Economics and Finance News

Higher inputs costs and demand destruction from inflation (and the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes) are resulting in margin compression for companies, pinching their profits. As a result, companies are revising downwards their future earnings expectations.

In “Horizons,” a historian of science highlights the crucial achievements of non-Western scientists and thinkers.

Biden gets played again. A feature or a bug?

Pent-up supply suddenly shows up - those vacant homes that no one was counting as vacant.

  Economist Michael Hudson on inflation and Fed plan to cut wages: A depression is coming Economist Michael Hudson explains the inflation crisis and US Federal Reserve’s “austerity program to reduce wages” and boost unemployment. He warns a “long depression” is coming, due to the new cold war on Russia and China. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AJwMvCxwm0   Economist Continue […]

Metal detectorists discovered a silver cache in Virmo, located between Turku and Rauma in Southwest Finland. The cache held rare minted by Viking king Harald Bluetooth.

"The market has come to believe in an omniscient Federal Reserve, and it's no such thing. These guys don't really know what they're doing in any deep way. It's a giant financial experiment, and we're at the mercy of their experiment that maybe is right now in the process of going wrong, so God help us."

Raging inflation started mid-2021, but the ECB called it temporary. In June, it ranged from 6% to 22%!

Why Gold Is Such a Powerful Asset to Own in 2022...

Mohamed El-Erian, Allianz chief economic advisor, joins ‘Closing Bell’ to discuss whether consumers will slam the brakes on spending, if the Fed has a choice whether or not to aggressively hike rates and the odds of a hard landing.

Instead, liquidity in securities markets could continue to decline if banks continue to turn away from reserves. In many ways, this represents a return to traditional banking practices. But securities markets are unlikely to thrive if settlement liquidity is withdrawn.

“We are seeing a gradual decline in the dollar,” said Massimiliano Castelli, head of strategy for global sovereign markets at UBS. “The picture that emerges is one of a multipolar currency system.”

Inflation is what is killing the US economy and millions of households. Financially speaking.

The continued erosion in economic data has prompted The Atlanta Fed to slash its forecast for Q2 GDP growth to -2.1% meaning the US is now technically in recession (after Q1's confirmed 1.6% contraction yesterday).

Gold: Recent Delivery Month Gold started July delivery with 937 contract outstanding. This is the lowest level since November of last year and the second-lowest since the start of Covid (see figure 2). As the chart below shows, about 82% of those contracts have been delivered in the first two days. At the current pace, The post Comex Results: Gold and Silver Fail to Deliver first appeared on […]

~ Today's Water Cooler ~

Economist Steve Hanke returns here in Part 2 of our interview with him to explain what impact a Fed pivot back to easing would have on inflation. He also shares his thoughts on how he thinks stocks, bonds, gold and other assets should fare over the coming year given his macroeconomic outlook.

Action Alert: Mike Maloney just made his first silver purchase in a while. He walks you through the data and charts that pushed him to make an InstaVault purchase of silver today.

Breaking Down the Balance Sheet According to the Fed, Quantitative Tightening (QT) was set to begin in June. From Reuters: “On June 1, it will start the process at $47.5 billion a month for the first three months, divided as $30 billion of Treasuries and $17.5 billion of MBS. It will increase to the full $95 The post Did the Fed Forget to Start QT? first appeared on SchiffGold.

Central bankers are trying to steer markets away from higher interest rates, citing growing evidence of the harm they are doing to economic growth. Quantitative tightening is dead on arrival. Predictably — because it is a repetitive cycle — bank credit is beginning to contract. But contracting bank..

Survey of 1,000 registered US voters also reveals that most Americans agree government is ‘corrupt and rigged’.

For all the talk about combating inflation, the Federal Reserve is likely to reverse course and continue to print substantial amounts of money because doing otherwise would threaten the federal government with insolvency, according to macroeconomic analyst Luke Gromen.

Less than two weeks after Nomura became the first bank to one-up Deutsche Bank's "US recession" base case, by forecasting a contraction in the US economy in late 2022 (unlike DB's 2023 prediction), coupled with a sharp Fed pivot and rate cuts all the way back to zero...

Will Powell jawbone that expectation away, or embrace it as policy?

A primer on how to deal with an American affliction, medical debt.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell continues to insist that the economy is strong enough to withstand tighter monetary policy to fight inflation. But the economy seems to be saying otherwise. So, how will this play out? In this week’s Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey gazes into his crystal ball and speculates about what The post Gazing Into a Hazy Crystal Ball: SchiffGold […]

“Where broader markets remain negative, pressured by inflation and central bank hawkishness in taming prices, we see investors holding fast to gold ETFs as a risk-off haven,” said Hitzeman, whose company offers several precious metals products to investors.

“Today, we face supply shocks in a context of much higher debt levels, implying that we are heading for a combination of 1970s-style stagflation and 2008-style debt crises – that is, a stagflationary debt crisis,” Roubini said.

