Thursday, February 25, 2016

Central Banks Should Stop Paying Interest on Reserves / Interest-Rates / Central Banks

By: MISES

Brendan Brown writes: In 2008, the Federal Reserve began paying interest on reserve balances held on deposit at the Fed. It took more than seven decades from the US leaving the gold standard — in 1933 — for the fiat regime to do this and thus revoke a cardinal element of the old gold-based monetary system: the non-payment of any interest on base money.

Thursday, February 25, 2016

Economic News Gets Worse... Stock Market Sentiment Unwinding.... / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2016

By: Jack_Steiman

Lots of bad news for the bulls today as the bull-bear spread blasted up from -13.5% to just -1.0%. A 12.5 move of bullish behavior and thinking. Then to add to the bad news we saw the flash ISM Services Report, or the preliminary report, come in below 50.0 for the first time in three years. Down nearly 4% month over month, which shows a very strong decline in the overall economic activity for our country. The services sector had been holding up better than the manufacturing sector, but it is clearly playing catch up. This is the worst possible news for our economy, to be losing the last piece of hope for an economic recovery. Bad news on sentiment. Bad news on our economy in a very big way, and the result is a nice blast higher in our markets after gapping down nicely and running lower after we opened up for trading. Would you expect anything else?

Thursday, February 25, 2016

New U.S. Home Sales Unexpectedly Plunge 9.2%, Median House Prices Down 5.7% / Housing-Market / US Housing

By: Mike_Shedlock

New Home Sales Report Dismal Many Ways

Today's new homes sales report was a disaster. Sales fell 9.2% overall, sales in the west plunged 32%, the median price fell 5.7%, and supply rose to 5.8% from 5.1%.

Thursday, February 25, 2016

Walkers Crisps Game Ready Win UEFA Champions League Prizes Delivery Update / Personal_Finance / Freebies and Comps

By: Adnaan_Walayat

This is an update on the status of the easy to win walkers crisps UEFA Champions League Game-Ready promotion, as today I received emails informing me to choose the sizes of 27 t-shirts! Find out the details of what to expect in terms of delivery of these and other prizes in this really easy to win t-shirts, footballs and sharing bowl prizes in my video update.

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Why Central Banks Will Buy Silver / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2016

By: Hubert_Moolman

Money is a store of value (or wealth), a medium of exchange as well as a unit of account. In order for money to be effective in the above it has to have the following properties:

• divisible - should be divisible in smaller units
• portable - able to carry it around therefore a high value should be able to be contained in a small space and weight
• homogenous - one unit should be the same as any another unit
• durable - should not be able to be easily destroyed or eroded
• valuable - should have intrinsic value, normally because it is desirable. Should not be able to be created or discovered without reasonable effort (normally a commodity itself).

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Don't Expect Global Economy 'Crisis Response' from G-20 Meeting / Economics / Global Economy

By: Bloomberg

U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew sat down with Bloomberg's David Westin in Washington D.C. ahead of the G-20 meeting later this week in Shanghai, China.

When asked about a response from G-20 to global market turbulence, Lew said: "Don't expect a crisis response in a non-crisis environment. You know, it's not the job of finance ministers and central bank governors to accelerate a crisis. It's our job to try and avoid a crisis. If you're in a crisis, you do different things."

He added: "I don't think this is a moment in time when you're going to see individual countries make the kinds of specific commitments that have been made in some other contexts that have been marked by real crisis. This is not a moment of crisis. This is a moment where you've got real economies doing better than markets think, in some cases."

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

An Escalating War on Cash / Stock-Markets / War on Cash

By: John_Browne

On February 16th, The Washington Post printed the article, "It's time to kill the $100 bill." This came on the heels of a CNNMoney item, the day before, entitled "Death of the 500 euro bill getting closer." The former cited a recent Harvard Kennedy School working paper, No. 52 by Senior Fellow Peter Sands, concluding that the abolition of high denomination notes would help deter "tax evasion, financial crime, terrorist finance and corruption." In recent days, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, ECB President Mario Draghi, and even the editorial board of the New York Times, came out in support of the elimination of large currency notes. Apart from the question as to why these calls are being raised now with such frequency, the larger issue is whether these moves are actually needed or if they merely a subterfuge for more complex economic manipulations by central banks to extend control over private wealth.

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

This Is What Gold Does In A Currency Crisis, British Edition / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2016

By: John_Rubino

It appears that Great Britain might actually do the until-recently-unthinkable, and leave the European Union. The reasons for this dramatic break-up are many, and can be Googled easily enough. For our purposes, suffice to say that traders are scrambling to figure out what this means for the British pound, and they’re not liking the answers. Here’s a quick look at the recent foreign exchange action:

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

The 5 Worst Days in American Economic History / Politics / US Federal Reserve Bank

By: Andy_Sutton

I’ll be upfront going in and say that some of this material is going to double a bit with a fantastic message preached by Chuck Baldwin a few weeks ago. As I listened, some different angles came to mind, and some different events altogether. As we get further and further into the silly season otherwise known as an election year, it is important to remember that sometimes we really do get what we wish for.

I guess what hit me the hardest about all of this is the fact that we are watching a circus right now; and that circus has a pre-defined outcome. The winners have already been decided in the major national elections. What is more baffling is that it doesn’t even matter if the winners were already decided, the outcome will be the same regardless of who ‘wins’. There seems to be little doubt among voters that America is on the wrong path – regardless of political affiliation (of which I have none, by the way – I am an American – that’s it) but there is a huge argument about what the ‘right’ path might be and how to get the country on that path. Hence the Laurel and Hardy-esque two bit cheap show we witness every four years.

