What gave the Fed the “Authority” to do this? Enter the “13(3) facilities.”

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By Wolf Richter for WOLF STREET. There has been huge hoopla about the Fed stepping into the markets and buying investment-grade corporate bonds and “fallen-angel” junk bonds, syndicated leveraged loans, CLOs (collateralized loan obligations), bond ETFs, and even junk-bond ETFs. The first intentions were announced in March and then expanded to include more asset classes and lower credit … Read more

WTF?!?! Sullivan Mulls Contempt Charge Against Michael Flynn

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Federal judge mulls contempt charge against Michael Flynn Federal judge Emmet Sullivan is signaling that he may pursue perjury or contempt charges against former national security adviser Michael Flynn over his effort to abandon an earlier guilty plea to a charge of lying to the FBI. The Justice Department moved last week to drop the prosecution of Flynn launched … Read more

European Bear Market Rallies Peaking Here?

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by Kimble Charting Are bear market rallies peaking in Europe? Very possible! This 3-pack looks at stock indices from Germany (DAX), France (CAC-40), and London (FTSE-100). Each index declined more than 20% from highs earlier this year, reflecting that each entered into bear markets. Each index hit lows in March, similar to stocks indices in the states and counter-trend rallies … Read more

OUCH! Corona KILLING HOLLYWOOD! Mass unemployment hits entertainment industry

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Hollywood is seeing a wave of staff reductions from the corporate suites to the theme park turnstiles as entertainment giants including the Walt Disney Co. and Endeavor implement layoffs and furloughs in response to the Chinese coronavirus pandemic. Just how bad is the carnage? In Los Angeles County alone, 14,000 entertainment-related workers saw their jobs … Read more

YOU’VE GOT TO SEE THIS!! CNN Finally Asks James Clapper a tough question – CNN “loses feed” another “Oooh, nooo, that sucks moment

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Clapper asked about leaking classified info to the press, his connection suddenly goes dead As Clapper is asked about leaking to the press, his connection goes dead pic.twitter.com/k0HOygTBL9 — Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) May 14, 2020 https://youtu.be/FLwjevsj6do No one seems to care that when CNN finally tries to look like a real news agency, the staff … Read more

Did congress authorize this? The Fed says its programs only lend to investment grade companies, but by buying high yield bond ETFs like $HYG they indirectly buy very junk and even bankrupt names

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https://twitter.com/apark_/status/1261054164076986369 In today's Fed release they started reporting on the "Corporate Credit Facility LLC" vehicle they created to "support credit to employers." How do they plan to do that? By buying up corporate bonds on the primary/secondary market, including ETFs. Did congress authorize this? pic.twitter.com/8jqjwOXIyu — Charlie Bilello (@charliebilello) May 14, 2020 Who knew QE … Read more

Citigroup’s “US equity strategists’ panic/euphoria model is approaching euphoria, which, historically, has led to negative returns over the next 12 months.”

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Citigroup's "US equity strategists’ panic/euphoria model is approaching euphoria, which, historically, has led to negative returns over the next 12 months." pic.twitter.com/y4AaS3dEJE — Lisa Abramowicz (@lisaabramowicz1) May 14, 2020 Bigger picture ..this market has been sideways since 9 April It is sucking longs, and shorts pic.twitter.com/5uBmLge1AM — Tracy Shuchart (𝒞𝒽𝒾 ) (@chigrl) May 14, 2020 … Read more

“Fed speakers have been united in the past few days, coming out against negative interest rates …It has not worked in Japan. It has not worked in Europe. I’m pleased that Powell said it will not happen”

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"Fed speakers have been united in the past few days, coming out against negative interest rates …It has not worked in Japan. It has not worked in Europe. I'm pleased that Powell said it will not happen"#CheddarBusiness #QuillIntelligence — https://t.co/q9WfpNRFDA pic.twitter.com/6578LCsEhv — Danielle DiMartino Booth (@DiMartinoBooth) May 14, 2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mW4Fbt-BWs&feature=youtu.be

IT STARTS: US Grocery Costs Jump the Most Since 1974

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US grocery costs jump the most in 46 years, led by rising prices for meat and eggs The Labor Department reported Tuesday that prices U.S. consumers paid for groceries jumped 2.6% in April, the largest one-month pop since February 1974. The price of the meats, poultry, fish and eggs category rose 4.3%, fruits and vegetables climbed 1.5%, … Read more

Moving the goalpost: Los Angeles County may stay locked down through August

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by DCG Los Angeles County has a population of more than 10 million people. As of May 12, they had 33,180 confirmed cases of Wuhan virus which includes 1,613 deaths. You do the math. Yet even with these extremely small numbers, County Public Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer said the stay at home order will “with all certainty” be extended … Read more

Jason Burack: Emerging Markets Are The New Subprime?

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Wall St. For Main St., Released on 5/13/20 Jason talks about a lot of problems with emerging markets. The problems are so obvious that even Paul Krugman is now very worried about wide scale emerging market defaults https://finance.yahoo.com/news/paul-k… New Daniel LaCalle article on emerging market problems: Global US Dollar Shortage Rises As Emerging Markets Lose Reserves https://www.dlacalle.com/en/global-us… … Read more