European Central Bank In Panic Mode as Economy Stalls

 

The eurozone could not borrow from the momentum of the U.S. economy in the third quarter as economic growth slumped to a tepid 0.2% , the slowest rate in more than four years. With the 19-nation currency bloc beginning to stagnate, and the heavyweights failing to post significant gains, Brussels is in panic mode, likely leaning on the European Central Bank (ECB) for further stimulus.

Economists originally anticipated growth of 0.4%. But global trade woes, tumbling business confidence, Italian distress, and the gradual dissipation of an accommodative monetary policy all contributed to the poor numbers in the July-September period.

America’s Dying Aluminum Industry

And America still has no replacement for the Russian rockets it uses to send things into space with. America is hemorrhaging.

 

High purity aluminum is used to make jets such as this Boeing F-18. (ASANKA BRENDON RATNAYAKE/ANADOLU AGENCY/GETTY IMAGES)

 

Cheap Chinese aluminum is undermining national security.

At the dawn of the 20th century, the United States of America emerged as a world power. At the heart of its rise was a powerful manufacturing economy. Following the rapid expansion westward of Manifest Destiny, the collective resources of the continent were combined with the innovative and entrepreneurial spirit of the American people. The steel smelters of Pittsburgh, and the automobile factories of Detroit were symbols of America’s manufacturing might.

While American manufacturing drove forward peacetime prosperity, it wasn’t long before it would be mobilized for war. The armies of freedom were fortunate that the American industrial machine was on the side of the Allies, for it proved unmatched in the world. It is doubtful that the Allies could have won World War II if America was less industrialized. Despite the vital nature of American manufacturing, it has crumbled into oblivion since 1945.

The continuous outsourcing of American manufacturing and the over production of other countries has eroded away any industry America had. The smelters around Pittsburgh have long disappeared, and Detroit has become a ghost town. While this has led to fewer jobs and domestic issues, it is also becoming a national security threat.

China has cost US 3.4 million jobs, says think tank

A Chinese worker tests circuit boards at a factory in Sichuan province. Photo: AFP

 

Economic Policy Institute says the US-China trade relationship needs fundamental change to stop ‘unfair trade and illegal currency manipulation’

A lengthy report released last week by the Economic Policy Institute, a US think tank, lays bare the loss of American jobs to China, particularly in tech manufacturing.

Recession sign is in play and has 81% accuracy

Since corporate profits turned negative in mid-2015, Wall Street has pondered whether it’s just a passing phase or a signal of something worse. History strongly suggests the latter.

Recessions have followed consecutive quarters of earnings declines 81 percent of the time, according to an analysis from JPMorgan Chase strategists, who said they combed through 115 years of records for their findings.

The news gets worse: Of the remaining 19 percent of the time, recession was only avoided through either monetary or fiscal stimulus. With the Federal Reserve holding limited easing options and a deeply dysfunctional Washington thwarting a fiscal boost, the prospects for help are not good.

Empire State index tumbles to recession-era levels

A reading of New York-area manufacturing conditions fell swiftly and brutally in August, one that could make the likelihood of an interest-rate hike next month — or even this year — more remote.

The Empire State general business conditions index nose-dived to a reading of negative 14.9, from positive 3.9 in July, marking the worst level since April 2009, the New York Fed said. The index, on a scale where any positive number indicates improving conditions, was far worse than the positive 4.5 forecast in a MarketWatch-compiled economist poll.

The New Age of Economic Totalitarianism & the London Meeting to End Currency

I have been warning that the governments of the West are in severe trouble. We face the worst economic crisis perhaps in modern history with the distinct risk of moving into a state of Economic Totalitarianism. The governments are well aware of the Economic Confidence Model (ECM). Many people have asked the question why have they not killed me since it appears that most others central to events covered in the movie, the FORECASTER, are dead. I believe the answer is rather simple, for even when I was released and appeared on Capitol Hill, I was introduced as this is the guy with the model they are trying to suppress.

Government is not a single entity. The forces I stood up against were restricted to the corruption in New York City. The New Yorker Magazine was able to get in to interview me only by going to Washington. And when I was thrown in the hole, it was a letter from Congress asking who ordered that treatment resulted in my instant release. And as for my release from contempt, that only took place when the Supreme Court ordered the government to respond to my petition for then the Solicitor General is the only one who can argue before the Supreme Court, not the corrupt prosecutors from New York City. So it is never just a single entity we call government. There are always internal forces that fight over the crumbs of power like pigeons on the ground under the tables at a sidewalk cafe.

I have advised many governments in my life so there are those on the economic side of power who are well aware of what I stand for, not merely the prosecutors who salivate over the opportunity to take down someone famous to further their personal careers. I was perhaps the first and only analyst or Forecaster to be invited by the Bank of China to fly to Beijing during the Asian Currency Crisis back in 1997. I may even be the only analyst who has ever had such experience on a truly global scale. I have been just about everywhere and at times it has appeared that if there was a crisis, somehow I seemed to be dragged in by some government somewhere. There is scarcely a major nation who is not aware of the ECM.

