Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Ending Syria’s Nightmare will Take Pressure From Below / Politics / Syria

By: Mike_Whitney

Ominous developments in East Syria have drawn the United States and Russia into closer proximity increasing the likelihood of a violent confrontation.  The Trump administration has embarked on a dangerous plan to defeat the terrorist militia, ISIS, in Raqqa. But recent comments by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson suggest that Washington’s long-term strategy may conflict with Moscow’s goal of restoring Syria’s sovereign borders.  Something’s got to give. Either Russia ceases its clearing operations in east Syria or Washington agrees to withdraw its US-backed forces when the battle is over. If neither side gives ground, there’s going to be a collision between the two nuclear-armed adversaries.

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

The Last G-20 Meeting Marks the End of Free Trade / Economics / Global Economy

By: John_Mauldin

BY GEORGE FRIEDMAN : In the last G-20 meeting, its members agreed to drop the forum’s commitment to free trade at the insistence of the United States. That agreement was reached at one meeting and was contained in a single document—such agreements and documents are far from written in stone.

In spite of that, it must be regarded as a historical moment. Excluding the free trade commitment from the agreement marks a fundamental shift in a concept that has been central to global economics for more than a generation.

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Charts That Reveal US Real Employment Status and It’s Not Good / Economics / Employment

By: John_Mauldin

The “labor force” from which we get unemployment statistics includes only those people who are either working or wish to be working.

It ignores the retired, those in school, the disabled, and nonworking spouses—as well as those who are not interested in working.

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

John McCain’s New World Order Is Under “Enormous Strain” / Politics / US Politics

By: Jeff_Berwick

Decades ago, John McCain was in Asia trying to kill people he didn’t know while living off the largess of money (taxes) stolen from hard working people in the US.

In any other reality but our current one he’d be considered a thieving mass murderer.

Unfortunately, in our current reality, some people call him a “war hero”.

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

SNP Controlled Scottish Parliament Demands Right for Scotland to Commit Suicide - Indyref2 / Politics / Scotland

By: Nadeem_Walayat

As Britain counts down to triggering Article 50 later today the SNP fired another missile at Westminister Tuesday in their continuing program towards the subversion of the settled BrExit will of the British people by voting to demand that another Scottish Independence referendum be held before the BrExit negotiations are finalised with the EU. This despite the fact that in the run up to Scotland's September 2014 Independence Referendum the Scottish Nationalists from Alex Salmond and Nichola Sturgeon down promised that they would abide by the results of the referendum, declaring that it was at least a once in a generation decision if not once in a life time decision.

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

US Dollar and Gold Dumb Market Myths About to Go Up in Smoke… / Currencies / US Dollar

By: Graham_Summers

Everywhere I look I see talk of a major $USD bull market being underway. I see this coming from CNBC as well as so-called “investment gurus.”

This is odd… because the $USD is DOWN against every major currency thus far in 2017.

I’m not making this up. The $USD is DOWN against the Yen, the Euro, the Swiss Franc, even the British pound.

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Warning: Three Major Stock Market Bellwethers Are on Red Alert / Companies / Company Chart Analysis

By: Graham_Summers

As we have repeatedly warned since mid-December, the “Trump trade” was based on hype.

This is not to say that President Trump will not succeed in generating economic growth… it IS to say that whatever growth is coming will do so in 2018 as opposed to the GDP growth of 5% that the market seemed to believe would be hitting in early 2017.

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

USD Gold Myriad of Signs / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017

By: P_Radomski_CFA

In yesterday's alert we emphasized that the breakdown in the USD Index should not be trusted as it was not confirmed and there were several good reasons to think that it would not be confirmed. The breakdown is already invalidated and - again, as discussed yesterday - this is actually a strong bullish sign. Is the decline in the USD Index over and is the big slide in the precious metals sector just around the corner?

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

SPX Challenging its Cup with Handle Trigger Point / Stock-Markets / Stock Market 2017

By: Anthony_Cherniawski

SPX has completed a double zigzag from yesterday’s low. The rally has retraced 48.5% of the decline from 2390.01. It may have one zigzag left to finish a 50% retracement to 2356.13 or thereabouts. However the decline from 2390.01 and its retracement have gone exactly 60 hours, or 4.3 days at the 12:00 pm high. In other words, it may be complete, or nearly so at this time.

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

What A Westinghouse Bankruptcy Could Mean For U.S. Utilities / Companies / US Utilities

By: OilPrice_Com

International news services now report that Japan’s Toshiba Corporation (9502.T) is preparing to make a chapter 11 bankruptcy filing for its Westinghouse Electric subsidiary as soon as this Monday, March 27. For most of our readers this news evokes little surprise. This is merely another chapter of a slow moving financial and accounting train wreck involving nuclear design and construction firm Westinghouse and its troubled Japanese parent, Toshiba. But like an old, leaky garbage scow there is much to clean up in its wake.

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Savers Maximise the Personal Savings Allowance for Bigger Returns / Personal_Finance / Savings Accounts

By: MoneyFacts

As a new tax year approaches, savers may well be readying their cash to invest in a new ISA, but the latest research by Moneyfacts.co.uk reveals why savers should still consider maximising their Personal Savings Allowance (PSA) for bigger returns.

