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Two weeks ago, when discussing a recent Albert Edwards piece, we said that the word that has come to define the new normal better than all others, is “paradox“, as in nothing makes sense, or rather everything makes sense if one only flips logic and reason 180 degrees. A “paradox” was on full display in […]

Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com, The “tax bill cometh.” According to the press, this is going to be the single biggest factor to jump-starting economic growth since the invention of the wheel. Interestingly, even the Fed’s economic projections are suggesting that economic growth will pick up over the next two years from the impact of […]

Barely two months after JPMorgan’s Marko Kolanovic previewed the next financial crisis, which he dubbed the “Great Liquidity Crisis”, and which would be catalyzed by the following liquidity disrupting elements: Decreased AUM of strategies that buy value assets Tail risk of private assets Increased AUM of strategies that sell on “autopilot” Liquidity-provision trends Miscalculation of […]

Last week, as part of its must read 2018 Outlook piece, Bank of America’s derivatives team pointed out two particularly notable things: the first was BofA’s version of the (central-bank mediated) “feedback loop” diagram that keeps volatility record low and grinding even lower, as selling of vol has become a self-reinforcing dynamic, in which lower […]

Last week, as part of its must read 2018 Outlook piece, Bank of America’s derivatives team pointed out two particularly notable things: the first was BofA’s version of the (central-bank mediated) “feedback loop” diagram that keeps volatility record low and grinding even lower, as selling of vol has become a self-reinforcing dynamic, in which lower […]

Santa Barbara officials expanded evacuations Sunday as the Thomas Fire continues to rage through the Southern California county – burning over 230,000 acres to make it the fifth largest in the state since California began keeping records in 1932. Overall, approximately 8,500 firefighters are battling six wildfires across Southern California. UPDATE: Containment for #ThomasFire DROPS to […]

Authored by Drieu Godefridi via The Gatestone Institute, Last month alone in Brussels, there were three separate outbreaks of rioting and looting on a major scale. If you penetrate the thick cloud of professional indignation to scrutinize the reality of the "capital of Europe", what you see in many respects is actually a hell hole, […]

Once upon a time, Wall Street analysts had just two things to worry about: interest rate risk and corporate profits – virtually everything else was derived from these. Unfortuantely, we now live in the new normal, where central banks step in every time there is even a whiff of an imminent market correction (as BofA […]

After destroying hundreds of buildings and forcing the evacuations of more than 200,000 people, the seven discrete wildfires ravaging Southern California finally receded over the weekend as the powerful Santa Ana winds that had fanned the flames earlier in the week died down. But firefighters early Sunday warned that the battle is far from over, […]

Submitted by Wolf Richter of Wolf Street The Fed’s balance sheet for the week ending December 6, completes the second month of the QE-unwind. Total assets initially zigzagged within a tight range to end October where it started, at $4,456 billion. But in November, holdings drifted lower, and by December 6 were at $4,437 billion, […]

Back in May, we first reported that Goldman became the first bank to dare to ask if the Fed has lost control of the market, if in slightly more polite terms of course. This is how Jan Hatzius phrased it: “Despite two rate hikes and indications of impending balance sheet runoff, financial conditions have continued to […]

Earlier today we showed a remarkable chart – and assertion – from Bank of America: “In every major market shock since the 2013 Taper Tantrum, central banks have stepped in (even if verbally) to protect markets. Following the Brexit vote, markets no longer needed to hear from CBs as they rebounded so quickly that CBs […]

When it comes to job creation in the United States, President Trump will be displeased to hear the latest findings from Quartz: 170,000 fewer retail jobs in 2017 – and 75,000 more Amazon robots. In November, we explained that while everyone likes to point the finger at Amazon, America’s retail apocalypse can’t be tied to just one catalyst […]

A new study from the New England Journal of Medicine indicates the current obesity epidemic trends in the United States are much worse than thought. The study was published on Wednesday and already has demographers, government officials, and scientist alarmed. The sobering report finds 57.3% of the nation’s children and teens will be obese by […]

According to Neil Howe, the Fourth Turning is a crisis and it’s happening right now. The United States is in an era of great destruction, as the old institutional way of life created by past generations is being systematically destroyed by the incoming generation i.e. the millennials. This transitional period is cyclical and has happened […]