Hedge Fund That Made 18% on Dollar Strength Now Bets on Drop

Charlie Chan, a former Credit Suisse Group AG proprietary trader who now runs his own hedge fund, reduced bets the dollar will strengthen and added trades that would profit from a decline.

Chan said he trimmed his fund’s long dollar position versus the yen last week after the U.S. currency’s rally stalled following gains of more than 10 percent in each of the past three years. He’s now betting the greenback will weaken against Asian currencies including Singapore’s dollar, South Korea’s won and India’s rupee, the founder of Singapore-based Charlie Chan Capital Partners said.

The U.S. economy is showing cracks

 

America’s economy is starting to see cracks after closing out 2014 with Superman strength.

The U.S. job market had its best year of gains last year since 1999, and economic activity hit a whopping 5% in the third quarter — the best quarter since 2003.

Three months later, the U.S. economy is looking a little tired. It’s losing momentum in puzzling ways. Hiring is still strong, but experts are starting to scale back their growth forecasts.

Dallas Fed Collapses At Fastest Pace Since Lehman, Lowest Since June 2011

Yours truly,

OPEC/Saudi Arabia

 

 

Dallas Fed’s Richard Fisher had his credibility (whatever is left) crushed for the 4th month in a row. After explaining carefully to no lessor status quo glad hand than Steve Liesman that the Texas economy will see a net positive from low oil prices, Dallas Fed data has utterly collapsed – at its fastest pace since Lehman. Printing a stunning -17.5 (over twice as bad as expected -8.5), this is the 4th miss in a row (and increasingly worse misses).

The US ‘manufacturing renaissance’ doesn’t exist, says new report

Despite all the much-heralded talk of the rebirth of manufacturing, a new report suggests that the trend may be vastly overstated

Have we been letting a good story get in the way of the facts?

The “manufacturing renaissance” has been the central point in the return of America’s industrial power. It even has its own national council.

Yet here are the facts: the United States may have added only about one new manufacturing job in the last few years for every five that were lost during the financial crisis and the recession that followed.

That’s according to a new report from the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, a non-partisan and non-profit think tank based in Washington, DC. The report was released early this morning.

In China, Projects to Make Great Wall Feel Small

Dalian, China:  The plan here seems far-fetched – a $36 billion tunnel that would run twice the length of the one under the English Channel, and bore deep into one of Asia’s active earthquake zones. When completed, it would be the world’s longest underwater tunnel, creating a rail link between two northern port cities.

Throughout China, equally ambitious projects with multibillion-dollar price tags are already underway. The world’s largest bridge. The biggest airport. The longest gas pipeline. An $80 billion effort to divert water from the south of the country, where it is abundant, to a parched section of the north, along a route that covers more than 1,500 miles.

Such enormous infrastructure projects are a Chinese tradition. From the Great Wall to the Grand Canal and the Three Gorges Dam, this nation for centuries has used colossal public-works projects to showcase its engineering prowess and project its economic might.

David Cameron warns that second global crash is looming

PM says ‘red warning lights are flashing’ against a backdrop of instability and uncertainty, as G20 summit draws to a close

David Cameron has issued a stark message that “red warning lights are flashing on the dashboard of the global economy” in the same way as when the financial crash brought the world to its knees six years ago.

Writing in the Guardian at the close of the G20 summit in Brisbane, Cameron says there is now “a dangerous backdrop of instability and uncertainty” that presents a real risk to the UK recovery, adding that the eurozone slowdown is already having an impact on British exports and manufacturing.

Auditor warns Canada lagging on cyber security

Canada “has been slow” to set up firewalls to protect against cyber threats to critical infrastructure, leaving the nation vulnerable to crippling attacks, the auditor general warned Tuesday.

In a report, Auditor General Michael Ferguson said the government has made only “limited progress” over the past decade to safeguard electrical grids, telecommunications infrastructure, banking systems, manufacturing and transportation, as well as its own computers.

Chinese buying of U.S. business at record pace

Total Chinese foreign direct investment in the U.S. is on pace to reach at least $8 billion this year, according to the report from research firm Rhodium Group.

That would top the previous record of $5.7 billion reached in 2010, said Thilo Hanemann, research director with Rhodium Group, which tracks all acquisitions and investments in manufacturing facilities, warehouses, labs and offices by foreign companies in the United States valued at $1 million or higher.

…

In manufacturing, the biggest investments are being made by Chinese firms with products that have been slapped with hefty anti-dumping tariffs, Hanemann said.

Opening up a plant in the United States allows Chinese firms such as Golden Dragon Precise Copper Tube Group, Inc. — which broke ground this year on a $100 million plant in Thomasville, Ala. — to avoid these tariffs.

But there are both risk and benefits to the United States from increased Chinese investment, said Hanemann.

The risks include national security and transparency concerns, he said. He also expects American companies will put more pressure on policymakers to push for a level playing field for them in China.

Full article: Chinese buying of U.S. business at record pace (CNN Money)