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A Southwark Crown Court in the United Kingdom has convicted one Peter Chapman, a former manager of a polymer banknote manufacturer, Securency International Pty Ltd of Australia, who allegedly bribed  a former Managing Director, Emmanuel Okoyomon of the Nigerian Security, Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC) to secure a “multi-million-euro” contract. Mr. Chapman was convicted on […]

Following March’s plunge in retail sales (dragging YoY to just +1.6% – recessionary territory) as Auto sales tumbled, April retail sales printed a large 1.3% surge (versus expectations of a 0.8% rise). This is the 3rd biggest MoM rise since 2010, which is odd given the utter collapse in retailers earnings and most crucially outlooks! […]Read More

In the latest indication of contracting global growth, overnight Hong Kong reported that its Q1 GDP fell off a cliff 0.4% qoq, widly missing estimates of 0.1% growth as retail sales plummeted and the property market continued its collapse. On a y/y basis, the economy grew only 0.8% when compared to the same period last […]

Earlier today, the OPEC released its latest monthly forecast which echoed what the IEA said yesterday, as the organization which Roseneft CEO Sechin said has “practically stopped existing“, said shrinking U.S. output and massive cuts to investment in new projects will reduce the global oil glut over the course of this year, potentially pushing world-wide […]

Authored by MN Gordon via EconomicPrism.com (h/t David Stockman), Rubbernecking at the economic train wreck of central planners is not without hazard.  A strained collar and dry eyes, for instance, are common perils.  So, too, is the lasting grimace of disbelief that comes with the rollout of each zany scheme to save us from ourselves. […]

Well that de-escalated quickly… As Reuters reports, Chinese steel futures were on course for their biggest weekly fall since 2009 on Friday, as a selloff in the country’s commodities showed signs of spreading to other global markets for raw materials such as palm oil and base metals. Weakening fundamentals along with strong measures by Chinese […]

Autos & parts inventories-to-sales ratios soared to 2.30x from 2.18x – levels that have only been higher during the financial crisis. This, combined with a rise in clothing inventories to sales, held overall business inventories at their highest to sales since the crisis and deep in pre-recessionary territory. Retail inventories rose 1.0% MoM despite a […]

Consumer Expectations, according to University of Michigan, soared by the most since Dec 2011 in May’s preliminary data – spiking from 77.6 to 87.5. Despite a modest rise in current confidence, this spike in “hope” was enough to send the headline confidence print to 95.8, 11-month highs and well above expectations of just 89.5. Despite […]Read More

Donald Trump is unhappy with Jeff Bezos, and it now appears that the biggest threat to Amazon isn’t revenue growth and profit margins, it’s a potential future President Trump who may deem AMZN to be anti-competitive and force it to break apart. In an interview with Sean Hannity, Trump went off on the Amazon founder, […]

For years the Fed has been lying about inflation. There are many methods of doing this, but the simplest was to use a “measure” of inflation that did not actually measure inflation at all. This is the famous Consumer Price Index of CPI. It is meant to measure inflation, but ignores obvious costs of living […]

Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith of OfTwoMinds blog, It is not possible to coherently discuss the “New Normal” economy without discussing financialization–the substitution of credit expansion and speculation for productive investments in the real economy–and its sibling: globalization. Globalization is the result of the neoliberal push to lower regulatory barriers to trade and credit in overseas […]Read More

Former Lesotho gold miner Kalakune Marake registers with a legal clerk in a district office in Semongkong, 120 km (75 miles) east of the capital Maseru January 12, 2012. REUTERS/Ed Cropley JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s High Court on Friday gave the green light for a class action suit seeking damages from the gold mining […]