There’s another ‘epidemic’ ripping through America that, for many on Wall Street, is just as terrifying as COVID-19… and this time The Fed is to blame. We reported last week on the multitude of mortgage companies that were facing an existential threat from massive margin calls: First, its was AG Mortgage Investment Trust which on Friday said it failed to meet some margin calls and doesn’t […]
Calls
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New Delhi (Sputnik): The novel coronavirus pandemic has affected 199 countries, infecting some of the world’s most famous personalities including the UK’s Prince Charles, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Hollywood celebrities like Tom Hanks, and even Sophie Grégoire Trudeau – the wife of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. On Friday evening, a UK-based news channel, Arise News, aired a ticker claiming that Pakistani Prime Minister Imran […]
Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio brushed aside suggestions that aid from Moscow to combat the coronavirus pandemic came with hidden intentions, stating his country had nothing to fear from Russian assistance. In an interview with Euronews’ Giorgia Orlandi published on Friday, the reporter pressed Di Maio to reveal the “real purpose” behind Moscow’s mission to deliver medical supplies to the Mediterranean nation, citing amorphous “doubts” […]
Saudi led coalition forces shot down Houthi drones in Yemen this morning two days after a UN call for a ceasefire due to the coronavirus pandemic was accepted by both parties. Coalition spokesman Colonel Turki Al-Maliki is reported by Reuters as saying that his forces had intercepted and shot down drones launched by Houthi fighters which were heading for civilian targets in the cities of Abha […]
Thomas Peter / Getty Images China President Xi Jinping on a call with President Donald Trump early Friday morning called for improved relations between the two nations while urging “cooperation.” Xi called on Trump to take “’substantive actions’ to improve US-China relations to develop a relationship that is ‘without conflict and confrontation’ but based on ‘mutual respect and mutually beneficial cooperation.’” The Guardian goes on to report […]
The head of the Palestinian Foreign Minister’s Office, Dr. Ahmed Al-Deek, has called on Palestinians stranded abroad and students wishing to return to Palestine to stay in their host countries and take care of their health until new instructions are issued to them. Dr. Al-Deek said the ministry has opened thousands of communication channels with Palestinian communities around the world as well as students studying abroad, […]
Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News, Former Prime Minister of the UK Gordon Brown has called on world leaders to create “a temporary form of global government” to fight the coronavirus outbreak. Brown wants international organizations like the WHO and the UN to be given executive powers that would supersede national sovereignty as part of a new system overseen by world leaders and health […]
Calls to the National Suicide Prevention Hotline have spiked 300% amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to KVLY, while the Sacramento Bee reports that other suicide prevention services have similarly risen for the same reasons. “It’s so scary, it’s almost like … I would rather be dead,” said suicidal writer Danielle Sinay, who lives in New York City. “I mean, I wouldn’t be, but sometimes I get […]
The US Treasury Department has slapped fresh sanctions on Iran, accusing several Iranian firms of aiding terrorism. Meanwhile, Tehran and the UN have called for the easing of sanctions amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The Treasury sanctioned 15 individuals and five companies on Thursday, accusing them of supporting and acting “on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps-Qods Force,” considered by Washington to be a terrorist organization. […]
U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin said that record unemployment claims were “not relevant” during an interview with Jim Cramer and David Faber on CNBC on Thursday. “We knew the jobless claims was not going to be a good one. I am curious what your thoughts were when you saw that 3.283 million number this morning?” asked Faber. “To be honest with you, I just think these […]
Fox News’ Martha MacCallum called out White House counselor Kellyanne Conway Wednesday night for her criticisms of Mayor Bill de Blasio not taking coronavirus incredibly seriously at first, given what President Donald Trump was saying around the same time. Conway brought up de Blasio’s interview on Fox News last night and said he “lied to America” when he said he’s been all over this from the […]
United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Wednesday for: “The warring parties in Yemen to immediately cease hostilities and do their best to counter the possible spread of the coronavirus.” Guterres announced in a statement issued by his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric that: “The current fighting in Al-Jawf and Ma’rib threatens to further deepen human suffering.” Guterres also called on the warring parties to work with the UN special envoy […]
