Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
With Congress Set To Interrogate FBI Director Comey, Will His Hedge Fund Background Help Or Hurt
By Tyler Durden
Having stunned even the most liberal of liberal media outlets with his seemingly unexplainable decision not to bring charges against Hillary Clinton (thus nullifying six criminal laws), FBI Director Jim Comey faces an oversight bloodbath today in front of the House Oversight Committee. However, what few may not know about the “deeply philosophical, religion major” is that he spent three short years (just enough for Dalio to realize 'value') being “probed” at the world's largest hedge fund – Bridgewater, peddling “radical transparency.”
With legal scholars already debating Comey’s conclusions about Clinton’s use of a private e-mail server to send and receive messages on official business, a practice she has said wasn’t illegal but one that she now regrets…
“Director Comey draws a rather curious distinction,” said Jonathan Turley, a George Washington University law school professor.
“What’s strange about this outcome is that Comey detailed what would normally be viewed as a basis for gross negligence.”
Today's House Oversight Committee hearing should be full of fireworks; but as Politico warns “in attempting to set up the FBI director for an oversight bloodbath, House Republicans might get more than they bargained for” apparently because of Comey's hedge fund background…
After he left government, Comey spent three years being grilled, or “probed,” as an executive at Bridgewater Associates, the $150 billion hedge fund founded by Ray Dalio that the New Yorker has labeled “the world’s richest and strangest hedge fund.” Dalio, who regularly ranks among the 50 or 60 wealthiest people on the Forbes 400 list, has built the highly successful fund since the 1970s on a platform of “radical transparency,” a principle that encourages—actually forces—deep questioning from the ranks of all leadership decisions.
It was just weeks after he joined Bridgewater—whose corporate culture of high-achieving intellectuals resembles a moneyed management cult that shares more in common with the 1970s personal-improvement fad est than it does with a typical Wall Street firm—that Comey was cornered by a similarly new 25-year-old employee. The junior associate interrogated the former Justice Department official on a seemingly illogical stance that Comey had taken in an earlier meeting. “My initial reaction was ‘What? You, kid, are asking me that question?’ … I was deputy attorney general of the United States; I was general counsel of a huge, huge company. No 25-year-old is going to ask me about my logic,” he recalled. “Then I realized ‘I’m at Bridgewater.’”
Comey said that, even though he was excited to embrace the new way of thinking, it took him at least three months to settle in with Bridgewater’s culture. “I finally relaxed and untied the knot in my stomach that would instantly appear when someone questioned me,” he recalled. “Bridgewater’s a hard place. … It’s a place filled with really smart people who are always going to tell you the truth, and that’s hard.”
Inside Bridgewater, the culture of questioning is known as “probing,” a chance to understand the deeper “whys” inherent in an individual’s thinking or a corporate process. It’s a chance for …read more
Source: With Congress Set To Interrogate FBI Director Comey, Will His Hedge Fund Background Help Or Hurt
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Following Near Record Buying Spree, Gold ETF Holding Rise Above 2,000 Tons, Highest Since 2013
By Tyler Durden
We have previously commented on a peculiar divergence observable among gold investors: whereas those who buy physical gold tend to buy more the lower the price of gold drops (as conventional economic theory says they should), the subset of gold-buyers who prefer to trade a “paper” version of gold in the form of ETFs only start buying when prices rise, with buying – ironically – peaking just around the time the price of the commodity does the same. Whether this has to do with momentum-chasing algos or is simply a travesty of what new normal “investing” is all about, is unknown, but what we do know is that as of this moment, global gold holdings in ETFs topped 2,000 metric tons for the first time since June 2013 following the Brexit fallout, when gold buying has sparked even more gold buying.
What is also curious is how much greater the impact of paper-denominated gold purchases on the price of gold is compared to simple physical purchases, which have been ongoing for the past year with barely a dent in the price of gold which had traded around $1,100 for nearly a year before it ultimately set off for its latest torrid ramp higher.
As Bloomberg notes, holdings in bullion-backed exchange-traded funds rose 4.1 tons to 2,001.4 tons on Wednesday, data compiled by Bloomberg show. That’s larger than the alleged gold reserves held by China (in reality China holds far more gold but it willing to only represent a fraction of its official holdings) the biggest consumer and a consistent central-bank buyer in recent months. The latest increase followed the biggest one-day gain since 2009 in the SPDR Gold Shares, the largest gold ETF.
