Alternative Visions – US Stocks Biggest Fall Since October 2008. Causes & Predictions – 02.09.18

Dr. Rasmus delves deeper into this past week’s US and global stock crash. Is it another 2008? Or more like the dotcom tech bust of 2000? Rasmus argues the current decline has characteristics of both 2000 and 2008 and may be therefore even more significant. How tech stock speculation drove 2000 and how property based financial speculation-engineering in derivatives drove …

Pam Martens and Russ Martens – Pull Back the Curtain on Exchange Traded Funds and Out Pop Wall Street Mega Banks

The selloff in junk bonds has rattled the markets and is raising questions about just who it is that is providing liquidity to the junk bond Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) — which have magically redeemed billions of dollars in withdrawals from retail investors while the underlying bonds in their portfolio are under severe stress in the broader marketplace. (Both a …

Alternative Visions – ‘Three Official Reports Point to Global Economic Trouble’ – 10.02.15

A review of three just released reports that indicate the US and global economy is in much worst shape than the hype flowing from political and business media sources. Today’s US jobs report showed a sharp reduction in the rate of private sector job growth in the US economy for the past three months, as labor force and wage growth continue to stagnate as well. Jack explains why the official data is even worse than reported. A second report by the World Trade Organization indicates global trade is retreating fast, growing much less than global GDP which is itself slowing fast. According to estimates, global trade may have even contracted in the first half of 2015. Jack explains how a global recession in trade and industrial production (manufacturing, mining, utility output) may have already begun, with global services eventually to follow. Conditions in Europe, Japan, China, and the ‘perfect storm’ accelerating in Emerging Markets from latin America to Asia to Africa are reviewed. Next week’s IMF report on the growing crisis in the global economy, centered on emerging markets and China, is previewed. In the context of these developments, Jack explains how his new, forthcoming book, ‘Systemic Fragility in the Global Economy’, by Clarity Press, due out in November provides a theoretical and empirical explanation of the conditions and where the economy is headed, and how the book is different fundamentally from analyses provided by both mainstream economists or Marxist economists.’

Biotech stock bubble set for massive implosion: Stocks rose 88% AFTER Fed chair admitted they were overvalued by J. D. Heyes

If you’re trying to understand today’s stock market and are having some degree of difficulty, you’re not alone. The markets are confusing enough sometimes for experts, so they can be particularly baffling for laypersons. Still, a few economic basics ought to be pretty simple to understand, right? Wrong – apparently. About a year ago, as documented by the Zero Hedge website, Federal Reserve …

Junk Bonds Are The New Haven Assets – Anchalee Worrachate Sally Bakewell Katie Linsell

The new fixed-income haven is, of all things, the market for junk bonds. With government bonds in Germany to Japan yielding less than nothing, money is pouring into exchange-traded funds that buy speculative-grade debt, traditionally the riskiest of fixed-income assets. The pace is staggering. So far this year, about $9 billion has flowed into the funds globally, a significant chunk …