BIG CHINA DOOM: Up to 50 % of CHINAS breeding pigs dead due to AFRICAN SWINE FEVER!

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via Zerohedge: In August, we reported that at least half of China’s breeding pigs have died from African swine fever or been slaughtered to contain the spreading of the disease. New figures published Monday from the Ministry of Agriculture of the People’s Republic of China showed the pig-apocalypse continues to get worse. The country’s herd in Sept. collapsed 41.1% … Read more

Amazon is now offering Prime customers free one-day shipping on items that cost as little as $1 in a bid to drive conventional retailers out of business

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Amazon is now letting customers order $1 items and up with one-day shipping Users can now order single sticks of deodorant, toothbrushes, and more The new policy will likely put stress on traditional retailers Previously the company had a $5 limit on customers using the platform Critics warn that the policy may not be sustainable … Read more

LEBRON BOWS TO COMMUNISTS

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Los Angeles (AFP) – Basketball superstar LeBron James was accused of turning a blind eye to Chinese repression on Tuesday after he criticized a Houston Rockets executive for angering China with a “misinformed” tweet supporting protesters in Hong Kong. James told reporters that Rockets general manager Daryl Morey “wasn’t educated” on Hong Kong and should have kept his mouth … Read more

Trucking, Railroads Hit by Slowdown in Manufacturing & Construction. But Americans Are Buying Stuff, and that Helps

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Wolf Richter wolfstreet.com, http://www.amazon.com/author/wolfrichter The hangover after the tariff-front-run boom last year. Freight shipments by all modes of transportation – truck, rail, air, and barge – within the US fell 3.4% in September 2019, compared to September last year, according to the Cass Freight Index for Shipments. For the index – which tracks shipment volume of … Read more

Longtime Berkshire Hathaway shareholder sells stake, accusing Warren Buffett of ‘thumb-sucking’

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https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/14/berkshire-shareholder-sells-stake-accusing-buffett-of-thumb-sucking.html David Rolfe noted his frustration with Berkshire Hathaway’s massive cash hoard, lackluster investments and what he thinks are missed investment opportunities by the Oracle of Omaha and his team during the current bull market. Berkshire Hathaway shares have lagged the S&P 500 over the current bull run, which started March 2009. “Thumb-sucking has not … Read more

“The WTO on Monday formally authorized the U.S. to impose #tariffs on about $7.5 billion worth of European exports annually in retaliation for illegal government aid to Airbus SE” – BBG

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"The WTO on Monday formally authorized the U.S. to impose #tariffs on about $7.5 billion worth of European exports annually in retaliation for illegal government aid to Airbus SE" – BBG Breakdown of those tariffs pic.twitter.com/Mwj3NRJoyT — Tracy Shuchart (𝒞𝒽𝒾 ) (@chigrl) October 14, 2019  

Bernie Sanders unveils plan to raise corporate tax rate to 35% and ban stock buybacks

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Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders introduced a plan on Monday that would reverse President Donald Trump’s tax cuts for businesses and return the corporate tax rate to 35% from its current 21%. The Corporate Accountability and Democracy Plan would also eliminate many of the tax breaks and loopholes in the tax code and do away … Read more

The Fed and ECB monetary policies tend to converge near the peak of the cycle.

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US vs. German yield spread is unceasingly narrowing. It's an important market signal. Similar breakdowns from major support lines also occurred right in 2000 & 2007. This time happened in May. The Fed and ECB monetary policies tend to converge near the peak of the cycle. pic.twitter.com/TwmvIZ8wUe — Otavio (Tavi) Costa (@TaviCosta) October 14, 2019

The business story of the month is WeWork’s meltdown. The bigger story will be SoftBank’s Vision Funds impairment.

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Value is a function of growth and margins. Many/most of today’s unicorns have deployed massive capital to achieve the former while not demonstrating the patience or skill to achieve the latter.#nomercynomalice #Compass #OYO #Opendoorhttps://t.co/2idIyz9swn — Scott Galloway (@profgalloway) October 13, 2019 There were some errors in the SoftBank investor presentation, so I went ahead and … Read more

When EBITDA Is Just BS

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via institutionalinvestor: One of the trends that you’d have been hard pressed to miss over the past decade has been rising valuations across virtually all markets. Developed and emerging, equity and credit, public and private —prices for everything have marched inexorably upward. In private markets, the most commonly cited measure of average valuation is called the … Read more

BOE Deputy Governor: Low Rates May Risk More Severe Downturns… Larry Summers: US Economy Is Just One Bad Recession Away from Zero Rates or Worse

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Speaking in London on Monday, Cunliffe said the drop in long-term market rates in developed economies partly reflected an over-pessimism about long-term prospects, and was also part of a structural trend. One “challenge of low for longer for financial stability” is “the risk that in such an environment, economic downturns will on average be more … Read more

Fed Confirms That Federal Borrowing a Cause of Liquidity Crisis

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via independent: Robert Kaplan, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, has confirmed that the surge in U.S. government borrowing in September 2019 was a primary cause of the liquidity crisis affecting the nation’s money markets. Reuters reports that revelation from Kaplan’s speech on Friday, October 11, to the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco: Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President … Read more