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We are going to need more “whatever it takes.” And with Draghi’s efforts to shove sovereign bonds down the throat of Europe’s banks, the sovereign-to-financial linkage is now systemically as worrisome as it has ever been… Deutsche Bank’s CDS continues to push higher…smashing European bank risk to its highest since 2013… Unicredit remains the most […]Read More

With the Services economy now catching down to Manufacturing’s demise (in its lagged – not decoupled – manner), this morning’s news that US Factory Orders tumbled 2.9% in December (worse than expected and the biggest MoM drop since Dec 2014) offers little hope for any bounce anytime soon. This is the 14th monthly drop in […]Read More

The Debt Management Office said Nigeria’s debt burden rose by N1.31tn in one year, according to a report monitored by The Punch. On Wednesday in Abuja, the DMO released official statistics that showed how the country’s total debt rose from N11.24tn as of December 31, 2014 to N12.6tn at the end of 2015. Nigeria’s debt […]Read More

Authored by Paul Craig Roberts, “This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence — economic, political, even spiritual — is felt in every city, every statehouse, every office of the federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we […]

According to a recent report by Innosight, a consulting firm, the average lifespan of an S&P 500 listed company had declined to 18 years as at 2011 and the decline in lifespan is expected to continue going forward. Several factors have been attributed to this, from creative destruction to psychological biases. One factor that encompasses […]

Submitted by Paul-Martin Foss via The Mises Institute, The insidious nature of the war on cash derives not just from the hurdles governments place in the way of those who use cash, but also from the aura of suspicion that has begun to pervade private cash transactions. In a normal market economy, businesses would welcome […]

Back in April 2013, we showed for the first time something few were aware of, namely that “At $72.8 Trillion, The Bank With The Biggest Derivative Exposure In The World” was not JPMorgan as some had expected, but Germany’s banking behemoth, Deutsche bank. Some brushed it off, saying one should never look at gross derivative […]Read More

Iraq probably didn’t need to become any more fractious. The country is deeply divided along sectarian lines with the Shiite government effectively making up for lost time spent under Saddam by marginalizing Iraq’s Sunni minority in the wake of the US invasion that ousted the Ba’athists. Complicating matters is the presence of Islamic State (which […]Read More

With just one more day of trading before China’s lunar new year and Sping Festival Golden Week holiday, it appears The PBOC wants to flex its intervention muscles. By strengthening the Yuan fix by 0.16% (the most in 2 months) to 1-month highs, it seems China is trying to send a message before it practically […]

One of the great unknowns facing the US shale industry, and threatening the recurring rumors of its imminent demise, is how it is possible that despite the collapsing number of oil wells, and despite the plunge in crude prices which supposedly are well below all-in shale production costs, does production not only refuse to decline, […]

Submitted by Simon Black via SovereignMan.com, Even before his coronation in 1626, King Charles I of England was almost bankrupt. His predecessors King James and Queen Elizabeth had run the royal treasury down to almost nothing. Costly war and military folly had taken its toll. The crown had simply wasted far too much money, and […]

America’s military budget is roughly 7.2 times that of Russia ($610 billion compared to $84.5 billion), but even Western news-accounts are saying that the weaponry produced in Russia is superior overall to the weaponry produced in the United States. Compare the top-of-the-line fighter jets of the two countries: that’s the F-35 fighter-jet produced by the […]Read More