JAMES COMEY BEGAN RUSSIA INVESTIGATION WITH FOUR UNKNOWN TRUMP ASSOCIATES
Russia investigation started with four Americans with ties to Trump, Russia https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/p…
HE’S NO TED KENNEDY — BUT HE’S WORKING ON IT
Beto O’Rourke Overtakes Biden As Dem’s Top 2020 Candidate In New Poll. “You can be a failed Senate candidate with not much in the way of accomplishments except a bad rap for stealing land from the poor and trying to flee a drunk driving incident, and STILL be the number one choice for Democrats in 2020.” … Read more
Former cryptocurrency Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpeles looking at 10 years in prison
TOKYO — Prosecutors on Wednesday proposed a 10-year prison term for Mark Karpeles, the former CEO of Tokyo-based Mt. Gox, which at one time was the world’s largest bitcoin exchange. The prosecutors accuse Karpeles of embezzling about 340 million yen from accounts that Mt. Gox managed on behalf of clients, doing so in the final … Read more
World’s Largest Cleaning Company To Fire 100,000 Workers
from Zero Hedge The world is about to get a whole lot dirtier. On Monday, global cleaning giant Denmark’s ISS A/S, which is also one of the world’s largest private employers, pulled a page right out of the Fifth Element when it announced plans to fire about 100,000 workers as it exits 13 countries that were among its … Read more
The S&P 500 just experienced a very rare bout of selling pressure.
by Dana Lyons Volatility continues to be the theme on Wall Street as exemplified by yesterday’s action. The S&P 500, for example, plunged nearly 2% at one point during the day before rallying all the way back to close higher on the day. And, in fact, it was the 2nd such reversal in the past few … Read more
No signs of a problem?
https://twitter.com/OccupyWisdom/status/1072759212122476544 Yep, Bitcoin was a bubble. And it popped. https://t.co/RFl50WlXw1 (via @Bopinion) pic.twitter.com/90HSOIVqme — Bloomberg Crypto (@crypto) December 11, 2018 https://twitter.com/OccupyWisdom/status/1072747112557936640 https://twitter.com/OccupyWisdom/status/1072738111556333569 https://twitter.com/IncomeDisparity/status/1072478322276352000
10 Reasons Why GE is a BAD investment
by theNonlinearity 30 rock made GE look like such a great company, here are 10 reasons it’s gone downhill 1 – Management turnover Jeff Immelt was CEO from 2001 to 2017, and GE had succession plan where John Flannery took over in August 2017. Flannery was fired in October 2018 and replaced with … Read more
France Budget Blowing Out
by Dave Macron throwing money at the protesters doesn’t come for free, apparently. http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/Reuters/worldNews/~3/7_58ojoehmQ/macrons-concessions-set-to-blow-out-french-deficit-idUSKBN1OA20M Any bets that the EU is going to give France an Italy-style spanking over this failure to budget properly? Since Macron is a charter member of the club, I’m just gonna guess that France will get a pass, while, with a … Read more
Bank of Canada staff discuss replacing all federal debt issues with 3 fungible perpetual bonds paying fixed, floating, and inflation-linked rates
by kiwimancy Main paper: https://www.bankofcanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/sdp2018-15.pdf Mentioned in money stuff: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2018-12-11/a-happy-anniversary-for-madoff-s-scam The paper discusses four ways of improving liquidity of canadian government bonds which should lower the cost of their debt. The last of these is pretty interesting, proposing that they would buy back the currently outstanding bonds which have many different maturities and rates and aren’t easily … Read more
Trump administration to condemn China over hacking and economic espionage, escalating tensions between superpowers
USA TO CONDEMN CHINA – Source The Trump administration is preparing a series of actions this week to call out Beijing for what it says are China’s continued efforts to steal America’s trade secrets and advanced technologies and compromise sensitive government and corporate computers, according to U.S. officials. Multiple government agencies are expected to condemn … Read more
Foreign Investors, More and More, Turning Away From US Treasuries
via reuters: A worrying sign of inversion in the U.S. Treasury bond curve is dulling the appeal of the developed world’s highest-yielding bond market for foreign investors. Overseas investors are reviewing their investments or shunning Treasuries as rates at the short end rise above those at the longer end and make it unprofitable for holders of … Read more
Kyle Bass: Without $1T in Infrastructure Stimulus, We’re Headed for Recession
Interview with Hayman Capital Founder, Kyle Bass. Bass says 1$ trillion infrastructure stimulus is needed or US will hit a recession. https://twitter.com/askjaychang/status/1072511368010571777
Canadian Citizens Going Bankrupt at Alarming Speed: 16% Increase in 1 Month
via zerohedge: The shock of rising interest rates isn’t just affecting the macro picture and grinding the US economy to a halt, but it is also having profound effects globally. In Canada, personal bankruptcies are on the rise as household debt lingers at, or above, all time highs and interest rates force the cost of servicing … Read more
Fed Says “It Doesn’t Matter” How Much Money It Loses Shrinking Its Balance Sheet
via yahoo: Fed Piles Up $66 Billion in Paper Losses as It Faces Trump Wrath (Bloomberg) — The Federal Reserve is piling up unrealized losses on its $4.1 trillion bond portfolio, raising questions about its finances at a politically dicey moment for the independent central bank. The Fed had losses of $66.5 billion on its … Read more
Why Are the ‘Yellow Vests’ Protesting
by Jesse “Four weekends of mass protests in Paris and in towns and villages across France have hampered economic activity while hurting the country’s image with investors, the government said Monday… He [Macron] did not mention changing course on the most business-friendly overhaul of the French labor market in decades. The omission was a signal … Read more
Migrant group demands Trump either let them in or pay them each $50G to turn around
Two groups of Central American migrants marched to the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana on Tuesday with a list of demands, with one group delivering an ultimatum to the Trump administration: either let them in the U.S. or pay them $50,000 each to go home, a report said. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/migrant-group-demands-trump-either-let-them-in-or-pay-them-each-dollar50g-to-turn-around-report/ar-BBQPKtI?li=BBnb7Kz look at the video. they’re not … Read more
Both Goldman and Citi Say Hong Kong Banks at Risk After Central Bank Money Printing
via Bloomberg: Hong Kong’s banks are staring at a tough year for business, marred by lower demand for loans and a peak in local property prices. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. cut the lenders’ loan-growth estimates and target prices on Tuesday. Citigroup Inc. said the banks’ shares may drop as much as 15 percent in 2019. … Read more
60% of Working Americans Say It’s Harder to Retire Now Than 5 Years Ago
via thestreet: This might not come as a surprise to students of retirement, but it does shed light on the need for Americans of all ages to plan — and preferably with the help of a financial planner who is a fiduciary and one who provides comprehensive holistic advice — for their future. Consider: Two-thirds of … Read more
Economists, Who Almost Never Predict Recessions, Still Making the Same Mistakes
via Marketwatch: If you’re using economic indicators to determine your allocation to the stock market, you will most certainly be well behind the curve An Elliottwavetrader member attended the 32nd Economic Outlook Symposium hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago in November. On the first day, he sat in a room with 150 … Read more
Interactive Map: Ugly Auto Loan Delinquency Numbers Start Piling up Across the US
via CNBC: For example, 27 percent of people in Florence, South Carolina, who bought their car with a so-called subprime score — defined as a VantageScore between 300 and 600— are delinquent. Yet just 3 percent of residents with the same credit profile in El Dorado, California, are.