More details:
Global assets in the funds have surged 37 percent this year and prices are near a two-year high as slowing growth, negative rates in Europe and Japan and the likelihood that the Federal Reserve won’t hike further combined to boost demand. The U.K.’s vote last month to quit the European Union has added further impetus to that pro-bullion mix. Gold has likely entered the early stages of the next bull run, according to UBS Group AG, while ABN Amro Group NV says prices may hit $1,425 this quarter.
“Investment demand has been very strong, with institutional buyers of ETFs the big gorilla in the room,” said John Butler, a vice president at GoldMoney, which provides custodian and investment services in Toronto. “We’ve reached a psychological tipping point where people see a material increase in the risk of a repeat of what we saw in 2008.” Client demand has been so strong recently that GoldMoney has struggled to keep up, he said.
Putting combined ETF holdings in perspective, the 2,000+ tons compare with the 1,808.3 tons held by China according to the WFC, even if that “official” number is fundamentally very flawed. They’re also about twice the size of Switzerland’s holdings and a quarter of the stash kept by the U.S.
The fundamental reason for gold’s second …read more
Source: Following Near Record Buying Spree, Gold ETF Holding Rise Above 2,000 Tons, Highest Since 2013
Man Fatally Shot During Traffic Stop In Minnesota, Governor Reportedly Evacuated
By Tyler Durden
A man identified as Philando Castile, 32, was shot and killed during a traffic stop Wednesday evening in Falcon Heights, Minnesota that could spark yet another round of social unrest throughout the nation.
St. Anthony Police chief Jon Mangseth said the incident began when an officer from his agency initiated a traffic stop around 9pm, and at some point an officer fired, striking the man. Mangseth said he didn’t know what the reason was, and police didn’t say what led to the shooting. Castile’s girlfriend and a 7-year old child were also in the car when the incident took place, and the girlfriend allegedly started to live stream the incident on Facebook as it started to unfold. Mangseth said he had been “made aware there was a live stream on Facebook” but said he hadn’t yet seen the video and didn’t know anything about its contents.
According to the WSJ, the video shows a woman sitting in a car with a man slumped in a seat wearing a shirt that appeared to be soaked in blood. A person who appeared to be an armed police officer stood at the car’s window. The woman can be heard saying “we got pulled over for a busted taillight.” And the officer tells her to keep her hands up, and says “I told him not to reach for it. I told him to get his hand out.“
“You shot four bullets into him, sir. He was just getting his license and registration, sir” the woman responds.
The girlfriend says the man was licensed to carry a gun and was trying to get his ID and wallet when the officer shot him – police say a handgun was recovered from the scene.
According to the StarTribune, the 10-minute video shows the girlfriend being ordered from her car by several officers, one of whom is holding a child. “Please don’t tell me my boyfriend’s gone.” the girlfriend pleads in the video,. “He don’t deserve this, please. He works for St. Paul Public Schools. He’s never been in jail, anything. He’s not a gang member, anything.” At one point the young girl can be heard saying “I’m scared, mommy.”
“Police just shot my boyfriend for no apparent reason.” the woman says.
A 28-year old nursing student who declined to be named said she was sitting in the parking lot of a nearby apartment building and saw the scene unfold. “I just heard the officer say, ‘Put your hands up,’ and before he finished saying that there were four shots.” the woman said.
Relatives of Castile described him as a good, hardworking man who had worked in the J.J. Hill school cafeteria for 12 to 15 years “cooking for the little kids.”
By 12:30am, dozens of people – peaceful but visibly angry – had gathered at the scene in Falcon Heights, some chanting anti-police slogans. An estimated 100 people protesting the fatal shooting even arrived around 2am at the governor’s residence in St. Paul the StarTribune reports, chanting “No justice, …read more
Source: Man Fatally Shot During Traffic Stop In Minnesota, Governor Reportedly Evacuated
Gundlach: "When Deutsche Bank Goes To Single Digits People Will Start To Panic"
By Tyler Durden
Following today’s Fed minutes release, Jeff Gundlach had a far less “uncertain” message: “Things are shaky and feeling dangerous,” Gundlach told Reuters in a telephone interview.
