Alternative Visions – Will the ‘Trump Trade’ Fade? – 03.24.17

The US stock markets are recognized by a growing number of analysts as approaching, or already in, bubble territory. Yet stocks have ratcheted up another 15%-20% since Trump won the election. The run-up is sometimes called the ‘Trump Trade’. Investors have been ploughing in even more anticipating another stage of corporate profits subsidization by Trump and Republican fiscal policies—Trump proposed $6.2 trillion in tax cuts, deregulation (Obamacare, Dodd-Frank, EPA, Mergers & Acquisitions encouragement, etc.), shifting hundreds of billions $ from social programs to defense spending, and $1 trillion in Trump proposed infrastructure spending. Jack explains how expectations of the policy shift to fiscal from central bank, monetary policies from 2008-2016, is now the new strategy for subsidizing corporate profits and investor further wealth gains. Central bank monetary policy had run its course and began to develop contradictions. Fiscal policy—tax cuts, deregulation, infrastructure and defense spending—is the new strategy. US stocks surged in anticipation of the new profit opportunities. But signs Trump may not deliver have stopped investors in their tracks this past week. Failure to deliver policy may result in a major stock pullback in 2017. Jack cites various sources that the current stock market bubble has peaked.

Alternative Visions – Key Economic Events Past Week Before Trump Inauguration – 01.20.17

Jack Rasmus reviews the key economic events, US and global, in the run-up to the Trump inauguration: China President Xi warning of trade war with US, the European Central Bank’s continuation of its QE policy, the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister, May, signals a ‘hard Brexit’, Trump cabinet nominees tell Congress what they want to hear (and not what they intend …

Pam Martens and Russ Martens – The Untold Story of 9/11: Bailing Out Alan Greenspan’s Legacy

Today marks the 15th Anniversary of the tragic events of September 11, 2001 and yet the American public remains in the dark about critical details of hundreds of billions of dollars of financial dealings by the Federal Reserve in the days, weeks and months that followed 9/11. What has also been lost in the official 9/11 Commission Report, Congressional hearings and …

Bill Holter – Weapons of Mass Financial Destruction (WMFD)

Every once in a while it is a good thing to review something we already know and have known for quite a while.  What we’re talking about are derivatives and the very basics of how they work… or not.  We have seen massive volatility since the Fed raised rates last month.  The humor (tragedy), admitted to yesterday by the Fed, the …

BofA: The Oil Crash Is Kicking Off One of the Largest Wealth Transfers In Human History

 Economists are still hotly debating whether the oil crash has been a net positive for advanced economies. Optimists argue that cheap oil is a good thing for consumers and commodity-sensitive businesses, while pessimists point to the hit to energy-related investment and possible spillover into the financial system. A new note from Francisco Blanch at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, however, …

Trends This Week – The Economic Meltdown: It’s Global. Period. – 01.27.16

Want to know the truth behind those wild swings in global markets? Listen to this program with global master forecaster Gerald Celente. The facts prove it. With just three trading days left in January, in the history of the Dow Jones, there has never been a new year that has rung in on such a down note. And the wild market ride has spread far beyond Wall Street. Just one week ago, the global equity rout sent the MSCI All-Country World Index into bear territory. From China to Japan, from the UK to France, stocks were down more than 20 percent from 2015 highs. Among the higher-risk emerging markets, stocks dove to their lowest levels since May 2009. Overall, some $15 trillion in global equity values has been lost since the year began. Beyond diving equities, commodity prices are down to 1991 levels, according to the Bloomberg Commodity Index. Thus, among many resource-rich nations whose exports have sharply fallen along with the prices of the commodities they sell, their currencies’ value also has dramatically declined. There’s a rough ride ahead. Prepare. Prevail. Prosper.

Why the Black Hole of Deflation Is Swallowing the Entire World … Even After Central Banks Have Pumped Trillions Into the Economy

Many high-powered people and institutions say that deflation is threatening much of the world’s economy … China may export deflation to the rest of the world. Japan is mired in deflation. Economists are afraid that deflation will hit Hong Kong. The Telegraph reported last week: Read More

Mike Whitney – Could This be “The Big One”?

Everyone take a deep breath. This isn’t 2007 again.  The banks aren’t loaded with $10 trillion in “toxic” mortgage-backed securities, the housing market hasn’t fallen off a cliff wiping out $8 trillion in home equity, and the world is not on the brink of another excruciating financial meltdown.  The reason the markets have been gyrating so furiously for the last couple weeks is because stocks …

Pam Martens and Russ Martens – Big Bank Stocks Have Been Crushed: Here’s Why

The conventional wisdom was that the Fed’s rate hike on December 16 of last year was going to help big bank stocks by boosting their ability to charge heftier interest rates on loans. That theory has pretty much been relegated to the dust bin of financial fairy tales along with the Fed’s prediction that the slump in oil prices would …