Dorothea Lange White Angel Breadline San Francisco 1933 Many people are cheering now that yesterday Marine Le Pen and her Front National (FN) party didn’t get to take over government in any regions in the France regional elections. They should think again. FN did get a lot more votes than the last time around, and, though she will be a little disappointed after last weekend’s results, it’s exactly as Le Pen herself said: “Nothing can stop us”. And instead of
Read More...
Harris&Ewing President Hoover lights Nation’s Capital community Xmas tree 1929 • The New American Dream Is To Have A Job (FT) • The End Of The Bubble Finance Era (Stockman) • “It’s An Epic Bloodbath” : The 2015 Junk Bond Heatmap (ZH) • The Coincidences Are Just Too Eerie: The Last Time CCC Yields Were Here (ZH) • Yuan Declines to Four-Year Low as New Index Signals Weakness (BBG) • Oil Sinks to Lowest in Almost 7 Years as Iran
Read More...
Marion Post Wolcott “Center of town. Woodstock, Vermont. Snowy night” 1940 • Why A 0.25% Rate Hike Should Have Big Banks Nervous But Probably Won’t (Bern) • “Coppock Guide” Signals A Bear Market Is At Hand (ZH) • Junk-Bond Rout Deepens, Sends Shockwaves Through Stocks, Other Markets (WSJ) • Junk-Bond Fund’s Demise Highlights SEC Mutual-Fund Worries (WSJ) • China Steel Output Slumps to a One-Year Low as Prices Collapse (BBG) • Missing Chinese Billionaire ‘Assisting Authorities in an Investigation’ (WSJ)
Read More...
Nickolay Lamm Jefferson Memorial under 25 feet of water French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius just announced, in Paris, a “legally binding agreement” that no-one has agreed the financing for. We can hear a couple thousand lawyers across the globe snicker. But it’s all the COP21 ‘oh-so-important’ climate conference managed to come up with. No surprises there. They couldn’t make the 2ºC former goal stick, so they go for 1.5ºC this time. All on red, double or nothing. Because who really
Read More...
Banksy Steve Jobs, son of a Syrian immigrant 2015 • Russia Calls Saudi Bluff, Plans $40 Oil For Seven Years (AEP) • December 16, 2015 – When The End Of The Bubble Begins (Stockman) • Stocks Are More Overvalued Now Than At 2000 And 2007 Peaks (MarketWatch) • As Commercial Real-Estate Prices Soar, Fed Weighs Consequences (WSJ) • Why The Junk Bond Selloff Is Getting Very Scary (MarketWatch) • Carl Icahn: Junk Bond Market A ‘Keg Of Dynamite’ (CNBC) •
Read More...
John Vachon Billie Holiday at the Newport Jazz Festival Jul 1954 • Warning: Half Of Oil Junk Bonds Could Default (CNN) • Junk Fund’s Demise Fuels Concern Over Bond Rout (WSJ)
Read More...
Unknown GMC truck Associated Oil fuel tanker, San Francisco 1935 • If It Owns a Well or a Mine, It’s Probably in Trouble (NY Times) • Credit Card Data Reveals First Core Retail Sales Decline Since Recession (ZH) • America’s Middle Class Meltdown (FT) • Chinese Devaluation Is A Bigger Danger Than Fed Rate Rises (AEP) • China Swallows Its Mining Debt Bomb (BBG) • China’s Plan to Merge Sprawling Firms Risks Curbing Competition (WSJ) • Billions of Barrels of
Read More...
Dorothea Lange Refugees: Drought hit OK farm family on way to CA Aug 1936 • When It Rains It Pours as China Unleashes Commodity Torrent (BBG) • Oil Producers Prepare For Prices To Halve To $20 A Barrel (Guardian) • Anglo American To Slash Workforce By 85,000 Amid Commodity Slump (Guardian) • OPEC Provides Economic Stimulus Central Bankers Can’t or Won’t (BBG) • Copper Meltdown Burning Miners Is Boon to Builders as Costs Sink (BBG) • Iron Ore in $30s
Read More...
Poached baby gorilla, Virunga Park Anglo American, a British company, and one of the world’s biggest miners, and a ‘producer’ (actually just a miner, how did those two terms ever get mixed up?!) of platinum (world no. 1), diamonds, copper, nickel, iron ore and coal, said today it would scrap dividends AND fire 85,000 of it 135,000 global workforce (that’s 63%!). Anglo is just the first in a long litany line we’ll see going forward. Commodities ‘producers’ are being completely
Read More...
NPC Tank truck with plow clearing snow, Washington, DC 1922 • Commodities Rout Deepens As Chinese Trade Data Signal Weaker Demand (Guardian) • China November Exports Down -6.8%, Imports -8.7% (Reuters) • Anglo American Scraps Dividend As Shares Fall 71% So Far This Year (BBG) • OPEC Forces Re-Rating Of Oil Majors (BBG) • Peter Schiff: ‘The Whole Economy Has Imploded; Collapse Is Coming’ (SHTF) • We Are Shrinking! The Neglected Drop In Gross Planet Product (VoxEU) • Beijing Issues
Read More...