The Fed's QE may be over, and QT may be just starting (it won't last long), but don't think the Fed free money giveaway is ending any time soon. In fact, for a handful of happy, mostly anonymous counterparties, the real free-money bonanza has just begun!

The current high inflation environment is often compared to the 1970s. But perhaps a more apt comparison would be to the 1870s. According to Bank of America, government bonds are on track for their worst year since 1865, the year the U.S. Civil War ended.

Asia’s factories showed a further slide in June as inflation weighed on households, complicated central bank decisions, and added uncertainty to the business outlook.

A sharp fall in new orders weighed on German manufacturing activity in June, darkening the outlook for Europe's largest economy, a survey showed on Friday.

Inflation in countries using the euro set another eye-watering record, pushed higher by a huge increase in energy costs fueled partly by Russia’s war in Ukraine .

China announced another stimulus measure to finance infrastructure projects, part of its push to drive investment and increase employment in the second half of this year as the economy starts to recover from the effects of Covid lockdowns.

(Australia’s two biggest housing markets, Sydney and Melbourne, led a fall in home values during June as rising interest rates further choked buyer demand.

Treasuries began the second half of the year on the front foot Friday as concerns continued to mount that Federal Reserve rate hikes will lead to a recession.

The risk of a renewed selloff in equity markets is still high as investors are only pricing a mild recession, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. strategists.

Investors reeling from the brutal emerging markets selloff over the past six months again fled the rupee as India’s currency hit new lows, prompting the government to curb gold imports and oil exports to arrest a widening deficit.

Euro-area inflation surged to a fresh record, surpassing expectations and bolstering calls for the kind of aggressive interest-rate increases being deployed by central banks across the world.

(Bloomberg) -- Copper sank below $8,000 a ton, hitting its lowest since early 2021, as deepening fears about a global economic slowdown drive a rout in industrial metals.

A “recession shock” begins for markets following the worst first-half for the S&P 500 in more than 50 years, Bank of America Corp.’s Chief Investment Strategist Michael Hartnett says.

The Supreme Court’s EPA Decision Is One More Win for Charles Koch’s Dystopian America By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: July 1, 2022 ~ Imagine a country that allows a private fossil fuels conglomerate (or its billionaire boss, Charles Koch, the 17th richest person in the world according to Forbes) to get away with the following: Meet secretly with big political donors twice a year to plot a […]

As DB's Jim Reid puts it "if you want the good news this morning it's that H1 is now finally over. If you want the bad news it's that there's not much good news around as we start H2 and US equity futures are already down around a percent in the first few hours of the new half year. "

After Turkey's official inflation rate surged above 70% in May, some global companies, including the British consumer goods giant Unilever, have begun applying hyperinflation accounting to their Turkish operations.

Economist Michael Hudson explains the inflation crisis and warns a “long depression” is coming, due to the new cold war on Russia and China.

A well regarded paper by Fed researchers challenges conventional views on the relationship between inflation and employment

But cryptos and DeFi created a big mess as hidden leverage is blowing up, and the mess spread to stocks.

After nearly nine years of rock bottom rates, the Federal Reserve has finally raised interest rates…. What does that mean for you and your investments going forward? Best-selling author, Mike Maloney of GoldSilver.com, is joined by Ronnie Stoeferle to discuss how this move could impact our already fragile economy.

It was the laziest of arguments, saturated with desperation, too, the equivalent of waving around sophistry to answer for the painfully contradictory truth. Now that feces and fans are getting further acquainted, we have the necessary perspective to settle the matter once and for all. The matter refuses to be settled, however; I mean, it’s [...]

Inflation remains at a 41-year high and continues to severely pinch households when paying for food, gas and nearly everything else. How much longer will it plague us? And might it get even worse from here? To find out, we welcome Steve Hanke back to the program.

Gold is over $1800 an ounce. It was $310 or so in 2003 with the US dollar index in the same place. Moves in the dollar don't really set the price of gold. Rather, gold is a function of faith in central banks.

U.S. equities declined on Thursday as the S&P 500 prepared to wrap its worst first half in decades.

Last year, just as it was becoming increasingly clear that price inflation was mounting, Jerome Powell repeatedly denied there was any reason for concern.

Few people are aware of what the Federal Reserve System, acting on behalf of the U.S. Government, is doing to their money, writes Hans Sennholz.

There is ample reason to fear big economies such as the US face recession and financial turmoil.

Some demand destruction due to high prices, particularly gasoline. Shortage of new vehicles not helpful for spending on durable goods.

President Joe Biden, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, the entirety of the money printers who inhabit the Federal Reserve, and virtually all of the deep state of Wall Street are still busy trying to convince you that a recession is unlikely. Well, here’s some news for all of them. Whether or not we will have a recession is no longer a question. The recession is already here. The only question […]

On average, European Union countries had a gross government debt of roughly 88 percent of GDP in 2021.

