miércoles, 27 de agosto de 2014

WHAT A DELICIOUS CAKE OF NEWS



WHAT A DELICIOUS CAKE OF NEWS

Hugo adan.  Agosto 27, 2014
http://nd-hugoadan.blogspot.com/

Agosto 27 Situación  Económica y Política
That comes in red brackets are my comments

Merkel Slams US Hegemony? "America Can't Solve All The World's Problems Anymore"    Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/27/2014 - 18:29  First Russia and China, then UAE, Egypt, and Turkey... and now it appears Germany (following a phone call with Putin) is pulling the rug out from under US hegemony - just as Obama's warmongery ramps up...  *MERKEL SAYS U.S. CAN'T SOLVE ALL THE WORLD'S PROBLEMS ANYMORE  Which is odd because just yesterday, President Obama (who never lies) stated "The United States is and will remain the one indispensable nation in the world..." adding that "no other nation can do what we do." Perhaps he is wrong?
------- 
The Nail In The Petrodollar Coffin: Gazprom Begins Accepting Payment For Oil In Ruble, Yuan  Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/27/2014 - 15:57  According to Russia's RIA Novosti, citing business daily Kommersant, Gazprom Neft has agreed to export 80,000 tons of oil from Novoportovskoye field in the Arctic; it will accept payment in rubles, and will also deliver oil via the Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline (ESPO), accepting payment in Chinese yuan for the transfers. Meaning Russia will export energy to either Europe or China, and receive payment in either Rubles or Yuan, in effect making the two currencies equivalent as far as the Eurasian axis is conerned, but most importantly, transact completely away from the US dollar thus, finally putin'(sic) in action the move for a Petrodollar-free world.
---------- 
What The Next Gold Confiscation Will Look Like  Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/27/2014 - 19:51  You may be familiar with the story of how the US government confiscated gold bullion and then made owning it illegal back in 1933. Actually this event is more accurately termed a nationalization. Americans were forced under harsh penalties to sell their gold at an artificially low “official price.” Many have speculated that the US government could once again turn to gold confiscation/nationalization if it became desperate enough. But would the US government really turn to a 1933-style grab again? We would argue that they wouldn’t, but that doesn’t mean the threat to your gold has diminished. Quite the opposite.
------ 
Militarized Schooling? "Newtown Was A Nuclear Bomb That Changed Everything"  Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/27/2014 - 19:25  The following sign on the grass in front of a Texas school sums up where we are with the militarization of education in America. As WSJ reports, public schools nationwide are greeting students for the fall term with a host of new security measures including adding armed guards, giving guns to employees, installing perimeter fencing, and bulletproof glass. "It's kind of the way of the world, unfortunately," notes one parent, but bulking up on security has led some parents and experts to question how it affects students. The idea of "hardening" schools against intruders took on urgency after Dec 2012: "Newtown was a nuclear bomb that changed the whole landscape of everything."
------ 
Another Keynesian Myth Refuted: Cold Winters Do Not Shrink The Economy  Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/27/2014 - 18:59  While weather may affect the economy, the recent contraction has little to do with winter’s bitter cold; the US economy is far too diverse and complex. Instead, we are witnessing the ongoing effects of failed monetary and fiscal policies. As the Wickersham Commission noted years ago, “These laws [of economics] cannot be destroyed by governments, but often in the course of human history governments have been destroyed by them.”
-------- 
Sometimes 0% Is Better Than -82%  Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/27/2014 - 18:50  You want winners? You want me to put my Cramer Berkowitz hedge fund hat on and just discuss what my fund is buying today to try to make money tomorrow and the next day and the next? You want my top 10 stocks for who is going to make it in the New World? You know what? I am going to give them to you. Right here. Right now...
----- 
An Interview With Alasdair Macleod  Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/27/2014 - 18:31  Yesterday it was Ambrose Evans Pritchard, today we have a conversation with Alasdair Macleod right outside the Dutch reform Church in Austin Friars near the Bank of England. Together they talked about, inter alia: the challenges for The London Bullion Market Association (LBMA); China’s appetite for gold; the Shanghai Cooperation Organization as THE future player in the gold market; and the problems related to Germany’s gold at the New York Fed.
------ 
Arms Trade Treaty: What Is It And Why Does It Matter?  Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/27/2014 - 18:04 The right to bear arms in the United States has been and continues to be one of the most hotly debated pieces of legislation in our modern era. But, as Nicole Pontius of CamCode notes, the reality is that gun laws and arms regulation is not simply a human rights issue and it certainly does not only affect the U.S. Arms regulation also impacts national security, economic interests, global commerce and foreign policy. As Pontius adds, the latest political solution to help improve international arms regulation is the ATT, or the Arms Trade Treaty. Among a number of potential benefits of the ATT, this treaty would require governments to report all arms sales, thus preventing the sale and transfer of weapons likely to be used in violation of human rights all around the world. We wanted to take a closer look at this important piece of legislation - this infographic answers what it is, who is involved, and why we need it.
