There Has Been Just One Buyer Of Stocks Since The Financial Crisis

 

When discussing Blackrock’s latest quarterly earnings (in which the company missed on both the top and bottom line, reporting Adj. EPS of $5.24, below the $5.40 exp), CEO Larry Fink made an interesting observation: “While significant cash remains on the sidelines, investors have begun to put more of their assets to work. The strength and breadth of BlackRock’s platform generated a record $94 billion of long-term net inflows in the quarter, positive across all client and product types, and investment styles. The organic growth that BlackRock is experiencing is a direct result of the investments we’ve made over time to build our platform.”

“It Was A Deer In Headlights Moment”: Japan Dumps Most US Treasuries Since May 2013

 

With the December monthly TIC data due out this week, bond traders will be closely watching if the selling of US Treasuries by foreign accounts, and especially central banks, which as we have repeatedly shown for the past several months has hit record levels…

However, this time the surprise may not be China, but its nemesis across the East China Sea, Japan.

China Has a Plan to Beat the U.S. in Space

Astronauts Chen Dong, left, and Jing Haipeng at a ceremony prior to the launch of the Shenzhou 11. (Photographer: Li Jin/VCG via Getty Images)

 

The launch of the Shenzhou 11 spacecraft in western China last month marked another great leap forward for the nation’s space program and its ambition to send manned missions to the moon and, eventually, Mars. Yet more than national prestige is at stake: China is counting on its space program to pay huge economic dividends.

China is NASA’s biggest rival in space exploration with plans to land “taikonauts” on the moon by 2036 and Mars thereafter. Along the way, President Xi Jinping hopes the space missions will spawn a wave of Chinese innovation in robotics, aviation and artificial intelligence, among other leading 21st-century technologies.

The Beginning of the End for SWIFT Payment System

The Beginning of the End for SWIFT Payment System

 

In a major move to explore the use of digital currency in Singapore, the city state’s central bank plans to launch a pilot project with the country’s stock exchange and eight local and foreign banks to use blockchain technology for interbank payments.

• Cross-border foreign currency transactions will also be reviewed under the pilot as Singapore’s central bank looks to position the financial center as an important Fintech hub.
• The effort is supported by the R3 blockchain research lab and BCS Information Systems, Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), said at the Singapore Fintech Festival
• “Under the pilot system banks will deposit cash as collateral with the MAS in exchange for MAS-issued digital currency,” Menon said on Wednesday.

It’s not just Deutsche. European banking is utterly broken

As was said in an earlier post, the fines imposed by the DoJ are ironically what the balance sheet looks like for Deutsche Bank, Volksagen et al. It’s economic warfare in that case.

 

Nine years after the initial eruption, it still rumbles on, with the epicentre now moved from the US to Europe. Only it’s not the same crisis; in large measure, it is completely different.

Today’s mayhem is not so much the result of reckless bankers and people asleep at the wheel of regulation, but rather of the public policy response to the last crisis itself – that is to say, regulatory overreach and central bank money printing.

All eyes are naturally focused on the specific problems of Deutsche Bank, but Deutsche is in truth no more than the canary in the coal mine.

Banks are preparing for an ‘economic nuclear winter’

Video available for viewing at the source.

 

The first half of 2016 has been a roller-coaster for financial markets. A combination of uncertainties surrounding the U.K.’s vote to leave the European Union and weaker-than-expected corporate earnings results across the region means a tough second half looms.

European banks, in particular, have had a very tough six months as the shock and volatility around Brexit sent banking stocks south. Major European banks like Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse saw their shares in free-fall after the referendum’s results were announced. In the U.K., RBS was the worst-hit, with its shares plunging by more than 30 percent since June 24.

The current uncertainty over when the U.K. will start the process of quitting the EU has banks on tenterhooks. But a source told CNBC that banks are “preparing for an economic nuclear winter situation.”

US banks not prepared for another financial crisis, say federal regulators

We also shouldn’t forget that the FDIC is helpless and broke itself, which compounds the problem and shows a double standard on their part. They FDIC will ironically be the one raiding the banks during the next crisis but like to heap burden on them because passing blame is the game today.

 

Five out of eight of the biggest US banks do not have credible plans for winding down operations during a crisis without the help of public money, federal regulators said on Wednesday. Photograph: Mike Blake/Reuters

 

Some of the US’s biggest banks still lack a proper plan for bankruptcy, in the event of another major financial crisis, US regulators said on Wednesday.

In the wake of the great recession banks were required to come up with “living wills” to prove they had a credible plan for bankruptcy that would not require another bailout from the taxpayers.

Why Is Germany Eliminating Paper Money?

 

 

Getting rid of paper money may help fight terrorism and even help prop up the banks—but is there a more sinister reason for these new financial controls?

Germany is considering abolishing the €500 note and introducing a €5,000 (us$5,600) limit on cash transactions. It is part of a plan proposed by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s partners in the Social Democratic Party to cut off terrorist financing in Europe. Banning the bills will supposedly help make people safer. In reality, it will do the exact opposite.