Not that long ago we joked that the ECB's cunning "market fragmentation" plan - which became critical after Italian bonds crashed when markets realized that QT is not, in fact, QE and without the ECB backstopping worthless European paper said paper would trade down to its "fair value" - would consist of fighting inflation on even days with higher rates and no QE, and then fighting bond market […]

In a rare press conference after the Madrid NATO Summit today, President Biden was asked how long Americans should expect to pay high gas prices over the Ukraine conflict. Biden's response was flippant: "for as long as it takes." He also blamed high food prices on "Russia, Russia, Russia." Are Americans buying it?

~ Today's Water Cooler ~

In just one quarter, precious metals derivatives had soared from $79.28 billion to $491.87 billion. That’s a 520 percent increase in a span of three months. (See Figure 18 at this link. The last ten years of the graph is shown above.)

A day after Fed Chair Powell crowed once again how the US economy was strong enough to cope with his hawkish rate-hike cycle (and President Biden told the world this morning that the US economy is the strongest in the world), the Atlanta Fed just stole the jam out of everyone's donut by confirming the recession has started.

President Joe Biden signed the Keep Kids Fed Act into law over the weekend, extending the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s school nutritional waivers to September 30.

This builds on a 2020 initiative that issued $500 checks to 150 families for 18 months.

Other states have taken similar actions for inflation relief. Earlier this month, Maine began sending $850 checks to state residents who filed an income tax return in the state last year and reported an income of less than $100,000. In April, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly announced the state would issue $250 rebate checks for qualifying residents.

Deutsche Bank, the first major bank to predict a U.S. recession in the current inflationary era, now sees a chance that price gains won't come off nearly as much as forecasters or Federal Reserve policy makers think they will.

I wonder if it is all the Covid monetary and fiscal stimulus that is finally getting homeowners to put their houses on the market, perhaps fearing the end of the housing price run-up with Fed-induced rate hikes?

The US economy is slowing as inflation ravages consumers. US Regular Gasoline prices, for example, are up 104% under President Biden which helps to slow the economy. US personal consumption expenditures fell to +0.2% MoM in May as “inflation” or real personal consumption expenditures PRICES rose +6.3% YoY as The Fed’s balance sheet (aka, Master Blaster!) remains.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has said interest rates would continue to rise until the central bank sees clear proof that inflation is slowing. But he conceded that elevated rates could lead to a recession

According to the seasonally adjusted data, M2 increased by $23B in May. Except for the contraction last month (the first contraction in 12 years), it was the smallest monthly increase in M2 since the start of COVID. But despite the big slowdown in growth, the money supply is still expanding. This going to make it The post Money Supply Growth Slows Enough to Pop Everything Bubble; Not Enough to […]

Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan Chase Have Been Trading Like Clones for Two Months; Both Are Down Almost 30 Percent Year-to-Date By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: June 30, 2022 ~ JPMorgan Chase’s stock has lost 27 percent of its market value year-to-date through its June 29 closing price. But more disturbing than that is the above chart showing that the behemoth German lender, Deutsche Bank, has […]

The Federal Reserve’s policies of increasing interest rates and quantitative tightening—reducing its $8.9 trillion balance sheet—will increase the volume and cost of federal government borrowing, slamming the federal budget and exposing the consequences of decades of deficit spending.

Gold witnessed a dramatic turnaround during the early European session and rallied over $20 from the vicinity of the $1,800 mark or the lowest level since May 16. The momentum pushed spot prices to a fresh daily high, around the $1,825 region, though lacked follow-through buying.

Bitcoin price remained under pressure in June as a number of factors including rising rates and a liquidity crisis in the crypto industry weighed on the world's biggest cryptocurrency.

The headline-maker from this morning's macro melange is The Fed's favorite inflation indicator - Core PCE Deflator - printed lower than expected at +4.7% YoY (vs +4.9% expected and +4.9% prior). The headline May PCE printed +6.3%, equal to the April data

Confidence in the euro-area economy slipped as households become more pessimistic amid fears a Russian energy cutoff will spark a recession.

Well-known investment advisor Rick Rule said the Fed will chicken out on its inflation fight. Rule runs Rule Investment Media and formerly served as the president and CEO of Sprott US Holdings Inc. In a recent interview, Rule said that the Fed could get inflation under control with significantly tighter monetary policy for a sustained The post Rick Rule: Fed Will “Chicken Out” on Inflation […]

French inflation quickened to the fastest since the euro was introduced, raising pressure on President Emmanuel Macron and the European Central Bank to do more to contain the shock for firms and households.

Adjusted for inflation, disposable incomes dropped 0.2% in the first three months of the year, the Office for National Statistics said Thursday. That’s the fourth straight quarter of decline -- the longest run since records began in 1955.

