Help is coming for long airport security lines
Congress approved the TSA’s request to re-allocate funds that enables it to put more workers at airports. …read more
Source: Help is coming for long airport security lines
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Google is worth more than Apple again
Alphabet, the parent company of Google, is now worth nearly $500 billion — slightly more than struggling Apple. But Google hasn’t exactly had a great year either. Could Amazon and Facebook soon pass both Alphabet and Apple? …read more
Source: Google is worth more than Apple again
Gold, Silver, & Stocks Are Slumping On Heavy Volume
By Tyler Durden
The USD Index is fading, stocks are tumbling, bonds are selling off, and precious metals are getting hammered…
Or are the broad markets starting to price in a Trump presidency?
Source: Gold, Silver, & Stocks Are Slumping On Heavy Volume
‘I fought for two years and finally got my Social Security’
It’s been three years since the Supreme Court struck down DOMA, but Social Security only just recognized Kathy Phelan’s marriage — sending her a lump sum for the 22 months of benefits she missed.
…read more
Source: ‘I fought for two years and finally got my Social Security’
Deustche Bank Brokers Jailed After "Prolonged, Persistent Bad Behavior" In Biggest Insider Trading Bust Ever
By Tyler Durden
Two former Deutsche Bank corporate brokers have been sentenced to one of the longest prison terms possible for the crime of insider trading in the UK. As US financial market participants walk free in the streets managing their own “home office” money, Martyn Dodgson and Andrew Hind will be rotting in a Wandsworth prison cell (among the worst reputed of England's prisons) for up to four and half years for what the judge called “persistent, prolonged and deliberately dishonest behavior.” As Bloomberg reports, the group, including three other defendants, formed part of the FCA’s biggest insider-trading investigation dubbed Operation Tabernula.
The FCA accused Dodgson and Harrison of passing inside information on possible deals from their jobs between 2006 and 2010 to Hind who the agency claimed gave them to Parvizi and Anderson to trade on. All of the men denied the charge. But as Bloomberg reports, the sentences are among the longest handed down in an FCA insider-dealing case…
Martyn Dodgson, 44, was sentenced Thursday in London (to 4 1/2 years in jail) alongside friend and accountant Andrew Hind, who was given a 3 1/2 year prison term for the same offense. The men were found guilty of insider dealing on Monday after a four-month trial.
“This was persistent, prolonged and deliberately dishonest behavior,” Judge Jeffrey Pegden said when handing down the sentence. Dodgson showed a “gross breach of trust.”
The sentences were another victory for the Financial Conduct Authority, which has won 30 convictions for insider trading since it started prosecuting the crime less than a decade ago. The success comes as U.S. prosecutors are struggling with a court ruling that limits their ability to tackle the offense.
Three other defendants in the case, former Panmure Gordon & Co. corporate broker Andrew “Grant” Harrison and day traders Benjamin Anderson and Iraj Parvizi, were acquitted. They also used nicknames including Fatty, Nobu and Fruit in an effort to disguise their identities.
The group formed part of the FCA’s biggest insider-trading investigation dubbed Operation Tabernula. The FCA already secured three other convictions in relation to the probe.
The sentences are among the longest handed down in an FCA insider-dealing case. Former Moore Capital Management LLC trader Julian Rifat, another target in Tabernula, received a 19-month prison sentence last year after pleading guilty.
Finally, we note that, Dodgson and Hind will probably start their sentences in HM Prison Wandsworth, a Victorian jail south of the Thames known for its poor conditions and violent residents.
The City regulator heralded the case as proof it can hold rule-breakers to account…
“This was an extraordinary and complex case of a type not prosecuted in this country before,” said enforcement boss Mark Steward. “The message is loud and clear, that the FCA will not tolerate sophisticated predatory criminals abusing our markets. This case demonstrates our capability and determination to root out this kind of abuse and ensure our market and the investing public are properly protected.
“Dodgson was an experienced and well-paid banker, well aware that what …read more
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Full-Blown Fearmongering: Bank Of England Warns Of Recession, "Sharp" Sterling Fall If UK Leaves Europe
By Tyler Durden
While the Bank of England voted unanimously 9-0 to keep rates on hold at 0.5%, what the market was far more focused on the BOE’s latest gloomy scenarios about what would happen should the UK vote for Brexit on June 23. The BOE did not disappoint, and cautioned that that sterling could fall “sharply” and unemployment would probably rise, while in the press conference after the announcement BOE governor and former Goldmanite Mark Carney went all the way warning Brexit “could possibly lead to recession.”
