors & Hedge Funds), most of whom are gaining great wealth from the Bubble, will say: “This time is different”. The argument they make is that SPACs are an increasingly mainstream, speedier path to IPO with less required disclosure and […]

One of the big things that has helped ARK’s public image during its wild run to over $50 billion under management has been its stated commitment to transparency. Every day, at the end of the day, ARK has been emailing out its trades so that followers of the firm and investors can see which stocks “visionary” stock picker Cathie Wood and her team are moving in […]

Well, we might finally have an answer as to why Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev was so eager to go on a non-stop PR tour over the last few weeks – one that included everything from testifying in front of congress to appears with Dave Portnoy on Barstool Sports. Because despite all of the chaos of recent weeks, the company looks hell bent on pushing forward for […]

Authored by Peter Garnry, head of Equity Strategy for Saxo Bank, Summary:   In today’s equity update we are following up on our analysis of the Tesla-Bitcoin-Ark risk cluster showing an updated positions analysis, cross-correlations in the flagship Ark Innovation ETF, and an drawdown analysis. Yesterday, was another bad session for this risk cluster and Ark Invest had a day with outflows across all their ETFs highlighting […]

The virus pandemic has upended global supply chains and produced shortages of certain commodities, sending spot prices sky-high. The latest shortage is steel, where many US manufacturers are having difficulty procuring cold-rolled and hot-rolled steel from mills, reported Reuters.  At the moment, steel shortages are sending spot prices through the roof. The latest round of disruptions in the steel industry is impacting America’s manufacturing heartland, where […]

Authored by Martin Jay via The Strategic Culture Foundation, It’s time the EU got its act together on Russia and accepted that Germany runs the EU and it will have its Russian gas pipeline at any cost. But don’t let that stop whining MEPs throwing stones at Putin. As a body, the EU itself doesn’t fear much. It doesn’t fear the bloc falling apart as already […]

Business jet delivers tumbled in 2020 as the pandemic stressed corporations and shut down the global economy.  General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) reported Wednesday that general aviation fixed-wing shipments and billings plunged across the board in 2020.  GAMA said manufacturers delivered 644 business jets, compared with 809 a year earlier. Many business-jet manufacturers saw steep declines in 2020 – Bombardier was down 28 planes, Gulfstream (-20), Dassault […]

By Giulio Meotti of Gatestone Institute, A shocking investigation was just published by the French weekly Le Point on how Beijing is buying the favor of Western universities. Gulbahar Haitiwaji, a survivor of China’s “re-education camps” in Xinjiang, recently revealed what happens there. “It is forbidden to speak Uyghur; it is forbidden to pray; it is forbidden to go on a hunger strike…” She had to […]

Unlike the recent retail sales report which stunned sellside expectations with a 5-sigma blowout beat, Friday’s personal spending report came in generally as expected, even if it too came in scorching hot, with personal incomes soaring 10% M/M and a whopping 13% Y/Y thanks to the December $900BN stimulus hitting household checking accounts. But for all those planning on extrapolating this surge in spending into February […]

Authored by Melinda Mills, op-ed via The Financial Times, I remember the evening a co-worker arrived at our door waving a phone, beaming “I’ve got it!” His Android mobile was the only way to use the UK government app that let EU citizens apply for UK settled status after Brexit. After some unsettling jokes about uploading my private biometric data on his device, we completed the […]

Authored by Michael Rectenwald via The Mises Institute, Read Part I: Reduced Expectations And Bio-Techno-Feudalism here… Read Part II: Corporate Socialism here… Read Part III: Capitalism With Chinese Characteristics here… Read Part IV: “Stakeholder Capitalism” Vs. “Noeliberalism” here… In previous articles, I’ve discussed the Great Reset and introduced several ways of understanding the economics of it. The Great Reset can be thought of as neofeudalism, as “corporate […]