Base metals headed for the worst quarterly slump since the 2008 global financial crisis as China’s economy recovered only gradually and fears of a world recession intensified.

Moody's Analytics economists expect prices to eventually decline in these metropolitan areas that now have the most overvalued homes.

Higher mortgage rates are finally carving out early signs of a cooling housing market.

The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits for the first time was 231k last week (down very modestly from an upwardly revised 233k) leaving the 4-week average at the highest since January 2022.

The Federal Reserve will not let the economy slip into a "higher inflation regime" even if it means raising interest rates to levels that put growth at risk, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said on Wednesday in remarks emphasizing the U.S. central bank's do-whatever-it-takes approach to tempering future price hikes.

Stocks sank on Thursday to extend what is the worst first half of a year for global share prices on record, as investors fret that the latest show of central bank determination to tame inflation will slow economies rapidly. Central bank chiefs from the U.S. Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank...

A U.S. recession over the next 12 months is "probably more likely than not", PIMCO's global chief investment officer for fixed income Andrew Balls said on Thursday.

Wells Fargo CEO Charles Scharf said he is betting on "more significant rate hikes" as the Federal Reserve looks to try to rein in high inflation.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe plans to issue gold coins as a way for investors in the country to store value as inflation runs rampant in the economy. The United States isn’t the only country battling rapidly rising prices. The inflation rate in Zimbabwe spiked from 132% in May to 191.6% in June, and the The post Zimbabwe Central Bank to Offer Gold Coins as Inflation Ravages the Country first […]

US stock futures tumbled Thursday morning, with the major averages on track to post steep declines for the month of June and first half of 2022 as concerns over heightened inflation and the prospects of a recession weighed on risk assets.

Consumer confidence in Germany never really picked up all that much last year. Conflating CPIs with economic condition, this divergence proved too big of a mystery. When the German GfK, for example, perked up only a tiny bit around September and October 2021, the color of consumer prices clouded judgement and interpretation of what had [...]

Six years ago, I wrote an article titled 'Grasshopper Nation', warning about how poorly prepared Americans are for retirement. Sadly, the data has only gotten worse since then. I’ll deliver the punchline here first, and then get into the underlying data:

Hit by the brick-and-mortar meltdown years ago, it attracted short sellers, which attracted meme stock traders, which blew up the short sellers, and then each other.

Stocks, bonds and cryptocurrencies have all seen big falls this year. But gold remains at its one-year average. It may be dull, but it’s doing what it’s supposed to do, says Dominic Frisby. Preserving its value – and your capital.

RESERVE Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) says it will be introducing gold coins as part of measures to ensure investors and the general public have alternative means to preserve value, cushioning them from the negative impact of resurgent inflation in the economy.

With a recession looming over the average American, the group to blame is pretty obvious, this group being the central bankers at the Federal Reserve, who inflate the supply of currency in the system, that currency being the dollar.

When insiders all decide to sell significant numbers of shares and they do so all at once, it's hard to see more than one very obvious reason to explain it.

Real wages are falling, inflation is at a forty-year high, and the Atlanta Fed predicts we'll find GDP (gross domestic product) growth at zero for the second quarter. Meanwhile, both the yield curve and money supply growth point to recession.

Putting this all together, it's clear that the source of the current housing bubble is the explosion of financial speculation fueled by central bank policies.

Even more shocking is how a very underreported tidal wave of evictions could be imminent as millions of Americans can't pay rent.

The Fed is unlikely to become more hawkish than it is today. The question is, when do they start to pivot to a less hawkish policy. At that time, the slope of the red channel is likely to flatten, and a bottoming process can begin.

While analysts remain optimistic about earnings growth into 2023, the Fed rate hiking campaign could lead to an earnings recession.

Home Prices Disconnect From Rent and OER...

Ukraine insane, inflation, wokeism, endless money printing: bestselling author Richard Maybury joins today's Liberty Report to discuss how the enemies of liberty have used the public school system to advance their agenda...and how liberty can make a comeback.

The Fed is facing one of the worst predicaments of its existence as it continues to raise interest rates into an economic downturn. The problem is that sooner rather than later it will be forced to relent and inject liquidity into an already inflationary environment.

But if it’s “perhaps even probable” that “the world system shatters”, perhaps markets should start thinking about what it implies for rates and FX? That thinking is currently served up in such small portions.

The West NEEDS war because the entire financial system is collapsing. All the pensions promised have been wiped out in Europe thanks to NEGATIVE interest rates since 2014. More background here. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/leaders-war-game-exercise-global-financial-collapse/

President Joe Biden on Wednesday pledged to boost American military operations in Europe as he seeks to project a picture of strength and unity among NATO members while they grapple with Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

In April 1980, the differential peaked at 5.7%, in the midst of a double-dip recession. And in July 2008, the gap between headline CPI and Core PCE peaked at 3.3%, just as the Global Financial Crisis was about to reach a dramatic crescendo.