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Next Banking Crisis Is Already Here – Opportunity! / Companies / Credit Crisis 2016

By: Chris_Vermeulen

When the next great financial crisis strikes, millions will be blindsided by what is coming and will be shocked by a “New Great Depression of The 21st Century”.  This does not have to happen to you. It is empowering to know what is coming and to understand why it is coming.  It is important to get prepared in advance for turbulent times. It is also imperative to have a plan for the years ahead. I will do my best to prepare you in advance for any eventuality.

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Gold Price Now? / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2016

By: Axel_Merk

Gold never changes; it's the world around it that does. Why is it that we see a renewed interest in gold now? And more importantly, should investors buy this precious metal?

Key attributes in a 'changing world' that may be relevant to the price of gold are fear and interest rates. Let's examine these:

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

British Pound, Financial Markets Mayhem and the Trump Revolution - Video / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2016

By: Mario_Innecco

Transcript excerpt: its February 24th 2016 in its Wednesday 9:30 a.m. London England time or 4:30
a.m. Eastern Standard Time the us- start out two day talking about the British
Pound and it's kind of part of the video I made under 12 January called British
Pound a harbinger of global financial mayhem and since then you know we saw
the stock market dropped quite a bit since the middle of January I know it
dropped quite a bit as well from the beginning of January and then we've been
rebounding over the last week or ten days and we are actually pretty much in
terms of the dow where we were on January 12 maybe a little or where we
are one you know I'm down right now as I speak is down 88 16,000 34 years and I
think we're around 16,400 in one of the reasons I mentioned British Pound be a
harbinger financial mayhem is that in the last financial crisis the pound

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

UK Housing Market Mortgage Lending Surges by 38% / Housing-Market / Mortgages

By: MoneyFacts

“The latest statistics from the BBA show that mortgage approvals are up 38% from last year. The rise has been greatly helped by intense competition in the mortgage market, with every loan-to-value (LTV) and fixed rate being fought over by lenders wanting to gain pole position. As a result, the average two-year fixed mortgage rate, for instance, has dropped from 3.14% to 2.56% in the space of just one year.

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Who Will Be Left Standing At The End Of The Oil War / Commodities / Crude Oil

By: OilPrice_Com

This is a financial cold war—nothing more, nothing less.

While there are billions of reasons to cut output, and every major producing country is reeling from the loss of revenues, some are weathering the current bust better than others, but the devil is in the details, and the details contain tons of variables.

Production cost and breakeven figures that analysts enjoy bandying can trap you in bubble of black-and-white mathematics that is a few brush-strokes shy of a full picture.

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Stock Market Indices Reverses to Downside on Solid Sell-Off / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2016

By: Harry_Boxer

It was turn-around Tuesday as the indices reversed yesterday’s gains and had a solid sell off. The day started out with a gap down, they formed early bear wedges that created a 5-wave morning move, late morning and early afternoon they coiled, and then consolidated, trying to test support. On a couple of occasions they were successful, but in the afternoon they came down, bounced, went lower, and nearly closed at the lows for the day.

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

U.S. Housing Market at the Edge of Another Huge Cliff? / Housing-Market / US Housing

By: EWI

Time and again, we've said that financial markets do what they do despite the Federal Reserve.

When the central bank raised its key rate in December for the first time since 2006, many thought that would translate into higher mortgage rates.

Instead, mortgage rates are nearly as low as they've ever been. A Feb. 12 CNBC headline reads:

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Whoever Does Not Respect the Penny is Not Worthy of the Dollar / Currencies / War on Cash

By: Casey_Research

By Nick Giambruno

This definitive sign of a currency collapse is easy to see…

When paper money literally becomes trash.

Maybe you’ve seen images depicting hyperinflation in Germany after World War I. The German government had printed so much money that it became worthless. Technically, German merchants still accepted the currency, but it was impractical to use. It would have required wheelbarrows full of paper money just to buy a loaf of bread.

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Eric Coffin Can See the End of the Gold Stocks Bear Market / Commodities / Gold and Silver Stocks 2016

By: The_Gold_Report

When the New York markets run out of steam, the gold market gets hot. HRA Editor Eric Coffin has been watching the companies with the best assets, waiting for just this moment. In this interview with The Gold Report, he shares the names of the best in the gold, silver, copper and uranium spaces and tells you where you can go to talk to the CEOs.

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Gold and the 34-Month Moving Average / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2016

By: Ed_Carlson

Gold gave up $8.70 last week (after the previous week's gain of $81.30/oz.) to close at 1,230 and printed a bearish harami candlestick on the weekly chart. Friday's close was on resistance at 1,230. Look for support at 1,190.

A breakout from the 34-month exponential moving average (chart) would be very bullish. Assuming a breakout, our price target is 1,370.

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Boris Johnson Crashes British Pound or Wins Currency War? Video / Currencies / British Pound

By: Nadeem_Walayat

According to the mainstream media Boris Johnson's declaration to campaign for Britain to leave the European Union has triggered market panic head lines right across the mainstream press spectrum that demonstrates the magnitude of the depth of their ignorance of markets from the likes of the BBC, to Channel 4 News to the myriad of dieing broadsheet publications such as the FT, all in unison propagating headlines such as 'Boris Johnson Causes a Run on the Pound' that followed a 3 cent dip against the US Dollar on rising BrExit fears as though this was catastrophically bad news, though conveniently ignoring the fact that the FTSE actually closed higher on the so called BrExit panic Monday.