America’s most liberal cities have transformed into ground-zero for what has become an all-out drug and homelessness crisis. Cities like Seattle, Washington, and others, are using taxpayer dollars to fund various types of programs such as needle exchanges and safe spaces to do drugs.  A Seattle-backed homeless shelter called the Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC) uses taxpayer dollars to get addicts high. DESC employees hand out heroin […]

The White House has issued a belated response – or ultimately a weak attempt at damage control – amid growing bipartisan outrage that despite his prior “tough” talk on the campaign trail to “hold the Saudis to account”, crown prince Mohammed bin Salman is getting off scot-free. “The Biden administration defended its decision not to sanction Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman personally for his role in […]

Democratic Socialist Alexandria Ocasio–Cortez from New York ripped NYPD’s Boston Dynamics robot dog for ground surveillance of low-income neighborhoods.  AOC quoted an NYPost article titled “Video shows NYPD’s new robotic dog in action in the Bronx,” where she was not fond of the “robotic surveillance ground drones that are being deployed for testing on low-income communities of color with under-resourced schools.”  Shout out to everyone who fought against community advocates who demanded […]

For those living under a rock in 2021, the big story in the past month is that 10-year Treasury yield have climbed by 50 bps in a month to 1.5% (technically as high as 1.61% for a few brief seconds on Thursday after the catastrophic 7Y auction triggered stop loss selling) as real rates jumped following a steady increase in inflation expectations (breakevens), which however are […]

On Thursday we reported that just three weeks after Australia’s central bank announced on Feb 1 an extension to its QE program by a further A$100 billion (when it also said it doesn’t expect to increase interest rates until 2024) in the pursuit of the central bank’s yield curve control (as a reminder Governor Philip Lowe had previously set the three-year yield target at 0.10%) that […]

By Eric Peters, CIO of One River Asset Management “My beloved dogs Koji and Gustav were taken in Hollywood two nights ago,” tweeted Lady Gaga, the nation reverting to normal, images of the capitol insurrection, the horned Shaman, receding into the depths of our collective humiliation. “I will pay $500,000 for their safe return,” offered Gaga, no questions asked, returning America to a more innocent time […]

Authored by Steve Penfield, Investing trust in the wrong people and policies can be ruinous. How much dishonesty does it take before the public stops putting blind faith in debt dealers, corporate crooks and the servile politicians who do their bidding? The widespread acceptance of ‘healthy’ inflation, monopoly patent rights, the ‘retirement’ trap and enslaving corporate ‘benefits’ would suggest we enjoy the abuse. Throughout modern history, […]

Authored by Egon von Greyerz via GoldSwitzerland.com, Understanding four critical but simple puzzle pieces is all investors will need to take the flood that leads to fortune. Why then will the majority of investors still take the wrong current and lose their ventures? Well because investors feel more comfortable staying with the trend than anticipating change. Understanding these four puzzle pieces will not just avoid total […]

In the months leading up to the Capitol riot, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her office opposed having National Guard on Capitol Grounds due to “optics,” according to Tuesday comments reportedly made to House Admin by former Sergeant at Arms, Paul Irving, while making what he described as a “blender of decision making” before the inauguration. House Sergeant at Arms Paul D. Irving, right, and Chief […]

Syrian state television is reporting new Israeli airstrikes against the capital of Damascus on Sunday.  SANA state news said that Syrian air defenses were active in response to an “Israeli aggression in the vicinity of Damascus” after explosions were heard above the capital, according to Reuters. The strike was reportedly near the international airport. While the Israeli military has yet to confirm or deny the airstrikes, which is typical of […]

Former President Donald Trump will make his first post-White House appearance as keynote speaker at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) 2021 in Orlando, Florida. Watch live here (due to start around 1540ET): As we previously detailed, American Conservative Union (ACU), the host of the conference, invited the former president to speak at CPAC. “I’d love to see him come to CPAC,” CAU Chairman Matt Schlapp told […]