POWELL: DOLLAR IS JUST ANOTHER FINANCIAL CONDITION TO US

The combination of credit contraction and falling asset prices means the United States economy is likely to soon suffer a very hard landing.

Report: JPMorgan Chase and Citibank Hold 90 Percent of All Gold and Other Precious Metals Derivatives Held by All U.S. Banks By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: June 29, 2022 ~ Last Tuesday, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) released its quarterly report on derivatives held at the megabanks on Wall Street. As we browsed through the standard graphs that are included in the […]

“I think we'll continue to see prices going up for most of the remainder of the decade,”...To preserve your purchasing power, Rule points to gold and silver, which can’t be printed out of thin air like fiat money. “I think that an investor who does not have some of his or her wealth in precious metals or precious metals equities are making an extraordinary mistake,” he cautions.

Recession fears are growing along with concerns about inflation. Multiple indicators are showing that the U.S. economy is slowing after growth declined 1.5% in the first quarter. Powell and his counterparts have said they believe they can get inflation under control without sending the economy into recession.

There is a danger of the classic ‘stop-go’ trap that haunted many western central banks in the 1970s and 1980s

Ronald Reagan once said the most terrifying nine words in the English language are, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” One of the biggest problems with government help is that it always comes at a cost. And the burden of that cost almost always falls on the very people that big government The post Big Government Help Isn’t Helping first appeared on SchiffGold.

Financial markets are anticipating what Mester is saying: rapidly rising interest rates. But as you can see from the following chart, gasoline prices (orange line) are driving rising US prices. So it is doubtful that monetary tightening will slow price increases. But Mester and company can only control monetary stimulus.

The third look at Q1 GDP appears to confirm the worsening picture of the US economy that is now evident in sentiment surveys nationwide. Growth was revised even lower to -1.6% Annualized QoQ (from -1.5%)...

"While most high-profile lockdowns were relaxed in May, June data do not show the powerhouse bounce-back most expected," according to a report released Tuesday.

The Bank of Japan will maintain its ultra-loose monetary policy as the economy has not been affected much by the global inflationary trend, Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said, stressing the country's 15-year experience with deflation is keeping wage growth subdued.

ECB ‘should have taken inflation seriously sooner,’ Praet says Peter Praet was member of ECB Executive board 2011-2019

Spanish inflation unexpectedly surged to a record, defying government efforts to rein it in and signaling intensifying price pressure as the European Central Bank gears up to raise interest rates for the first time in more than a decade.

The surge in the dollar has set Asian currencies on course for their worst quarter since 1997 and created a dilemma for central bankers.

Global stock markets slipped for the second straight day on Wednesday and bond yields inched lower on growing fears that policymakers bent on dampening inflation will tip their economies into recession.

But it still predates the 5% & 6% holy-moly mortgage rates, whose impact on prices we’ll only see in a few months.

Mortgage rates moved slightly lower last week, causing a small increase in demand for refinancing home loans.

Goldman Sachs sees a big upside in gold raising its target price to $2,500 an ounce by the end of the year. The investment bank cites recession worries and persistent inflation as reasons to be bullish on gold. Hovering around $1,825 an ounce, gold currently sits very near the 52-week moving average.  Gold certainly hasn’t excited The post Goldman Sachs Raises 2022 Gold Price Target to […]

The Federal Reserve’s various branches don’t just do manufacturing surveys anymore. This is a modern economy, after all, meaning industry isn’t the same top dog as what it used to be. While still important, and still able to tear down even the global-iest synchronized of growth-y, services are the big macro enchilada. Reflecting this fact, [...]

Well, that was a mess. The Richmond Fed’s Manufacturing Survey was at first released before being taken back. Initially reported as a plunge in the headline number, it was quickly scrapped once the statisticians remembered they had just discontinued their average workweek component – but had kept a zero in its place when tallying the [...]

But it still predates the 5% & 6% holy-moly mortgage rates, whose impact on prices we’ll only see in a few months.

Gold demand in India was strong in May with retail sales rebounding and imports up both month-on-month and year-on-year. Gold demand in India was strong in the last half of 2021 as the economy recovered from another surge of COVID-19. Demand fell off this spring due to rising gold prices in rupee terms, but it The post Gold Demand in India Was Strong in May first appeared on SchiffGold.

Even with rising interest rates and the dollar at multi-year highs, gold has held its ground. Nevertheless, we have yet to see a big spike in gold prices despite persistent inflation. Why not? The perception is that rising interest rates are always bad for gold. But does perception match up with reality? If history is The post Rising Interest Rates and Gold: Perception Doesn’t Match Reality […]

Higher rates eventually enforce a sort of discipline on the drunken party in government and even in the private sector. That would be a good thing.

It’s not just the flood of never-ending inventory. That’s a huge and growing problem, sure, as the chickens of last year’s short-termism overordering finally come home to their retailer roost. Being stuck with too many goods isn’t necessarily fatal to the global and domestic manufacturing sectors.The scale of the burden is one key worry, though [...]