------- 
4 Years Until The Next Recession? Not Likely!  Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/27/2014 - 17:30  David Rosenberg, in one of his recent missives, wrote: "...based on the current trend in the LEI and the level of the diffusion index, history suggests that the next recession is at least four years away." While anything is certainly possible, it is highly unlikely that the current economic environment is supportive of another four years of a "struggle along" economy. Given the artificial supports during recent years, the extreme extension in assets prices, record levels of margin debt and the chase for yield in "junk credits," it is highly possible that the next recessionary decline could be much larger than the historical average.
-------- 
Saxo Bank CIO Warns "It's Time To Be Defensive... Very Defensive"  Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/27/2014 - 16:31  "Germany will flirt with recession by Q4 of this year," warns Saxo Bank's Chief Economist Steen Jakobsen, adding that "the US is in worse shape than most people believe." It's important to underline, he notes, that major US investment houses, and certainly every single sales person we talk to, believe US is about to accelerate in growth not slow down. Jakobsen warns though that Q3 could be ok but the real damage will come in Q4 as the lead-lag factor of geopolitical risk, lack of reforms and excess global supply leads to low inflation. His conclusion, "it’s time to be defensive... very defensive."
------ 
Confidence In Central Planning Saved With Last Second All Time High Ramp  Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/27/2014 - 16:06  Once Europe closed, US equity markets rolled over on what is a new 'lowest-volume-day-of-the-year' led by recent winner Russell 2000. The Dow is now red on the week and the Nasdaq up 11 days in a row. Today was not about stocks though (aside from the close). While CAD saw its best gain in over 2 years, it was US Treasuries (as EUR weakened and Bund yields plunged) that made the flashing red headlines with 30Y back at 15-month lows (at 3.10%) and 10Y -3.5bps at 2.36% as the yield curve flattened even further. 2s30s dropped below 260bps - its flattest since Dec 2012. Un-de-escalation concerns evident in TSYs and credit finally started to bleed into VIX and stocks. Gold, silver, and oil limped higher as US weakened (and copper fell). A desperate buying panic into the close smashing S&P futures to VWAP magically enabled the S&P to close at the confidence-inspiring centrally-planned 'wealth effect' level of 2000.07!!
--------- 
30Y Treasury Yield Plunges To Fresh 15-Month Lows  Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/27/2014 - 15:10  Someone is gonna be wrong... 
--------- 
CBO Thinks Millions Of Americans Aren't Going To Sign Up For Obamacare  Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/27/2014 - 14:47  According to government's own projections, the 'universal coverage' provided by the Affordable Care Act will still yield almost 4 million Americans who will prefer to pay an average tax of more than $1,000 to the government for 2016, rather than buying health insurance that year... and the total number of nonelderly uninsured Americans projected for calendar 2016 is some 30 million. [[I would like that this 4 million Americans organize the National Front to rebuild America, to go beyond the trap of the bipartisan corrupted parties (democrats and republicans) financed by the same big corporations. We need a third choice, a real democracy in America]]
------- 
Argentina – Sliding Down A Slippery Slope  Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/27/2014 - 13:40  It is actually quite sad to watch the continued downfall of Argentina's economy under the inept ministrations of its government. The only good thing that can possibly come from this is that it will set yet another example for others so they may avoid making similar mistakes. Unfortunately the example is being set on the backs of the country's citizens, who are seemingly forced to live from crisis to crisis. Politicians rarely pay the price for their atrocious policies, and we are quite sure Ms. Kirchner and her cronies have feathered their nests in ways the average citizen cannot even dream of (most recently, corruption allegations have caught up with Ms. Kirchner's vice president. Rampant government corruption has long been a hot topic in Argentina under Ms. Kirchner's rule). It is not as though Argentina didn't have great potential. If only politicians would leave its economy alone and stopped inflating the currency into oblivion, the country could easily and quickly regain its former prosperity. [[Dream on… leave the speculators alone is not the solution..  Argentinians are working on a real one]]
---------- 
2nd American ISIS Fighter Killed In Syria, CNN Reports  Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/27/2014 - 13:15. The anti-ISIS operation, Naharawan al-Sham, who distributed images of the first American to be killed fighting for ISIS yesterday, has according to CNN announced a second American was killed in battle representing ISIS. So far, neither ISIS (which often comments on death of its "martyrs") or Naharawan al-Sham has released any images or evidence of the second death. [[Bring the troops home. We have nothing to offer to Middle East countries. We destroy their homes, their families, the infrastructure of their cities and we have not plan to re-build this region. The ISIS are mostly sunis who now got an alliance with the soldiers of the Baath party of Sadam Hussein, retaliation is the less they want since we destroy Faluya to the stone age. What the American war monguers expected  from ISIS was wrong from the very begining. We delete the families and the future of the young generation in that region, but we did not delete their memory, nor their current reality. We  trained them, armed them and converted them  into mercenaries. They don’t need now our devaluated dollars. In 2003, after the destruction of Faluya they hang up 7 american mercenary-soldiers, now officially they killed two. It stand to reason, we did worse thing before, we killed millions. If we really care for our soldiers, just bring them home  and get for them a decent work. We do not need more wars, the only beneficiary of wars are big corporations. It is here –in the US- that we need soldiers to stand for real democracy and freedom]]