It’s not just stocks that Gundlach was not too excited about, he also had some choice words about buying Treasuries here. “You’re seeing people who hated the ‘2 percent’ 10-year suddenly loving it at a 1.38-1.39 percent revisit of the all-time low closing yield,” Gundlach said. “If you buy 10-year Treasuries now, I would say, it is a terrible trade location. In fact, it is the worst trade location in the history of the 10-year Treasury.”
True, just like buying stocks less than 2% from all time highs, however what Gundlach failed to mention is that those who are buying Treasurys here are not doing it for the yield (or lack thereof on more than $11 trillion in notional), they are simply doing so to frontrun even more central bank purchases now that the monetary spigots have once again been activated as “confused” central banks around the world have just one trick left up their sleeve – to monetize even more debt in hopes of pushing every last investor into risk assets.
The DoubleLine bond king also had some choice words about Europe’s banking crisis: “Banks are dying and policymakers don’t know what to do,” Gundlach said. “Watch Deutsche Bank shares go to single digits and people will start to panic… you’ll see someone say, ‘Someone is going to have to do something’.“
So Gundlach hates equities and bonds; what does he like? According to Reuters’ Jennifer Ablan, Gundlach said that “gold remains the best investment amid fears of instability in the European Union and prolonged global stagnation, as well as concerns over the effectiveness of central bank policies.”
Gundlach, a staunch supporter of the precious metal, sees gold rising to $1400 an ounce this year.
“I am not selling gold.”
Source: Gundlach: "When Deutsche Bank Goes To Single Digits People Will Start To Panic"
Gundlach: "When Deutsche Bank Goes To Single Digits People Will Start To Panic"
By Tyler Durden
Following today’s Fed minutes release, Jeff Gundlach had a far less “uncertain” message: “Things are shaky and feeling dangerous,” Gundlach told Reuters in a telephone interview.
It’s not just stocks that Gundlach was not too excited about, he also had some choice words about buying Treasuries here. “You’re seeing people who hated the ‘2 percent’ 10-year suddenly loving it at a 1.38-1.39 percent revisit of the all-time low closing yield,” Gundlach said. “If you buy 10-year Treasuries now, I would say, it is a terrible trade location. In fact, it is the worst trade location in the history of the 10-year Treasury.”
True, just like buying stocks less than 2% from all time highs, however what Gundlach failed to mention is that those who are buying Treasurys here are not doing it for the yield (or lack thereof on more than $11 trillion in notional), they are simply doing so to frontrun even more central bank purchases now that the monetary spigots have once again been activated as “confused” central banks around the world have just one trick left up their sleeve – to monetize even more debt in hopes of pushing every last investor into risk assets.
The DoubleLine bond king also had some choice words about Europe’s banking crisis: “Banks are dying and policymakers don’t know what to do,” Gundlach said. “Watch Deutsche Bank shares go to single digits and people will start to panic… you’ll see someone say, ‘Someone is going to have to do something’.“
So Gundlach hates equities and bonds; what does he like? According to Reuters’ Jennifer Ablan, Gundlach said that “gold remains the best investment amid fears of instability in the European Union and prolonged global stagnation, as well as concerns over the effectiveness of central bank policies.”
Gundlach, a staunch supporter of the precious metal, sees gold rising to $1400 an ounce this year.
“I am not selling gold.”
Source: Gundlach: "When Deutsche Bank Goes To Single Digits People Will Start To Panic"
"Incredibly Stupid" Juncker Opens Pandora’s Box
By Tyler Durden
Submitted by Raul Ilargi Meijer via The Automatic Earth blog,
Remember the referendum in April in which voters in the Netherlands rejected the EU-Ukraine trade deal? Seems forever ago, doesn’t it? But to date nothing has been done with the outcome of the vote, even though Dutch law requires a government to implement referendum outcomes as swiftly as possible.
PM Mark Rutte told parliament this week that ‘changing’ the deal would be very difficult, and that talks on the topic in the European Council ‘don’t make him happy’. Since one of the things Rutte has demanded from the EU is a pledge that Ukraine will not become an EU member, none of this should be surprising.
