Thursday, January 05, 2017
The War On Cash Ratchets Up In Greece With “Soft Cash” Ban / Stock-Markets / War on Cash
By: Jeff_Berwick
It wasn’t long ago that it came out that the IMF intentionally wanted to create a “credit event” in Greece - part of a larger plan to destabilize Europe.
The country has already fallen victim to the repercussions of the war on cash, but now the grip of capital control is growing tighter.
The Greek Finance Ministry in their infinite wisdom has decided that its nation’s taxpayers will only be granted deductions or tax-allowances if payments are made using a debit or credit card.
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Thursday, January 05, 2017
Stock Market No New Highs... / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2016
By: Anthony_Cherniawski
Wave [c] of 2 is three points shorter than Wave [a] at 30.20 points. However, it has stopped short of 2273.82 and appears to be complete. If so, the decline begins in earnest. Short positions may be taken beneath Short-term support at 2260.63. A second break of the trendline at 2250.00 is also a good short entry.
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Thursday, January 05, 2017
You’re Being Lied to! / Politics / Mainstream Media
By: Stephen_Lendman
Believe nothing at face value from government at all levels and scoundrel media sources.
On all issues mattering most, especially geopolitical ones, they systematically lie - fake news substituting for truth-telling, information important to know suppressed.
Media scoundrels operate as virtual press agents for wealth, power and privileged interests - willfully deceiving readers and viewers to keep them uninformed on what’s going on, feeding them worthless rubbish, fiction, not facts.
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Thursday, January 05, 2017
Now Is the Time to Buy Gold / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017
By: John_Mauldin
John Grandits : The Fed finally raised its target interest rate and issued guidance for 2017. Trump shocked the political world and stocks seem to be making new highs daily. Investor sentiment is at two-year highs, fueled by optimism for renewed economic growth, de-regulation, and tax cuts.
Thursday, January 05, 2017
Americans Prefer Pets to Kids After the Great Recession - How to Cash In / Stock-Markets / Investing 2017
By: John_Mauldin
BY PATRICK WATSON : More and more Americans seem to prefer pets to children… and the resulting demographic trend has massive economic and investment implications.
The numbers are startling and affect everyone—whether you’re a parent, a pet owner, neither, or both. It’s also an investment opportunity you might try in 2017.
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Thursday, January 05, 2017
There’s No Such Thing as Europe Anymore / Politics / European Union
By: John_Mauldin
BY PATRICK WATSON : The European Union’s founders envisioned an “ever-closer union” that gradually eliminated national distinctions. It didn’t happen, and geopolitical expert George Friedman of Geopolitical Futures says the opposite is now taking shape. “Europe” doesn’t really exist in any meaningful way.
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Thursday, January 05, 2017
Chinese Yuan: "Manipulated" Currency Does NOT Mean "Unpredictable" / Currencies / China Currency Yuan
By: EWI
"...markets are bigger than governments."
This year's U.S. presidential election brought into focus one market you don't hear about often: the Chinese yuan, or renminbi.
"Donald Trump has been telling us all for a long time now that China is a currency manipulator. It's part of his plan for his first 100 days in office to get on with making sure that China is legally declared to be such a currency manipulator and thus start the process of doing something about it.
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Thursday, January 05, 2017
Raising Questions About Politics and the Mass Media / Politics / Mainstream Media
By: Walter_Brasch
It’s the first week of January and the election returns are starting to trickle in. It’s not for the rich Democratic white Hillary Clinton who captured the popular vote, nor for the rich Republican white Donald Trump who captured the electoral college and became the next president. This vote came from the campaigns of Clinton and Trump, and the beneficiaries were the TV media in select markets.
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Wednesday, January 04, 2017
Trumponomics Won’t Trump the Bond Market Bust / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
By: Michael_Pento
Despite the millions of dollars Wall Street plowed into the Clinton campaign in vain, the financial industry has nevertheless now become downright giddy with the prospects of a Donald Trump presidency. The imperative question investors need to determine is will the Trump presidency be able to generate viable growth. And, if he cannot produce robust and sustainable growth imminently, are the markets now priced for perfection that simply may never arrive? Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, January 04, 2017
Stock Market - Here’s Why It’s Absurd to Be Bearish Now / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2016
By: John_Mauldin
BY JARED DILLIAN : The trend is your friend. How many times have you heard that saying? HOW MANY?
It’s a deeper philosophical question. You get to believe only one of the following, not both:
1) The market trends
2) The market is mean reverting
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Wednesday, January 04, 2017
2017 – The Year of Banana Skin / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2017
By: GoldCore
2016 is behind us and we have started a new year with great gusto and no small measure of anxiety. The potential for unknown unknowns turning into banana skins is very high. Right now we are looking at:
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Wednesday, January 04, 2017
Defence Contracting Sector Under Trump / Companies / Sector Analysis
By: John_Mauldin
BY PATRICK WATSON : This month, President-elect Trump annoyed some people when he criticized two top defense contractors on Twitter.
Wall Street isn’t used to presidents publicly criticizing major US companies. The tweets caused shares to tumble a few points for both Boeing (BA) and Lockheed Martin (LMT), which makes the F-35 fighter planes.
