New York

Residents of New York City reported seeing a military Doomsday Plane flying close to the Trump Towers late Tuesday afternoon.  According to multiple reports on Twitter, either a Boeing E-4B (Doomsday Plane) or a C-130 (military plane) were spotted and filmed circling the air around midtown for over an hour before leaving the airspace. The secretive Doomsday Plane (also known as the National Airborne Operations Center) is a U.S. government plane designed to keep the US government running in the event of a nuclear war.

Venezuela’s inflation has officially become the 57th official, verified episode of hyperinflation and been added to the Hanke-Krus World Hyperinflation Table, which is printed in the authoritative Routledge Handbook of Major Events in Economic History (2013). An episode of hyperinflation occurs when the monthly inflation rate exceeds 50 percent for 30 consecutive days. Venezuela's monthly inflation rate first exceeded 50 percent on November 3rd and continues to do so, sitting at 131 percent as of December 11, 2016.

Physical gold located in Hong Kong and London is used to settle COMEX gold futures contracts through “Exchange For Physical” trading in the over-the-counter market.

This post is a sequel to Understanding GOFO And The Gold Wholesale Market and COMEX Gold Futures Can Be Settled Directly With Eligible Inventory - in which Exchange For Physical (EFP) trading is explained and how it can increase or decrease open interest at the COMEX. If you’re new to this subject it’s advised to first read my previous posts.

On Tuesday morning, the U.S. Supreme Court, ruling in an insider trading case for the first time in two decades, upheld the conviction of a Chicago man - Bassam Salman - in a decision that could make it easier to prosecute people accused of profiting from confidential information.

For months we've been warning that real estate markets in NYC and San Francisco, among others, are getting ready to rollover as the market is about to be flooded with new supply of luxury apartments (see here and here).  Real estate in both markets are just starting to show signs of cracking as the apartments sales cycle is getting stretched out and pricing growth has stalled.