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk, Biden wants to reopen schools. He promised schools would reopen in his first 100 days. But what does that mean? The Meaning of Reopen “His goal that he set is to have the majority of schools, so more than 50 percent, open by day 100 of his presidency and that means some teaching in classrooms, at least one day a […]

Myanmar has witnessed its bloodiest and deadliest day yet since the start of the Feb.1st coup which saw the military arrest the country’s democratically elected civilian leadership, citing a “fraudulent election”. Eighteen have been reported killed Sunday in clashes with police and armed troops, which have over the past week increasingly resorted to ‘live fire’ to disperse ‘banned’ demonstrations. “Myanmar police fired on protesters around the […]

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk, Twists and turns abound in Progressives’ push for a minimum wage hike. Progressives Won’t Give Up  Senate parliamentarian ruled that putting a stepped increase in the wage to $15 an hour in Biden’s $1.9 trillion pandemic relief plan didn’t comply with Senate budget rules. That ruling did not stop progressives. Specifically, AOC Proposed Abolishing Filibuster Rules among other things. “Really our options […]

Sky News Australia host Cory Bernardi has just taken a flamethrower to the global elite, telling us we need to be mindful “of any organization with the term “world” in their name” in a monologue which would never see the light of day in most Western nations. After flaying the World Health Organization (WHO) for ‘giving China a free pass on the Wuhan Flu,‘ while banking […]

Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog, Is that really what you want to spend your time doing, paying higher taxes? “No matter how much money I make, they will always print more. I can’t print anymore time.” The source of this quote is correspondent T.D., who shared the story of an acquaintance of his who was offered a high-paying and very demanding corporate position […]

The crypto market is continuing to suffer significant losses this weekend as rate-hike-anxiety in the stock market, driving big-tech/growth stocks into the ground, is spilling over into other high momentum markets. But a ‘whale war’ may be the biggest immediate driver as institutions, HODL Whales, and miners battle one another. As market expectations for rate-hikes (amid soaring inflation) have soared… Source: Bloomberg That has hit high […]

Authored by Bryce Coward via Knowledge Leaders Capital blog, The title of this post seems rather obvious in light of this week’s events, but it’s something we have been talking about for months now. Rising interest rates are not kind to tech stocks. Rising rate volatility is not kind for tech stocks. And, rising inflation is not kind to tech stocks. Application of Occam’s razor would […]

Despite all those warnings from Dr. Anthony Fauci about COVID-19 and the flu joining forces in 2020 and 2021 to create some kind of super-deadly double-whammy viral pandemic, it’s no longer a secret at this point that worries about a super-charged flu season simply never came to pass. We’ve reported on the phenomenon of falling flu cases before, February is usually the peak of flu season, […]

Authored by Alasdair Macleod via GoldMoney.com, Earlier this month the US Treasury released its plan to flood the financial system with cash by reducing its balance on its general account at the Fed by $1.229 trillion by not renewing an equivalent amount of T-Bills Separately, the Fed will continue with its QE at the rate of $120bn every month, which combined with the Treasury’s plans means […]

Could it be deja vu all over again? The same ride sharing services that are constantly doing battle in the U.S. about whether or not they should be hiring their workers – a move that would cripple their cost structure and any hopes of future profitability for their respective businesses – are now fighting the same battles about their food delivery workers. This time, the venue […]

A robotic artist called Ai-Da, developed by the University of Oxford and engineers at the University of Leeds, will make its grand debut at the London’s Design Museum this summer. The life-size humanoid artist draws, paints, and makes sculptures. Algorithms process optical sensors embedded within the robot’s eyes into a set of coordinates, guiding the robot’s drawing hands. Whatever the humanoid sees, it can paint…  According […]

Via Off-Guardian.org, The scary red numbers are all going down. Check any newspaper or covid tracking website you want. Cases. Deaths. Hospitalisations. They’re all going down, sharply, and have been for weeks, especially in the US and UK. So, why would that be? Pundits across the media world have made suggestions – from vaccines to lockdowns – but there’s only one that makes any real sense. IT’S […]