Ben Bernanke once admitted how the job of the post-truth “central banker” is to try to convince the market to do your work for you. What he didn’t say was that this was the only prayer officials had for any success. Because if the market ever decided that talk wasn’t enough, only real money in [...]

A chart like this is an indictment of Wall Street and the hype-and-hoopla machine that pumped and dumped this stuff on the most gullible retail investors ever.

Health Savings Accounts (HSA) for retired folks. Isn’t that a novel idea? But it’s being considered in Congress—The Health Savings for Seniors Act, H.R. 3796.   As it stands right now, the only people eligible for an HSA are those aged 65 years and younger who have a high-deductible health insurance plan meaning you have [...]

Late last year I wrote a weekly update that focused on the speculative nature of the markets. In that article, I focused on the S&P 500 because I wanted to make a point, namely that owning the S&P 500 did not absolve investment advisers of their fiduciary duty. If you intentionally make the S&P 500 [...]

And despite the surge in interest rates for auto loans.

It’s not recession fears, those are in the past. For much if not most (vast majority) of mainstream pundits and newsmedia alike, unlike regular folks this is all news to them (the irony, huh?) Economists and central bankers everywhere had said last year was a boom, a true inflationary inferno raging worldwide. For once, CPIs [...]

"Why the current tightening cycle is unlike anything we’ve observed in the past.”

It’s an ominous though hardly surprising development. This has been shocking for those involved. Many if not most shipping companies had convinced themselves that once Shanghai and China’s vast harbor facilities were opened back up there’d be at least a mini-boom, a surge in activity for the world (America) to make up for lost time. [...]

To Wall Street and its backers, the solution to any price inflation is to reduce wages and public social spending. The orthodox way to do this is to push the economy into recession in order to reduce hiring. Rising unemployment will oblige labor to compete for jobs that pay less and less as the economy Continue Reading The post The Fed’s Austerity Program to Reduce Wages first appeared on […]

Settle in for this interview. Michael Hudson, Shepheard Walwyn recording May 23, 2022 Part one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDo7HykYN9k Part two here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-xWgLertkg Jonathan Brown Michael, welcome to the podcast. Michael Hudson It’s good to be here. I’m looking forward to it. Jonathan Brown Michael, I think you have one the most extraordinary upbringings and […]

Pepe Escobar REVIEW of DESTINY In his latest book, economist Michael Hudson pits socialism against finance capitalism and tears apart the ‘dream civilization’ imposed by the 1 percent. By Pepe Escobar, posted with the author’s permission and cross-posted with The Cradle Michael Hudson’s new book on the world’s urgent global economic re-set is sure to ruffle Continue Reading The post […]

Is the proxy war in Ukraine turning out to be only a lead-up to something larger, involving world famine and a foreign-exchange crisis for food- and oil-deficit countries? Many more people are likely to die of famine and economic disruption than on the Ukrainian battlefield. It thus is appropriate to ask whether what appeared to Continue Reading The post Is US/NATO (with WEF help) pushing for a […]

Boos German Interview June 1, 2022 “Taken from an interview with the newly founded German magazine “ViER” which will be published in August 2022.” ViER (FOUR), stands for the media as fourth power in checks and balances). 
(1.) Prof. Hudson, your new book “The Destiny of Civilization” is out now. This lecture series on finance Continue Reading The post Ukraine a Trojan for […]

First shared via our Patreon page, where some were interested in sharing this around. The support on Patreon is really appreciated and the community we are building there is solid. Our next Q&A session for Patron plus supporters is set for June. Transcript from ‘Inflation 2022’ – A Zoom panel, organised by the International Manifesto Continue Reading The post Inflation – A Junk […]

“The decline of the West is not necessary or historically inevitable. It is the result of choosing policies dictated by its rentier interests. … The threat posed to society by rentier interests is the great challenge of every nation today: whether its government can restrict the dynamics of finance capitalism and prevent an oligarchy from Continue Reading The post The Destiny of Civilization […]

Transcript BENJAMIN NORTON: Hey, everyone. I’m Ben Norton, and this is the Multipolarista podcast. And I have the great pleasure of being joined today by one of my favorite guests, one of I think the most important economists in the world today. I’m speaking with Professor Michael Hudson. If you’ve seen any of the interviews Continue Reading The post Calling to Account the Hereditary […]

Katie Halper podcast, April 29, 2022 TRANSCRIPT KATIE HALPER: Professor Michael Hudson, thank you so much for joining us. We’re really excited to have you. We wanted to start off by asking you if you could provide an overview of what the economics driving this conflict are—and by conflict, I mean the conflict between Russia Continue Reading The post Ukraine 4 Steps On first appeared on […]

