North America

• Gold Roars to One-Year High as Turmoil Drives Safe Haven Demand (BBG)
• Banking Stocks Pummeled in Europe (WSJ)
• Dollar, stocks plunge sparks scramble for safety (Reuters)
• Nymex Crude Slips Below $27 a Barrel (WSJ)
• No Respite for S&P 500 as U.S. Stock Futures Join Global Selloff (BBG)
• Walgreens Threatens to End Theranos Agreement (WSJ)
• Next Task for Clinton, Sanders: Securing the Minority Vote (WSJ)
• Yen Advances to 15-Month High as Korean Tensions Stoke Haven Bid (BBG)

Two years ago, just before Michael Lewis released Flash Boys starting a sharp if brief revulsion against parasitic, predatory High Frequency Trading frontrunners, which delayed Virtu's IPO by one year, we broke down Virtu's 2013 net trading income by product line. We were not surprised to find that of the $45 million in total growth, the largest income category, US stocks growth was a tiny 5% of all, rising by $2.3 million in 2013. In fact, between EMEA, APAC and US Equities, there was very limited growth in 2013, while commodities posted an outright trading income decline.

Submitted by Michael Snyder via The End of The American Dream blog,

Are you living “the American Dream”?  If so, you should consider yourself to be very fortunate, because most Americans are not.

Submitted by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

There’s been no shortage of coverage both in these pages and elsewhere of the impact falling oil prices have had on the American and Canadian oil patches.