That this takes place just days after UK’s David Cameron warned of a World War threat should the UK leave the EU is not surprising: after all the whole point is to scare the UK population into submission and into a vote to stay in the EU.
Among the warnings from the BOE’s fire and brimstone forecast was that the “Sterling is also likely to depreciate further, perhaps sharply. This combination of influences … could lead to a materially lower path for growth and notably higher path for inflation.”
Which is ironic: in a world in which every central bank is scrambling to crush its own currency, shouldn’t the BOE then welcome any event that will send the sterling “sharply” lower? Questions, questions…
Meanwhile, the torrent of doom and gloom “if Brexit happens” continues. As Reuters puts it, “British voters have faced a raft of reports from the government and international bodies in recent weeks warning of the dangers of leaving, and the International Monetary Fund is expected to weigh in again on Friday.” All of them have been uniformly bearish which likely means that the outcome from a Brexit would be quite favorable.
Earlier this week, Britain’s National Institute for Economic and Social Research (NIESR) — whose former director Martin Weale sits on the BoE’s rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee said sterling could slide 20 percent if Britain left the EU.
BoE Governor Mark Carney has previously called Brexit the biggest domestic risk to British financial stability, and on Thursday he said it could damage the global economy too.
Finance minister George Osborne, who has tried to focus voters on the economic costs of Brexit, said in a letter to Carney on Thursday that the BoE’s latest forecasts highlighted the potential “lose-lose” situation facing British households.
Many do not believe these “forecasts” – supporters of Brexit argue Britain would benefit from less European regulation, and could strike better overseas trade deals on its own. Regardless, the BOE did not relent and the central bank said that there were growing signs that the Brexit vote was weighing on the economy, but that it would fully recover from the damage if it voted to stay in the EU.
However, even without a Brexit the UK economy appears to be getting worse and as a result the it downgraded its forecasts for growth overall due to weaker productivity and higher household saving due to jitters about the general economic situation, rather than global weakness or a lasting effect …read more
Futures Halt Selloff, Levitate Higher On Another USDJPY Spike; Oil Rises
By Tyler Durden
If yesterday’s selloff had a specific catalyst, namely some of the worst consumer retail earnings seen in years, it merely undid the Tuesday rally which levitated global risk with no fundamental driver, aside for a 200 pip spike in the USDJPY. Some central bankers may even say it was a “magical” levitation. (Recall: A Central Banker Officially Loses It: “We Are Magic People”). Fast forward to the overnight session when following a muted Asian session, it was once again up to the “magical” USDJPY to send stocks well into the green without any actual catalyst whatsoever, but what merely appears to have been another “magical” intervention session by the BOJ.
In addition to rising European stocks and S&P500 futures which were 0.6% higher at last check, oil prices also rose after the International Energy Agency softened its forecast for a global supply surplus. Curiously, while the IEA said that it expects OPEC April crude output to rise 33k bpd to 32.76mln bpd, the highest since August 2008, and noted that Iran output rose to pre-sanctions levels in April while Iraq output rebounded on near-record southern exports, it offset this surge in output with hopes that non-OPEC supply would decline by 100k bpd citing outages. Which is ironic because with every $1 higher in WTI more shale companies restart production. It also expects a smaller global surplus on stronger global demand.
A good summary of recent oil price action comes from Angus Nicholson, analyst at IG, who said that “we have had a lot of reasons that have supported the price over the past week, the Canadian wildfires, Nigerian supply disruptions and then a surprisingly bigger inventory pullback. At the moment, oil has been trading very tightly within a range of around $43 to $47. We need a key breakout of that trading range to decisively say which direction the price is going.”
With oil trading 1% higher at $6.60, it seems we are about to break out of this band any moment.
Meanwhile, the abovementioned USDJPY levitation helped the Stoxx Europe 600 Index reverse a drop of as much as 1%, overcoming a drag from companies including LafargeHolcim Ltd. that posted lower earnings. Because when all else fails there is always central-bank driven “magical” multiple expansion.
