Marion Post Wolcott Natchez, Mississippi, grocery window 1940 The Chinese stock markets broke through 2 circuit breakers today, breakers that were introduced only a few months ago in response to the market selloff, triggered by a surprise yuan devaluation, in August. The first breaker, at -5%, forced a 15-minute trading halt. The second one, at -7%, halted trading for the rest of the day. For many people, today’s bust can’t have been a huge surprise, because it’s been known for
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AP Refugee carries child in freezing waves off Lesbos 2016 • China Halts Stock Trading After 7% Rout Triggers Circuit Breaker (BBG) • China Factories Struggle As Weak Exports Drag Industry In Asia (Reuters) • China’s Tech Sector Likely Faces Tougher Sledding in 2016 (WSJ) • Obama Dollar Rally Is Forecast to Join Clinton, Reagan Upturns (BBG) • Global Stock Markets Overvalued And Unprepared For Return Of Risk (Telegraph) • Reserve Bank of Australia Index of Commodity Prices (RBA) •
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Russell Lee Bike rack in Idaho Falls, Idaho 1942 • “This Is The Worst Global Dollar GDP Recession In 50 Years” (ZH) • New Year’s Hangover For Wall Street: Earnings Season Misery (MarketWatch) • China’s Factories In The Grip Of Longest Contraction In Six Years (Ind.) • How a Turbulent Year Derailed China’s Reform (WSJ) • Chinese State-Owned Finance Firm Goes Global To Raise Funds (SCMP) • 2015: Peak Cognitive Dissonance (Noland) • Bank of Greece Governor Warns on Measures
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Earl Theisen Walt Disney oiling scale model locomotive at home in LA 1951 • After a Tumultuous 2015, Investors Have Low Expectations for Markets (WSJ) • Will Corporate Investment and Profits Rebound This Year? (WSJ) • A Year of Sovereign Defaults? (Carmen Reinhart) • The Next Big Short: Amazon (Stockman) • The Real Financial Risks of 2016 (Taleb) • High-Yield Bonds: Worthy of the Name Again (WSJ) • Slowdown In Chinese Manufacturing Deepens Fears For Economy (Guardian) • Opinion Divided
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Unknown Gurley-Lord service station, San Francisco 1929 • US Stocks Close Out The Worst Year For The Market Since 2008 (AP) • Oil Drops 31% In 2015 On Global Crude Glut (MarketWatch) • Gold Sinks 10% For 3rd Annual Loss as Platinum, Palladium Hit Hard (Reuters) • Copper Ends Dismal Year on a Low Note (WSJ) • Half a Million Bank Jobs Have Vanished Since 2008 Crisis (BBG) • China December Factory Activity Shrinks (Reuters) • Chicago PMI Plummets To
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DPC Market Street from Montgomery Street, San Francisco, after the earthquake 1906 • The Deadly Truth About the Great Boom and This “Recovery” (Dent) • Asia’s Top Commodity Trader Ends a Turbulent Year With Cut To Junk (BBG) • Mom And Pop Are The Greater Fools (ZH) • Oil Ends 2015 In Downbeat Mood; Hangover To Be Long, Painful (Reuters) • Impact Of Low Crude Prices On Oil Powers (Guardian) • China’s Yuan Posts Biggest Annual Loss In 21 Years
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DPC Boston and Maine Railroad depot, Riley Plaza, Salem, MA 1910 • US Companies Led the World in 2015 Debt Defaults (BBG) • China’s Unprecedented Real Estate Bubble Is a Ticking Time Bomb (Dent) • The Most Important China Chart Of 2015 (BI) • China Suspends Foreign Banks’ Forex Business (Reuters) • Oil Prices Become a Problem for US Steelmakers (BBG) • Oil-Producing US States Battered as Tax-Gushing Wells Are Shut Down (BBG) • Gulf States Forced To Empty Their
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DPC Sloss City furnaces, Birmingham, Alabama 1906 • Weak Demand, Vessel Surplus Mean Horror 2016 For Commodities Shipping (Reuters) • Energy Stocks Fall Along With Oil Prices (WSJ) • Saudi Riyal In Danger As Oil War Escalates (AEP) • Saudis Plan Unprecedented Subsidy Cuts to Counter Oil Plunge (BBG) • Saudi Arabia Plans Subsidy Cuts as King Unveils 2016 Budget (BBG) • Where Next For The Three Arrows Of Abenomics? (Telegraph) • Record Merger Boom Won’t Stop In 2016, Because
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AP Police Officer Carries Aylan Kurdi’s Body, Bodrum Sep 2 2015 No year is ever easy to predict, if only because if it were, that would take all the fun out of life. But still, predictions for 2016 look quite a bit easier than other years. This is because a whole bunch of irreversible things happened in 2015 that were not recognized for what they are, either intentionally or by ‘accident’. Things that will therefore now be forced to play
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DPC Gillender Building, corner of Nassau and Wall Streets, built 1897, wrecked 1910 1900 • Japan Output, Retail Sales Slump, Dampen Recovery Prospects (Reuters) • Japan Business Lobby Head Won’t Commit To Higher Wages (Reuters) • China Industrial Profits Fall For Sixth Straight Month (Reuters) • Head Of China Telecom ‘Taken Away’ As Probe Launched (AFP) • World Steel Chief Calls Chinese Glut ‘Serious And Critical’ (USA Today) • Shale’s Running Out of Survival Tricks as OPEC Ramps Up Pressure
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