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Wednesday, January 04, 2017
Low Oil Prices Will Make Russia More Aggressive in 2017 / Politics / Russia
By: John_Mauldin
BY GEORGE FRIEDMAN : Russia has had a hard time since the collapse of global oil prices which began in August 2014. This will continue in 2017. The Russian people are starting to feel the effects of prolonged low oil prices. This was bound to happen. And this will shape Moscow's foreign policy in the year to come.
Russia’s money problems start with the economy’s structure. The country’s budget depends on income from oil exports. Low oil prices have had huge effects. And the country hasn’t even recovered from the 2008 decline.
Wednesday, January 04, 2017
Stratfor 2017 Annual Global Forecast / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: STRATFOR
The convulsions to come in 2017 are the political manifestations of much deeper forces in play. In much of the developed world, the trend of aging demographics and declining productivity is layered with technological innovation and the labor displacement that comes with it. China's economic slowdown and its ongoing evolution compound this dynamic. At the same time the world is trying to cope with reduced Chinese demand after decades of record growth, China is also slowly but surely moving its own economy up the value chain to produce and assemble many of the inputs it once imported, with the intent of increasingly selling to itself. All these forces combined will have a dramatic and enduring impact on the global economy and ultimately on the shape of the international system for decades to come.
Wednesday, January 04, 2017
Understanding America's Global Role in the Age of Trump / Politics / US Politics
By: STRATFOR
By Rodger Baker : The New Year, of course, is a time when many reflect on the past and look toward the future. The past provides potential lessons and cautions for those who would seek to find tomorrow's solutions in yesterday's actions. In his 1994 book Diplomacy, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger wrote: "The study of history offers no manual of instructions that can be applied automatically; history teaches by analogy, shedding light on the likely consequences of comparable situations. But each generation must determine for itself which circumstances are in fact comparable."
Wednesday, January 04, 2017
Old Woman In Sweden Becomes The Latest Victim of the War on Cash / Politics / War on Cash
By: Jeff_Berwick
It has been a common practice for people to keep cash stowed away in lock boxes or under mattresses in their homes, but now, even something as logical and important as keeping a cash stash for a rainy day can make you a suspected criminal.
Ethel Hülst, a 91 year old Swedish woman, unfortunately got to experience the ruthlessness of her country’s central bank first hand which may have contributed to her death.
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Wednesday, January 04, 2017
Increased Fiscal Spending Could Spell Debt Trouble for 2017 / Interest-Rates / US Debt
By: John_Mauldin
Over the past 30 years, America’s economic growth and boom-bust market cycles have been fueled with abundant sources of cheap debt. Whether emerging markets or commodity-rich countries, there’s been no shortage of buyers of US debt.
This has allowed the US—and by extension its consumers—to borrow huge sums of capital to spend on fiscal items or for personal consumption. It was a rather symbiotic relationship from which both parties would benefit, even if longer term prosperity was being jeopardized.
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Wednesday, January 04, 2017
Here’s the Real Oil Price Russia Needs to Break Even / Commodities / Crude Oil
By: John_Mauldin
BY JACOB SHAPIRO : We published our 2017 forecast earlier this week. One of our predictions is that Russia is in for a difficult year economically. This is because Russia’s economy depends significantly on oil.
The price of oil in 2016 has averaged roughly $43 a barrel. That’s a far cry from two years ago, when it was more than double. According to Russia’s Federal Customs Service, oil-export revenue accounts for 26 percent of total revenue from Russian exports. For an economy with exports making up almost 30 percent of GDP, that’s fairly significant.
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Wednesday, January 04, 2017
Stock Market, Gold Outlook for 2017 / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2017
By: The_Gold_Report
Precious metals expert Michael Ballanger reflects on how events of 2016 affected the markets, and lays out his strategy for 2017, which includes diamonds and uranium.
One of the most bothersome peccadillos of the advisory community, be it emanations from home computer blogs or the Ivory Towers of Wall Street, is the annoying tendency to accentuate good calls and understate bad ones.
Wednesday, January 04, 2017
CIA Planning Rogue President Donald Trump Assassination? Elites "Manchurian Candidate" Plan B / Politics / Intelligence Agencies
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The establishment elite still reeling from the failure of any of their bought and paid for candidates that populate both the Democratic and Republican parties to make it into the White house for the first time since perhaps JFK, are increasingly looking to the likes of the CIA to begin implementing the elite's PLAN B as President Elect Donald Trump takes office and starts to diverge from the elites interests. For instance it is is not in the elite's military industrial complexes' interests for the US to be friendly towards Russia, despite the fact that Russia literally poses a near zero economic or military threat to US global power. However, the operating system of US Military and Economic Global Power is such that it does not matter if a nations is a friend or foe, all are fair game, where the king of cyber warefare is the United States that can literally shut any nation down within hours, given that the so called free internet is a US military delivery system for malware infection for total access and control. So to imagine that the US full spectrum global empire assembled over the past 100 years will allow a Rouge President to disrupt it's activities is delusional.