It is now clear that today’s escalation of the New Cold War was planned over a year ago. America’s plan to block Nord Stream 2 was really part of its strategy to block Western Europe (“NATO”) from seeking prosperity by mutual trade and investment with China and Russia. As President Biden and U.S. national-security reports Continue Reading The post The Dollar Devours the Euro first […]

Hudson Bond debate PART II March 28, 2022 Is China’s Belt and Road initiative a socialist or capitalist approach to trade? Michael Hudson and Patrick Bond discuss and debate on theAnalysis.news with Paul Jay. TRANSCRIPT Paul Jay Hi and welcome back to theAnalysis.news, I’m Paul Jay. We’re going to continue our conversation with Patrick Bond and Continue Reading The post China – a […]

Hudson & Wolff discuss geo-political outcomes of America's long term campaign to control the world though currency, oil and food policy. The post Grab Bag Imperialism first appeared on Michael Hudson.

March 29, 2022. Margaret Flowers: You’re listening to Clearing the FOG, speaking truth to expose the forces of greed, with Margaret Flowers. And now I turn to my guest, Michael Hudson. Michael is the president of the Institute for the Study of Long-term, Economic Trends, ISLET. He’s a Wall Street financial analyst and a distinguished Continue Reading The post Clearing the Fog first appeared […]

NATO-Russia Proxy War: Revealing Signs of a Fading America: Scott Ritter, Michael Hudson – Global Research – Centre for Research on Globalization. GR (Michael Welch): Great privilege to speak with you again Mr. Hudson. Welcome! Michael Hudson: Thanks for having me on! GR: Now, We’re seeing NATO unifying together behind the US call to sanction Continue Reading The post Accidental Crisis? […]

Cross-posted from The Saker. Following Putin’s announcement about selling gas for Rubles only to hostile nations, I decided to reach out to Michael Hudson and ask him (my level, primitive) questions. Here is our full email exchange: Andrei: Russia has declared that she will only sell gas to “hostile countries” for Rubles. Which means that Continue Reading The post Putin’s Rubles first […]

March 21, 2022 Michael Hudson on Ukrainian Sanctions Ross [00:00:29] Welcome to Renegade Inc. Whatever the outcome in Ukraine, one thing is for sure the economic reverberations will be felt by everyone for years to come as the world divides between the West and a rapidly reshaping Eurasia. Ross [00:00:49] Michael Hudson, always a pleasure Continue Reading The post Sanctions, Energy and […]

Paul Jay Hi, welcome to theAnalysis.news, I’m Paul Jay. We’re going to talk about China. We’re going to have two guests who agree on so many things, but they have some disagreements about just what is the character of China, and we’re going to get into that. Please don’t forget the donate button. We can’t do Continue Reading The post Is Chinese Socialism Working? first appeared on […]

Ross [00:00:29] Welcome to Renegade Inc. On this programme, we talk with some of our Renegade Inc. friends and ask them about what surprised them over the last year and, as importantly, what they foresee happening in 2022. Strap in, it’s about to get interesting. Ross [00:00:48] Dr Ashley Frawley, wonderful to have you back Continue Reading The post Renegade Predictions first appeared on […]

But nobody thought that it would happen this fast. Empires often follow the course of a Greek tragedy, bringing about precisely the fate that they sought to avoid. That certainly is the case with the American Empire as it dismantles itself in not-so-slow motion. The basic assumption of economic and diplomatic forecasting is that every Continue Reading The post The American Empire self-destructs. […]

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Dear Zero Hedge readers and blogger fans, it is time to move on......to our new home: www.zerohedge.comFor a little over 6 months blogger has served us well, and yet it reached its limitations some time ago. Our new website, in addition to all currently existing features, now has a full RSS feed, a Contributors section, a complete term Glossary, and a full Forum for reader initiated content, and […]

Hey Ron, didn't realize your new position as a contributing editor on CNBC came with the contributing title of "Portfolio Manager." Didn't Stevie put a one year kibbosh on that? But I digress... And in all honesty I am surprised that you seem to have the correct spin on things (as per letter below from Jim Cramer's failed media experiment TheStreet). When you say: I'd prefer that regulators look […]

After numerous posts on this blog discussing speculation of assorted forced buy ins, it seems that this phenomenon is quite factual and quite pervasive among the asset management community. As Zero Hedge has noted previously, forced buy-ins are a critical issue as it leaves shorts at the mercy of their securities lenders and repo desks (most of which are TARP recipients and thus beneficiaries of […]

From an interview earlier with NYSE's Larry Leibowitz, who is surprisingly vocal against Flash trading. Larry - since the NYSE does not engage in Flash trading, can you please indicate whether or not the SLP program provides advance notice to Goldman Sachs ala Direct Edge's ELP program. Regardless, the escalation in the ECN wars is starting and should be a very interesting one to follow, […]