Since April 2016, savers have been given an individual Personal Savings Allowance to earn a portion of savings income or interest tax-free, with basic rate (20%) tax payers given a £1,000 allowance and higher rate (40%) taxpayers getting £500. This momentous change means that now most taxpayers (estimated at 95%) no longer pay tax on their savings interest.

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Brexit: The Chaotic Divorce Saga Continues / Politics / BrExit

By: Boris_Dzhingarov

"It will be a formidable challenge for Britain’s next prime minister to make an economic, diplomatic and political success out of Brexit. Or, to set the bar at a more realistic level, to contain the damage." –  Andrew Rawnsley

Much has been, and continues to be written in the press about Great Britain and her extraction from the European Union (EU), and by the looks of things, it is turning out to be a very messy divorce. The bad news is that Theresa May, the British Prime Minister, has not triggered Article 50. For the uninformed and confused among us, Article 50 is the formal notice that the UK needs to give the EU that she intends to withdraw from the European Union.

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

US Secretary of State Just Showed China Matters More Than NATO / Politics / NATO

By: John_Mauldin

BY GEORGE FRIEDMAN : US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will attend a meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump April 6–7. Tillerson will skip an April 5–6 meeting of NATO foreign ministers.

This is the first time a US secretary of state will miss such a meeting since 2002.

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Ominous Social Trends That Will Shape Our Future / Politics / Social Issues

By: John_Mauldin

We’ve touched on this before, but there’s a strong sense in much of the developed world that we’re headed for harder times. Deficits increase. Unemployment rises. The benefits of the future have been unevenly distributed throughout society.

It is not just in voting patterns that you can sense malaise. You can see it in the economic numbers and in sociological research.

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Mansa Musa, Gold, And Inflation / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017

By: Kelsey_Williams

From Wikipedia… Musa Keita I (c. 1280 – c. 1337) was the tenth Mansa, which translates as           “sultan” (king) or “emperor”, of the wealthy West African Mali Empire. 

During his reign Mali may have been the largest producer of gold in the world at a point of exceptional demand. One of the richest people in history, he is known to have been enormously wealthy; reported as being inconceivably rich by contemporaries, “There’s really no way to put an accurate number on his wealth” (Davidson 2015). 

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Unusual Stock Market Mixed Session / Stock-Markets / Stock Market 2017

By: Harry_Boxer

The stock market indices had a very unusual day, with huge gaps down, they broke support, in the first fifteen minutes showed extreme volatility, and then took off and ran from 5316 NDX all the way up to 5583 by midday. The S&P 500 jumped from 2322 to 2344, backed and filled, and then tried to rally again. Only in the last fifteen minutes they backed off.

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Foundation And Empire: Is Donald Trump The Mule? / Politics / US Politics

By: James_Quinn

In Part One of this article I analyzed the similarities of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy to Strauss & Howe’s Fourth Turning, trying to assess how Donald Trump’s ascension to power fits into the theories put forth by those authors. Now I will compare Trump to the most interesting character in Asimov’s classic – The Mule.

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Tesco Dodges a Bullet - £129m Fine to Avoid SFO Prosecution and £90m Compensation / Companies / Tesco

By: Nadeem_Walayat

Britain's largest retailer, near triple the size of its nearest competitor Sainsbury manages to dodge a bullet by being fined £129m as part of a DPA (Deferred Prosecution Agreement) with the SFO (Serious Fraud Office) for its 2014 false accounting scandal.

Which means that Tesco avoids a formal prosecution and that the fine+ investor compensation is about half what it could have been with some estimates ranging as high as £500m, perhaps the SFO took Tesco's distressed state into consideration as the super market giant had been in meltdown, it's stock price having collapsed by 60% from its high and having lost £10 billion in annual revenues to it's competitors.

Monday, March 27, 2017

Stock Market 2017 Correction Continued / Stock-Markets / Stock Market 2017

By: Ed_Carlson

     The 93-day cycle low we’ve been following looks to have been successful – at least for the time being – with Wednesday’s intra-day low coming right on-time. However, with a Hybrid forecast for a high on/near 4/3/17, the rally off Wednesday’s low isn’t expected to be sustained.

As shown in last week’s Market Update, the long term intervals forecast a high anytime between now and August. However, they also forecast a low between now and November. As the upcoming high is not expected to be the end of the basic advance (point J) which began at point I of Lindsay’s Long Cycle, we can’t use the standard time spans to try and time this high. We only know that there is a high degree of risk in our immediate future.

Monday, March 27, 2017

Did the US Government Spy on Trump? Of Course. It Spies on All of Us! / Politics / Intelligence Agencies

By: Dr_Ron_Paul

There was high drama last week when Rep. Devin Nunes announced at the White House that he had seen evidence that the communications of the Donald Trump campaign people, and perhaps even Trump himself, had been "incidentally collected" by the US government.

If true, this means that someone authorized the monitoring of Trump campaign communications using Section 702 of the FISA Act. Could it have been then-President Obama? We don't know. Could it have been other political enemies looking for something to harm the Trump campaign or presidency? It is possible.