--------
CBO "Revises" Its 2014 GDP Forecast, Hilarity Ensues (As Always)  Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/27/2014 - 11:24  The gross, in fact epic, incompetence of the Congressional Budget Office when it comes to doing its only job, forecasting the future state of the US economy, has previously been extensively documented here (and here and here and here). This incompetence is in the spotlight once again this morning with the CBO's release of its latest forecast revision of its original February 2014 projection. And while every aspect of the revised projection has changed, in an adverse direction of course, the punchline is the chart below: the CBO's revised projection for 2014 GDP. It's one of those "no comment necessary" visuals.
-------- 
The "European Close" Trade  Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/27/2014 - 11:21  Will today be 4 in a row?
-------- 
Ukraine Accuses Russia Of Imminent Gas Cut-Off, Russia Denies, Germans Anxious  Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/27/2014 - 10:51  Shortly after talks ended, Ukrainian Premier Yatsenyuk stated unequivocally that "we know about the plans of Russia to cut off transit even in European Union member countries," followed by some notably heavy-on-the-war-rhetoric comments. The Russians were quick to respond, as the energy ministry was "surprised" by his statements on Ukraine gas transits and blasted that comments were an "attempt at EU disinformation."
---------
The Five Cities Most At Risk For The Next Big Earthquake  Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/27/2014 - 10:28  Damages from the earthquake that hit the San Francisco area this weekend are estimated to be as high as $4 billion. For many cities around the world, particularly coastal cities situated on the geologically active Ring of Fire, an earthquake could be catastrophically destructive. Bloomberg looks at the five cities that are most vulnerable to earthquakes. As Michael Snyder rather ominously warns, the quake last weekend is just the start of the shaking in California... Scientists assure us that it is only a matter of time before "the Big One" hits California.
--------- 
Feeling Worthless? The 10 Majors Most Likely To Lead To Underemployment Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/27/2014 - 09:09  When it comes to worthless majors, it is no secret that "liberal arts" are at the top of the heap. This is the conclusion of not just the real world: a recent survey of 68,000 workers by salary information firm PayScale confirmed as much when asking the humanities majors themselves, and where employees with degrees in fields like English, general studies, and graphic design were among the most likely to report feeling "underemployed" at their current jobs.
--------- 
The Greatest Depression? German Yields Now Negative Through 2017  Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/27/2014 - 08:28  Another night, another sell-side bank suggests European QE must be getting closer and, along with more un-de-escalation in Russia-Ukraine, the bid for German bonds continues to surge as Europe's greater depression appears increasingly priced into bonds. Yields on all German bonds out to 3 years are now negative and 10Y Bunds have collapsed to 90.5bps - record lows. This in turn - as we explained here - is dragging Treasury yields lower (10Y 2.36%) but leaves the spread to Bunds at record highs.
------- 
The DSKing Of Christine Lagarde: IMF Head Formally Charged In Fraud Probe  Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/27/2014 - 07:58  Several hours ago the news hit that a French court has put Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund, under a formal probe for negligence in a corruption investigation dating back to her days as finance minister.
--------- 
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/27/2014 - 07:36
  • Islamic State executes soldiers, takes hostages at Syria base (Reuters)
  • Buffett Burger King Funds Flip Obama’s Inversion Calculus (BBG)
  • Equities Reach Record $66 Trillion as S&P 500 Hits 2,000 (BBG)
  • Central Banks Playing Own Version of Plaza-opoly With FX (BBG)
  • Russia court closes McDonald's branch for 90 days (Reuters)
  • Finland Says NATO an Option After Russia ‘Violates’ Border Laws (BBG)
  • Netanyahu Hit With Domestic Criticism Over Gaza Truce (BBG)
  • Biggest Danish Fund Readies for Rate Shock as Exit Narrows (BBG)
  • Nonprofit Hospitals' Profits Fall (WSJ)
--------- 
WTF White House Statement Of The Day: Syria Airstrikes Edition  Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/26/2014 - 23:42  When President Obama bragged earlier that "The United States is and will remain the one indispensable nation in the world..." adding that "no other nation can do what we do," we should have guessed some more war-mongering was coming... and sure enough. As AP reports, it appears Syrian airstrikes are on their way, but there's a mind-blowing twist in US foreign policy: "In an effort to avoid unintentionally strengthening the Syrian government, the White House could seek to balance strikes against the Islamic State with attacks on Assad regime targets." In the words of the Guinness commercial, Brilliant.  [[this blowing twist was expected; it was also expected the Obama would realize that we need the world but the world don’t need us]]
====== 

1 comentario: