Trump Challenge: “Tear Down That Wall!”

by Wayne Root I was going to write a column about the wall. It’s certainly the biggest issue in America. But I can end that debate quickly. President Trump should issue a simple challenge: “My fellow Democrats, I have a challenge for you. TEAR DOWN THAT WALL. I will end my demand for the wall today. … Read more

Brexit Moment in 80 Days, No One Knows What’ll Happen, London’s Finance Industry on Tenterhooks

The stakes are enormous. By Don Quijones, Spain, UK, & Mexico, editor at WOLF STREET. With just 80 days remaining until Brexit Day, March 29, nerves are fraying on both sides of the English Channel. Nowhere is this more true than in the City of London where the Square Mile’s dominance of the global financial industry faces … Read more

BEWARE THE BOUNCE

My most requested table is finally here. Here is every prior Bear Market in $SPX history (-20% drop from a unique All Time High) with dates/notes on the initial bounce after first entering Bear territory and then what it did next. The NOTES column is the most important. pic.twitter.com/W3Y1hom8tH — OddStats (@OddStats) January 8, 2019 … Read more

CNN: “George W. Bush declared 13 emergencies and Barack Obama declared 12 — nearly all of which are still active today.”

George W. Bush declared 13 emergencies and Barack Obama declared 12 — nearly all of which are still active today. Bill Clinton declared 17 national emergencies, six of which are still active. Ronald Reagan declared six and George H.W. Bush declared four — but all of those have been revoked by now. The first declaration … Read more

Kellyanne Conway just destroyed Jim Acosta on live TV

Acosta: “Can you promise the president will tell the truth tonight?” Conway: “Yes, Jim. Do you promise that you will? This is why I am one of the only people around here who even gives you the time of day…because you’re such a smartass most of the time” https://twitter.com/BreakingNLive/status/1082775008634638337     h/t LSR

‘Best metal of 2018’ now up $500 an ounce on rival

From Bloomberg: Palladium’s premium to platinum jumped to a record, building on its ranking as the best-performing metal of 2018. Shortages of the metal used in autocatalysts for gasoline-fueled vehicles sent its price to yet another all-time high, widening the price difference with rival platinum to more than $500 an ounce on Tuesday. Most analysts don’t see supply … Read more

2019 Headwinds Are Getting Stronger

via James Rickards  In 2017, every prominent economic forecasting entity was shouting from the rooftops about “synchronized global growth.” This was a reference to the fact that not only were certain economies growing, but they were all growing at the same time. Chinese GDP growth had come down but was still substantial at 6.85%. U.S. GDP growth … Read more

An Idiot’s Guide To The Federal Reserve SCAM

by Mark M. In the past four years since my retirement I have sent countless e-mails to family and friends about the history and the future of what the international Banksters and their spawn, our own national wealth vampire blood suckers the FED, have wrought and the circling economic EVERYTHING BUBBLE drain hole they are … Read more

THE UNDERSEA WORLD OF AQUATIC DRONES: There are at least two manufacturers promoting aquatic drones at CES. This is the FiFish P3:

This is the Navatics Mito: Both units have built-in lighting to overcome the underwater murk, are connected to their remote control via a tether, which, assuming it doesn’t break, will likely come in handy finding the unit if its remote stops working. (Been there, done that, recovered the airborne drone from my roof.)   h/t … Read more

Oil Posts Longest Rally In 17 Months

By Tom Kool Crude oil prices continued to rise on Tuesday, making the most recent rally the longest in 17 months. (Click to enlarge) (Click to enlarge) (Click to enlarge) (Click to enlarge) – The Henry Hub natural gas price jumped by 15 cents in 2018 to an average of $3.16/MMBtu. Spot prices spiked in … Read more

Nigeria Lost $2.8B To Oil-Related Crimes Last Year

By Tsvetana Paraskova Oil-related crimes in Nigeria cost the African OPEC producer US$2.8 billion in lost revenues in 2018, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported on Tuesday, citing a United Nations report on West Africa. “Oil-related crimes resulted in the loss of nearly 2.8 billion dollars in revenues last year in Nigeria, according to government figures,” says … Read more

Comparing Mutual Funds and ETFs

via visualcapitalist: For the vast majority of investors, it makes sense to hold a diverse portfolio of investments. But, unless you are willing to go out and individually pick 20 different securities yourself, it’s likely you will be relying on financial products like mutual funds and ETFs to accomplish this diversification. What is the difference between … Read more

Germany Heads for a Technical Recession – This Economic Slowdown Is Not Unique To Germany But Has Been Spreading Across The EU

Wolf Richter wolfstreet.com, http://www.amazon.com/author/wolfrichter OK, this is embarrassing in the land of super-stimulus via the ECB’s negative-interest-rate policy and years of QE that were supposed to perform miracles: Production in Germany’s industry, which includes construction, dropped 1.9% in November from the prior month (seasonally adjusted), the German statistical agency Destatis reported this morning. This drop is also … Read more