Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Harrison Ford returns for 5th Indiana Jones movie in 2019
Indiana Jones will return to theaters in 2019 with Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford.
Source: Harrison Ford returns for 5th Indiana Jones movie in 2019
Brazil Currency, Stocks Tumble As Former President Lula Accepts Cabinet Position
By Tyler Durden
Update: Confusion abounds as the government is now said to delay Lula’s appointment after Senator Delcidio Amaral’s plea bargain. According to Veja, Rousseff’s former chief of staff Aloizio Mercadante allegedly offered financial, political and legal aid in exchange for Amaral’s silence.
* * *
Just yesterday, we showed you Brazil’s stagflationary nightmare in one simple chart.
Here’s the amusing (or depressing, depending on if you’re a Brazilian) graphic:
Just last week, the BRL was riding high on news that former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was detained in connection with money laundering. He was then charged with corruption by state prosecutors.
The scrutiny on Lula – who founded the Worker’s Party and handpicked his successor, current President Dilma Rousseff – triggered violent street protests in front of his home where supporters and detractors came to blows.
But the market hoped his arrest and possible prosecution would give momentum to the effort to impeach Rousseff, who has presided this year and last over a disastrous turn in the Brazilian economy where unemployment has spiked above 10%, inflation has soared into the double digits, and output has collapsed, in a veritable “worst nightmare” scenario.
The impeachment bid rests on the idea that Rousseff cooked the fiscal books in 2014, but the fact that Lula was under fire seemed to suggest that the sweeping investigation into corruption at Petrobras could be getting closer to the President’s doorstep. Were she implicated in the Carwash probe on top of allegations she fudged the government’s books, the outlook for her presidency would darken considerably and that, market participants assumed, would be a boon for the beleaguered BRL, for Brazilian risk assets, and for the economy in general.
Well, no such luck.
In a dramatic turn of events, Rousseff invited Lula to accept a ministry post yesterday. Initially, reports indicated he would resist the idea of accepting, but that soon changed. Earlier today, Lula informed several party members that he has decided to accept according to Globo columnist Lauro Jardim. That is bad news for the BRL (which has nearly retraced the entirety of the Lula detention gains) and for Brazilian stocks:
Why is this so bad – besides the fact that it may insulate Lula just as a Sao Paulo state judge said a decision on his arrest should fall to federal judge Sergio Moro – you ask? Because apparently, the former President wants free rein over the economy and that could jeopardize the reform bid.
“Lula in a ministry could give Rousseff short-term survival,” Camila Abdelmalack, chief-economist at CM Capital told Bloomberg over the phone. “The market knows that Lula advocates for stimulus measures and his Workers Party defends the usage of international reserves.”
As we noted on Monday, if Brazil uses its reserves to finance infrastructure projects, they could end up jeopardizing the country’s ability to service its debt and …read more
Source: Brazil Currency, Stocks Tumble As Former President Lula Accepts Cabinet Position
Silver "Longs" Near Record Highs As ETF Holdings Surge
By Tyler Durden
It’s not just gold that has been in great demand. As Bloomberg notes, investors own the most silver in exchange-traded products in seven months, boosting holdings from a three-year low. The rebound comes as hedge funds and other money managers hold a near-record bet on further price gains.
Source: Bloomberg
The precious metal, which also has wide industrial uses, is up 11% this year.
Source: Silver "Longs" Near Record Highs As ETF Holdings Surge
Sony buys Beatles catalog from Jackson’s estate
Sony is taking full control of one of the music industry’s crown jewels: an expansive publishing catalog that includes many Beatles songs.
Source: Sony buys Beatles catalog from Jackson’s estate
Bear Market Rally Fizzles: Global Stocks Down On BOJ Disappointment; Oil Slides For 2nd Day
By Tyler Durden
Was that it for the great February/March bear market rally?
After soaring by 200 S&P point from the February 11 lows, the S&P 500 appears to have finally hit a resistance at a point where GAAP P/E is now a frothy 23x, and where even Goldman says the S&P500 is overvalued based on conventional market valuation metrics. Perhaps it was the fundamentals finally catching up, or perhaps it was disappointment that the BOJ added nothing new to the stimulus menu, after last week’s Draghi’s bazooka, and coupled with the stunning announcement by China it was willing to launch a Tobin Tax, a move that confirms that under the surface China’s capital flight is accelerating, overnight global markets and US equity futures have dropped while the yen jumped the most in a week.
What is surprising, is that not even a week after Draghi’s bazooka, some are already concerned it won’t be enough: “Monetary policy does not work without fiscal reform,” Brett McGonegal, chief executive officer of Capital Link International, told Bloomberg TV. “You can keep the monetary stimulus going, but if you’re not changing anything and there’s no reform going on, you’re at this point where it’s not going to work.”
Also notable is that oil has continued its decline for the second day, and at last check WTI was down $1, or over 2% – the lowest price in a week – as focus returns to the market oversupply, Russia signalling Iran won’t join a production freeze (which means neither will Kuwait, and likely most other OPEC members) and today’s API inventory data today which will forecasts another big inventory build at Cushing. As a result, there has been notable weakness among commodities, with currencies of resource-exporting nations sliding as copper and gold prices fell, while iron ore, last week’s record highlight short squeeze, plunged the most in eight months.
“Market participants now appear to be paying greater attention to the current oversupply again,” Commerzbank analyst Eugen Weinberg says in a note. “The primary focus is on Iran, which for understandable reasons is refusing at the current time to sign up to any agreement to cap production.”
Adding more pressure on the rally, Bloomberg explains that while world equities have staged a comeback since reaching a two and a half-year low in mid-February, “so far there are few signs that monetary easing in China, Europe and Japan is pulling the global economy out of a slump. The BOJ’s decision to maintain policy was forecast by most economists and the authority said it’s prepared to ease further if needed to revive inflation expectations. The European Central Bank announced unprecedented stimulus last week, while the Federal Reserve will conclude a review on Wednesday and the Bank of England a day later.”
“Monetary policy does not work without fiscal reform,” Brett McGonegal, chief executive officer of Capital Link International, told Bloomberg TV. “You can keep the monetary stimulus going, but if you’re not changing anything and …read more
Source: Bear Market Rally Fizzles: Global Stocks Down On BOJ Disappointment; Oil Slides For 2nd Day
Car Bomb Explodes In Berlin, One Killed
By Tyler Durden
A car exploded in Berlin on Tuesday, killing the driver.
According to some reports, the vehicle was in motion when the blast occurred.
- GERMAN POLICE SAY ON TWITTER THEY BELIEVE AN EXPLOSIVE DEVICE CAUSED A CAR TO EXPLODE IN BERLIN
Here are the visuals from the scene:
Berlin car bomb looks very professional, pointed charge, only killed driver, no bystanders. Interesting signature. pic.twitter.com/lIiJpK2UX7
— Julian Reichelt (@jreichelt) March 15, 2016
Gemäß unserer Kolleg. vort Ort, ist der PKW während der Fahrt explodiert und hat sich dann überschlagen.
^yt pic.twitter.com/Ae1K6OvkdG— Polizei Berlin (@polizeiberlin) March 15, 2016
BREAKING: German police: Car explosion that killed driver in Berlin likely caused by bomb
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 15, 2016
Terror attack? Or perhaps a false flag to put still more pressure on the Merkel government to end the open-door refugee policy?
One certainly imagines it wasn’t faulty engineering – the vehicle was, after all, German-made.
Source: Car Bomb Explodes In Berlin, One Killed