It seems only yesterday that Zero Hedge had some questions in regard to Goldman's VaR Fed exemption. No response was received from 85 Broad. Today it appears several Congressmen, lead by Alan Grayson, are willing to drive a sharp stick pretty deep into the hornets' nest, by sending a letter directly to Wall Street Don Ben Bernanke, demanding an explanation exactly to the question of Goldman's VaR […]

"I write out of concern that the integrity of our capital markets is being compromised by the ability of some insiders to view order information before it is available to the entire market, and use electronic trading strategies to profit from that information at the expense of other investors."Full letter here:Schumer Letter

Damage control... Or is Goldman a little worried what Direct Edge may disclose.From the appended Schumer piece on Bloomberg:“Goldman Sachs believes high-frequency trading should have an accompanying obligation to provide liquidity, and be subject to appropriate regulatory oversight,” Canaday said.Ed, we have been giving you the chance to provide your side of the story for months. Please take […]

The mythical "TRADER - The Documentary" is finally available on You Tube. Relevant "full frontal" insights on the making of a hedge fund legend, and a paleolithic market dominated by monochrome PCs (what, no Bloomberg?), running to the municipal library for that 10-K, and no Flash orders frontrunning every trade. Part 1, and related series (2-7) are on You Tube.hat tip j.m.

Bearish bets made impossible, compliments of UBS. Either that, or UBS' recently upgraded (with i7 chips of course) computers just cant handle the basis calculations. Either way, is something very fried with ETFs going on behind the scenes? IMPORTANT NOTICE: Inverse, Leveraged and Inverse-Leveraged Exchange Traded Funds are no longer available for new or additional purchases at UBSEffective July […]

Zero Hedge, in collaboration with David Rosenberg, Chief Economist & Strategist, Gluskin Sheff + Associates, Inc., is pleased to release the attached analysis "The End Of The End Of The Recession." It is our hope that this piece will provide some badly-needed perspective on "the recession is over" debate, a topic that has become as one-sided as it is wrong-headed. Our purposes is to promote […]

Administration looking for Chinese help to narrow trade gap and boost US jobs.Advertisers are getting cheaper rates than a year ago on television commercials.Aetna 2Q profit dropped to $346.6M due to greater commercial expenses and cuts full year forecast.Asian markets were higher Monday on hopes for further earnings recovery, Nikkei hits 10,000 mark.China's new small-company stock exchange gets […]

Tenacious G - Is Goldman Sachs evil? Or really good? (NY Mag)Bernanke feared a second great depression; he may still very well get it (WSJ)Europe braced for rising credit card defaults (FT)Loans by U.S. banks shrink as fear lingers (WSJ)Credit crunch part deux (Merk Mutual Funds)Real yields highest since 1994 aid record debt sales (Bloomberg)Ryanair plunges on outlook for fares, earnings […]

Some interesting stuff in John Mauldin's latest piece. We'll include some pertinent quotes along with our thoughts.China is growing by about 8% a year, which is amazing on the surface of it, as their exports are down about 20% (more in some sectors). How can that be? I continually read about how China is going to lead the world out of its global funk. And 8% growth in GDP does seem pretty strong. […]

Submitted by John Bougearel of Structural Logic

Must read: Fast-on-the-draw trades need spot of marshalling (FT, h/t Joe)Roubini Op-Ed on Bernanke: The Great Preventer (NYT)Lennar signals fleeting buildling rally as buyers flee (Bloomberg)JP Morgan to raise banker salaries (FT)The man spreading false rumors about Harman and Textron takeovers (that fooled fast-money's Najarian) found dead in suicide (Bloomberg)Chinese steel executive beaten to […]

When the former head of product development in the electronic client solutions group at none other than JP Morgan, Carl Carrie, was last quoted on Zero Hedge, he had some very nasty words for High Frequency Trading. Today, in a podcast transcript by algotradingpodcast Carl shares much more light in just why any reform movement against HFT and PT in general will be met by a huge pushback by […]

Zero Hedge will attempt to categorize all the relevant players in FlashTradingGate. This is the initial focus of Senator Charles Schumer's recent campaign for market equality and transparency. As we will undoubtedly miss critical connections between these and other pertinent industry players, we solicit readers' insight as we develop this org chart: we invite readers to send emails to: […]

Great recap piece in the New York Times on whether or not Wall Street is picking the pockets of "non-club" investors (read - the guys who do not generate 80% returns with a Sharpe > 5.0 - can someone explain how risk/return works again). The consensus sure looks good for class action lawsuit lawyers. The piece also recognizes the tremendous contribution that Zero Hedge's readership has had in […]

It seems 1-2's and Marla's post earlier could not have come at a more opportune time. In a presentation by Andrew Gluck of Advisor Products, the author touches on some starkly comparable points (and, usefully, those with acute ADHD may find this presentation a tad more palatable, hehe, just kidding Marla) in the context of the epic paradigm shift occurring in the media world. Zero Hedge […]