But more importantly, the Dutch didn’t vote for Rutte to renegotiate the deal, they outright rejected it. Ergo, Rutte is playing fast and loose with the integrity and credibility of the Dutch legal and political systems as much as the FBI does with America’s in the Clinton email sleight of hand, and as later today Britain will do with its credibility following the Chilcot report on Tony Blair et al.
As if the Brexit fall-out hasn’t done enough damage to that credibility. One might get the distinct impression that the powers-that-be could get awfully annoyed with the riff-raff out there wanting a say in their own lives. But the riff-raff don’t just want a say anymore, they are getting mighty annoyed with the powers-that-be too.
And that is guaranteed to increase if more ‘incidents’ happen like FBI director Jim Comey’s announcement yesterday that Hillary won’t be charged. At some point credibility must come with accountability, or else. The Hillary files bring the US awfully close to that point, as well as to ‘or else’.
Eric Zuesse explains very well why that is:
In Clinton Case, Obama Administration Nullifies 6 Criminal Laws
There can be no excuse for Obama’s depriving the public, via a grand jury decision, of the right to determine whether a full court case should be pursued in order to determine in a jury trial whether Hillary Clinton’s email system constituted a crime (or several crimes) under U.S. laws. The Obama Administration’s ‘finding’ that “clearly intentional and willful mishandling of classified information” would need to have been proven, in order for her to have been prosecuted under any U.S. criminal law, is a flagrant lie..
[..] anyone who in the future would be charged with violating any one of those six laws could reasonably cite the precedent that Ms. Clinton was not even charged, much less prosecuted, for actions which clearly fit the description provided in each one of those U.S. criminal laws. Anyone in the future who would be charged under any one of these six laws could prove discriminatory enforcement against himself or herself.
It is highly irresponsible for any government to play such games, and it’s skating on the edge of the law, something a government should always attempt to avoid. That is essential.
Someone who’s not known to be overly bothered by …read more
Source: "Incredibly Stupid" Juncker Opens Pandora’s Box
China Warns Of "Price To Pay" In South China Sea
By Tyler Durden
After all of the posturing that the US and China have been doing in recent months as it relates to the South China Sea, the time is drawing near for The Hague to issue a decision on one of the main sources of the tension, namely a maritime complaint that the Philippines filed against China back in 2013.
As a quick reminder, many countries have claims that overlap each other in the South China Sea, and China in particular has decided that its claim trumps any others. In June, US Defense Secretary Ash Carter went to Singapore and made it known that the US was going to “remain the most powerful military and main underwriter of security in the region for decades to come, and there should be no doubts about that“, adding that China was in danger of “erecting a Great Wall of self-isolation” if it continued its actions. Subsequently China threatened to leave the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea if The Hague didn't side with China in its ruling, saying that type of ruling would be the worst outcome of the dispute.
Against that backdrop, The Hague is set to release its ruling on July 12, and Beijing is preparing fully for the decision, as it announced that it will be conducting military drills between July 5 – July 11 in the disputed waters. “The drills are a very symbolic expression of China's resolve. It is definitely also responding to the recent American warships patrolling in the South China Sea.” Zhu Feng, dean of the Institute of International Affairs at Nanjing University said.
Not only is Beijing conducting military drills, but The People's Daily, a flagship newspaper of China's ruling Communist Party on Wednesday warned Washington that there would be a “price” to pay if it crosses China's “bottom line” by meddling in disputes over the South China Sea. As Military.com reports, the paper said that the US should recognize that there is a bottom line with every issue, and the US would bear all responsibility for any further escalation of the already high tensions between the two countries.
From Military.com
The People's Daily editorial comes as Beijing ramps up efforts to assert its stance ahead of a ruling by an international tribunal in a case filed by the Philippines challenging China's claims to most of the South China Sea. China is boycotting the case before The Hague-based court and says it will not accept the verdict.
The paper said that bilateral ties and regional stability were at stake and that the U.S. should recognize that “there is a bottom line with every issue, and a price will be paid if that line is crossed.”
“If the United States, regardless of the cost, chooses the path of 'brinkmanship' that pressures and intimidates others, there will be only one result, that is, that the U.S. bears all the responsibility for possibly further heightening tensions in the South China Sea,” the editorial said.