German Deputy Finance Minister Michael Meister told Deutsche Welle on February 3 that Germany would push these reforms at the European level. “Since money laundering and terrorism financing are cross-border threats,” it makes sense to adopt a European Union-wide “solution,” he said. But “if a European solution isn’t possible, Germany will move ahead on its own” (emphasis added throughout).

The World’s First Cashless Society Is Here – A Totalitarian’s Dream Come True

 

Central planners around the world are waging a War on Cash. In just the last few years:

• Italy made cash transactions over €1,000 illegal;
• Switzerland proposed banning cash payments in excess of 100,000 francs;
• Russia banned cash transactions over $10,000;
• Spain banned cash transactions over €2,500;
• Mexico made cash payments of more than 200,000 pesos illegal;
• Uruguay banned cash transactions over $5,000; and
• France made cash transactions over €1,000 illegal, down from the previous limit of €3,000.

The War on Cash is a favorite pet project of the economic central planners. They want to eliminate hand-to-hand currency so that governments can document, control, and tax everything.

China’s Middle Class Overtakes US as World’s Largest

China’s middle class has surpassed that of the United States to become the world’s largest, according to the 2015 Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report.

The Swiss Bank also predicted that Asia will be the site of the greatest expansion of the world’s middle class.

With 109 million adults “this year, the Chinese middle class for the first time outnumbered” that in the United States at 92 million, the report states.

Tsipras tells Merkel ‘Greece has made enough sacrifices for the euro’

Greece’s defiant Prime Minister has told Angela Merkel it is Europe’s job to do “their part” to keep his crisis-hit country in the eurozone.

Meeting on the sidelines of a European Council meeting in Brussels on Thursday, Alexis Tsipras is reported to have told the German Chancellor his debt-addled nation has made enough sacrifices to satisfy the demands of its creditor powers.

Pentagon: We Are Losing Electronic Warfare Dominance

What essentially happened, as warned by Anatoliy Golitsyn, is that the United States fell for New Lies for Old (See also HERE). America took its eyes off the enemy behind the enemy and has been distracted by chasing a never ending supply of terrorists throughout the Middle East brought forth by this same enemy.

Now we see the degrading effects of America’s national suicide in real time, yet the worst is yet to come should it allow for its adversaries to remain three steps ahead of the game. It will one day put itself in a position to capitulate to the Sino-Soviet alliance or risk be invaded on the homeland — and yes, it will come to that point if this continues.

On a good note, at least someone is sounding the alarm in America, albeit one out of a handful that’s willing to risk retaliation from the Obama administration.

 

As major world powers like Russia and China rapidly develop new weapons systems, the Pentagon has established a new panel with the sole purpose of searching for cracks in the military’s electronic warfare capabilities. Taking its combat technologies for granted, many DoD officials believe the US may be losing its edge.

On Tuesday, Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work signed the Electronic Warfare Executive Committee into being. Led by Pentagon acquisition chief Frank Kendall and Admiral James Winnefeld, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the new committee was established to ensure that the United States stays competitive in the electromagnetic spectrum.

The height of idiocy: US Government hijacks the whole Swiss banking system

True story.

One of our SMC members just received a package from HSBC giving him and his wife a deadline to comply with FATCA—US’ global tax law.

…

But suddenly they had just four weeks to prove that they were not US taxpayers, all because at one point they had purchased a service that gave them a US phone number.

And now they, as Canadian citizens and residents, have to submit a fully completed W8BEN IRS form, along with a government issued photo ID and a detailed letter of explanation to make it very clear that they were not in fact Americans.

It used to be that foreigners were vying to become US citizens, but today they’re begging not to be confused as one.

The new American tax dictate FATCA comes into force

Americans avoiding US taxes and stashing cash abroad are in trouble from July 1, when a new law forces institutions hiding money to report on their clients. The law will make business with Americans harder, but the US hopes it will raise billions.

The US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA, comes into force on July 1 and requires foreign banks to hand over data on clients to the US International Revenue Service (IRS). If a bank does not report such information, it could be subject to a 30 percent withholding tax.

FATCA legislation, signed into law in 2010, requires overseas financial institutions to identify their American customers to the IRS. The law applies to any account with more than $50,000.

Euro Officials Begin to Weigh Greek Exit as Euro Weakens (Update 1)

“We’re really getting to a denouement,” Michael O’Sullivan, head of portfolio strategy at Credit Suisse Private Banking, said today in a Bloomberg Television interview. “We’re getting to the part where a decision has to be made” on whether Greece leaves the 17-nation currency union, he said.

…

A Greek departure from the euro could trigger a default- inducing surge in bond yields, capital flight that might spread to other indebted states and a resultant series of bank runs. Although Greece accounts for 2 percent of the euro-area’s economic output, its exit would fragment a system of monetary union designed to be irreversible and might cause investors to raise the threat of withdrawal by other states.

Full article: Euro Officials Begin to Weigh Greek Exit as Euro Weakens (Update 1) (Bloomberg)