Wall Street Warns: Get defensive, growth is slowing in nearly every corner of the world

via businessinsider:   As concerns of a slowdown in global growth swirl, some experts on Wall Street are suggesting investors bulk up on defensive holdings. Goldman Sachs just told clients to “increase portfolio defensiveness,” and Bank of America said investors’ exposure to “low quality” stocks was a key risk this year. The calls come amid continued US-China … Read more

Court gives Sears new life, allows Chairman Eddie Lampert another chance to save retailer

Sears is giving Chairman Eddie Lampert another chance to buy the company out of bankruptcy and save roughly 55,000 jobs. Sears on Tuesday had planned to tell the bankruptcy court it had rejected Lampert’s offer to buy the retailer, after it fell short of covering its bankruptcy expenses. Lampert, though, protested the decision, highlighting the … Read more

Welcome to the Bird Box: Northman Trader’s 2019 Market Outlook

by northmantrader The cataclysmic action of Q4 left investors shellshocked as stocks plummeted and over 90% of US Dollar based asset classes ran a negative return for 2018 going against all Wall Street forecasts. Macro monsters from trade wars, Brexit, slowing growth, a slump in global property prices, political uncertainty, yield curve inversions, deficit explosions, technical breakdowns … Read more

Housing Bubble Trouble in the Seattle-Bellevue Metro

Wolf Richter wolfstreet.com, http://www.amazon.com/author/wolfrichter With Seattle’s economy still strong, the downturn isn’t caused by layoffs & defaulting mortgages. The fabulous bubble has run out of steam on its own. Inventory of houses and condos for sale in King County – which includes Seattle and Bellevue but does not include Tacoma – surged 148% in December, … Read more

If We Can No Longer Tell the Truth, We’ve Failed

by Charles Hugh-Smith The Gulag Archipelago is not a distant memory; it lives on in every modern state, cloaked with modern-day technologies and the well-worn tools of suppression. The last thing addicts want to hear is the truth: the only thing more terrifying than the truth is the possibility that they will lose access to whatever … Read more

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