Market Snapshot
- S&P 500 futures up 0.6% to 2069
- Stoxx 600 up 0.2% to 335.4
- Eurostoxx 50 +0.4%
- FTSE 100 -0.1%
- CAC 40 +0.4%
- DAX +0.3%
- IBEX +0.6%
- FTSEMIB +0.4%
- SMI -0.2%
- Nikkei 225 up 0.4%
- Hang Seng down 0.7%
- Kospi down 0.1%
- Shanghai Composite down 0%
- ASX down 0.2%
- Sensex up 0.7%
- Euro down 0.12% to $1.1412
- Dollar Index up 0.13% to 93.95
- Japanese yen down 0.52% to 108.98
- Brent Futures up 0.6% to $47.9/bbl
- Gold spot down 0.6% to $1269.4/oz
- German 10Yr yield up 1bps to 0.14%
Global Top Headlines
- Donald Trump Is Considering Newt Gingrich for Vice Presidential Role: according to multiple people familiar
- Brexit Dominates Agenda as Bank of England Unveils New Forecasts: economists predict officials will leave key rate at 0.5%
- French Government Faces Confidence Vote After Labor-Law Revolt: rogue Socialist lawmakers blocked government labor bill
- Norway Keeps Rate …read more
Source: Futures Halt Selloff, Levitate Higher On Another USDJPY Spike; Oil Rises
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Assessing The Latest Bank Participation Report
By Sprott Money
Assessing The Latest Bank Participation Report
Posted with permission and written by Craig Hemke, TF Metals Report (CLICK HERE FOR ORIGINAL)
We monitor the daily open interest changes in Comex gold and silver. We also wait each Friday for the latest Commitment of Traders report. Once a month, however, we also get the Bank Participation Report and, though it might be complete garbage and full of lies, we also need to consider this report for some historical perspective.
We’ve written about these CFTC-generated reports so many times, it would be impossible to link every post. However, nearly every post began with these bullet points. Here they are again, just so that we’re on the same page:
- The CFTC’s Bank Participation Report is issued monthly from a survey taken at the Comex close on the first Tuesday of every month. The report summarizes the combined positions of the four largest U.S. banks (primarily JPM, MorganStanley, Citi, Goldman but occasionally others) and the twenty largest non-U.S. banks (Scotia, HSBC, DeutscheBank, UBS, Barclays and others).
- These reports might be utter nonsense and complete falsifications, designed to mislead you and get you leaning the wrong way. In 2014, JPMorgan was fined by the CFTC for “repeatedly submitting inaccurate reports relating to the required reporting of positions”. See here: http://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/pr6968-14
Again, we know that what The Banks report as their “positions” provides an incomplete picture at best. Not only do The Banks maintain considerable long and short bets in the OTC market, they also operate numerous, offshore hedge funds and utilize these funds to take positions not included in the CFTC data as “commercial”. So, what good are these reports? Similar to the weekly Commitment of Traders reports, the Bank Participation Report is only useful/interesting when considered historically. Here’s an example. Note how the positioning of the 24 Banks changed through 2015:
| 12/2/14 @$1199 | GROSS LONG | GROSS SHORT | TOTAL NET |
| U.S. Banks | 20,927 | 29,543 | -8,616 |
| Non-US Banks | 21,154 | 73,145 | -51,191 |
| TOTAL | -59,817 |
Price rallied in early 2015, reaching the 2015 high of $1308 in late January and, by the first Tuesday of February 2015, the report looked like this:
| 2/3/15 @$1260 | GROSS LONG | GROSS SHORT | TOTAL NET |
| U.S. Banks | 9,163 | 65,901 | -56,738 |
| Non-US Banks | 20,009 | 96,264 | -76,255 |
| TOTAL | -132,993 |
As you no doubt recall, price then declined through the balance of 2015 as the bear trend continued. The 24 Banks used this price weakness to add a few longs and cover a bunch of shorts. By the December BPR, the data looked like this:
| 12/1/15 @$1060 | GROSS LONG | GROSS SHORT | TOTAL NET |
| U.S. Banks | 9,613 | 42,866 | -33,253 |
| Non-US Banks | 39,407 | 36,911 | +2,496 |
| TOTAL | -30,757 |
Yes, you are reading that correctly…The 20 Non-US Banks actually had a cumulative NET LONG position in Comex gold futures as of 12/1/15. And even as price began to rally in late December and early January, the report …read more
Source: Assessing The Latest Bank Participation Report
Nissan to sink $2.2 billion into Mitsubishi
Nissan just became Mitsubishi Motors’ biggest ally in trying to pull the company out of a massive fuel-efficiency scandal.
…read more
Source: Nissan to sink $2.2 billion into Mitsubishi
Top executive is leaving embattled startup Theranos
Theranos said Wednesday that Sunny Balwani, its president and chief operations officer, is leaving the company. …read more
Source: Top executive is leaving embattled startup Theranos
