If you were looking for signs that US trade may be collapsing on itself, a good place to start would be Class 8 truck orders which, as we first documented in early December, have posted sharp y/y declines of late.
In November for instance, orders collapsed 59% y/y. In December, the drop was 37%, and in January, Class 8 orders dove 48% from the year ago period.
Something strange is going on. Heading into the Friday open, in his daily letter to "clients", Dennis Gartman said that in his "retirement portfolio" he was short the market and long gold, to wit:
Hold your real assets outside of the banking system in a private international facility --> http://www.321gold.com/info/053015_sprott.html
The Mystery of the One Bank: its Owners?
Written by Jeff Nielson (CLICK FOR ORIGINAL)
Submitted by Constantin Gurdgiev via True Economics blog,
Global growth leading indicators are screaming it, Baltic Dry Index is screaming it, PMIs are screaming it, BRICS are living it, and now Ifo surveys are showing it: global economy is heading into a storm.
The latest warning is from the Ifo World Economic Climate Index.
Per Ifo release:
With Q4 earnings season drawing to a close, here is a quick recap of the key issues facing corporate CEOs and CFOs based on their conference calls as summarized by Goldman's David Kostin: 1) Company managements forecast positive US GDP growth in 2016, in contrast with investor concerns of a potential recession. However, global growth prospects appear grim, particularly within commodity-exposed nations. (2) Strong domestic consumer demand persists amid industrial weakness. (3) Several firms announced large or accelerated share repurchase programs in 2016.