Russian President Vladimir Putin outlined a range of measures on Wednesday to tackle the economic impact of the Covid-19 outbreak. They included making sure that everyone pays their fair share of taxes. According to the Russian president, all income payments (as interest and dividends) leaving the country should be taxed adequately. Putin called on increasing tax on offshore funds to 15 percent. “Currently two-thirds of such […]
When Israel revealed that Mossad chief Yossi Cohen and the chief of the Israel Defence Forces Southern Command, General Herzl Halevi, made a “secret” visit to Qatar recently, the Qataris and Hamas leadership denied any intentions to arrange high-level meetings between the Islamic Resistance Movement and Israeli leaders. According to Israel, during one visit by Hamas leaders to Egypt, the government in Cairo proposed a meeting […]
Prominent Palestinian businessman Moneeb Al-Masri has called for the creation of a Food and Medicine Safety Fund to support the government’s efforts to fight coronavirus, Al-Ayyaam reported. Al-Masri has donated $1 million for food and medicine programmes in support of the Palestinians amidst the fight against coronavirus. “The situation is very difficult and all of us have to unite against the upcoming disaster,” Al-Masri said, stressing […]
Blaze TV’s Glenn Beck unabashedly urged older Americans, like himself, to do their patriotic duty and go back to work in order to save the U.S. economy, even though the elderly represent a much higher risk category of dying from the coronavirus. On Tuesday’s The Glenn Beck Program, the eponymous host clearly appeared willing to sacrifice untold number of the Baby Boom generation to keep the country’s businesses […]
First, its was AG Mortgage Investment Trust which on Friday said it failed to meet some margin calls and doesn’t expect to be able to meet future margin calls with its current financing. Then it was TPG RE Finance Trust which also hit a liquidity wall and could not repay its lenders. The, on Monday it was first Invesco, then ED&F Man Capital, and now the […]
The United Nations envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, on Tuesday called for a nationwide ceasefire to allow for a better response to the threat of the novel coronavirus. The government in Damascus has so far reported one case of COVID-19 but fears are high that the virus could spread rapidly among the war-battered country’s most vulnerable communities, AFP said. “Syrians are acutely vulnerable to COVID-19. Healthcare […]
We warned last week that, despite The Fed’s unlimited largesse, there is trouble brewing in the mortgage markets that has an ugly similarity to what sparked the last crisis in 2007. For a sense of the decoupling, here is the spread between Agency MBS (FNMA) and 10Y TSY yields… At that time, WSJ’s Greg Zuckerman reports that the AG Mortgage Investment Trust, a real-estate investment trust operated […]
The Hamas government has urged the Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas to lift economic sanctions imposed on the Gaza Strip in 2017. According to The Jerusalem Post, Hamas said in a statement it “invited Palestinian factions and the Ministry of Health to contribute to the fight against COVID-19.” This comes after the Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed its first two cases in the enclave, in […]
Late Monday night, Kim Kardashian West made a series of posts to her Instagram Stories addressing the recent Taylor Swift controversy. After encouraging her 163.5 million followers about the dangerous of the novel coronavirus, saying, “Social distancing is definitely the way to go, and what will definitely make the difference here to get us over this curve,” she publicly commented on the recent leak of a […]
On the day when The Fed unveils it will be buying agency MBS and CMBS (along with IG corporate debt) in unlimited size “to maintain the smooth functioning of markets,” The Wall Street Journal reports that for at least one major mortgage investor – it could be too late. For a sense of the scale of collapse in CMBS markets alone, here is CMBX Series 6 […]
The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, said on Monday that Israel’s murder of a Palestinian man on Sunday night reflects the state’s “immorality and opportunism”. “While the world is busy fighting the coronavirus,” said Hamas spokesman Hazim Qasim, “Israel continues its crimes against the Palestinians.” He referred to the murder of Sufian Al-Khawaja on Sunday night in the village of Na’lin, calling it “an extrajudicial execution.” […]
The Head of the Hamas Political Bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, has called on Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Bin Abdulaziz to release Palestinians being held in his country’s prisons, fearing for their lives from the spread of the coronavirus, Anadolu has reported. “In light of the pandemic that is sweeping the world, and out of fear for the lives of the honourable brothers, as well as all the […]