“China …read more
Source: China Warns Of "Price To Pay" In South China Sea
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Meanwhile In Greece, Homeless Family Of 5 Lives In Carton Boxes
By Tyler Durden
Just when you think, you’ve seen and heard everything possible and impossible in Greece with regard austerity and the crisis… there comes this incredible human story: a family of five living in carton boxes in the city of Patras in western Greece.
As KeepTalkingGreece.com details, the family ended up on the streets after a labor accident of the father. The family has no income. For the last 8 months, the two adults and the three children live in a provisional “shelter” made of carton boxes they have places in a corner of an abandoned and half-constructed building.
The parents need to feed two toddlers aged 1.5 and 3.5 years old and an older child from the father’s previous marriage.
The family receives no disability pension or any allowance from the state that can help them make a living.
“They tell their children that living in boxes is a game,” local media TheBest.gr reports.
The father is unable to work. The family’s relatives cannot help them as they are also in dire economic situation.
They get meals from the local church, a neighbor to the building gives them from time to time the opportunity to take a bath.
Basic sanitary conditions are non-existent, the smell where these people live is beyond any description.
The father has been unemployed for the last 3.5 years. His leg was badly cut during works with a chainsaw.
Speaking to thebest.gr, the father said, he wished to have space in a plot to put a tent for his family and two hens in order to have something to feed his children.
And a job. “Anything that will help me be back on track.”
Source: Meanwhile In Greece, Homeless Family Of 5 Lives In Carton Boxes
“Italian Government Collapse More Than Just A Possibility”
By Tyler Durden
Submitted by Mish Shedlock of MishTalk
Four new polls show comedian Beppe Grillo’s Five Star Movement (M5S) ahead of prime minister Matteo Renzi’s Democratic Party (PD) were an election held today.
The next election will be no later than May 23, 2018. Renzi promised to step down if he fails a constitutional reform referendum later this year.
The reform referendum will likely be held no later than this October.
Beppe Grillo – Comedian Founder of Five Star Movement
Renzi Rocked Yet Again
Please consider Renzi Rocked as Five Star Surges in Polls.
The populist Five Star Movement has emerged as Italy’s leading political party, overtaking Matteo Renzi’s ruling Democratic party (PD) in four separate opinion polls that have exposed the growing vulnerability of the country’s centre-left prime minister.
The primacy of the Five Star Movement, which is led by the sardonic comedian Beppe Grillo and has called for a referendum on ditching the euro, reflects a shift in public opinion against Mr Renzi that will heighten fears of a return to political instability and uncertainty in the single currency’s third largest economy.
“A government collapse is more than just a possibility, it is a scenario that we are looking at very closely,” said Federico Santi, an analyst at the Eurasia Group consultancy. “The trend has been clearly bad for the ruling party and favourable to the Five Star Movement, driven by issues — like migration, the banking troubles and corruption scandals — that are not going to go away. It’s hard to see what it could take for Renzi and the PD to make a comeback at this point.”
According to polls released on Wednesday by Ipsos, the Five Star Movement is supported by 30.6 per cent of Italians, compared with 29.8 per cent for the PD. Similar polls in January had Mr Renzi’s party leading the Five Star Movement by nearly six percentage points. In the 2014 European elections, shortly after Mr Renzi took office, the PD defeated the Five Star Movement by nearly 20 percentage points.
Three other surveys taken after the Brexit vote also showed the Five Star Movement ahead, with the next national elections due in early 2018.
One by Demos released on July 1 showed the party ahead by a margin of 32.3 per cent to 30.2 per cent over Mr Renzi’s PD. Others by Euromedia and EMG showed the Five Star Movement with narrower leads of 0.5 and 0.4 percentage points. Another poll showed the Democratic party hanging on to a narrow lead.
The polls look even darker for Mr Renzi if the likelihood of a run-off between the two largest parties — which is called for under Italy’s new electoral law if no party exceeds 40 per cent — is taken into account. In those scenarios, the Five Star Movement would defeat the PD by as much as ten percentage points, as right-wing voters would coalesce around the protest party.
Beneath the surface, there is increasing talk of what might happen should his efforts …read more
Source: “Italian Government Collapse More Than Just A Possibility”
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