United Kingdom

While the prevailing dour (or perhaps sour) overnight mood was a continuation of the weak oil theme which started yesterday after Iran said the production freeze proposed by Saudi and Russia as "ridiculous", and Saudi oil minister Al-Naimi said that Saudi won't cut supply and that high-cost producers need to either "lower costs, borrow cash or liquidate” (ideally the latter), risk sentiment was further dented when BOJ Governor Kuroda says he won’t target FX rates or stocks, which is clearly nonsense, and further spooked Japanese asset prices (Nikkei -0.85), while s

The Public Is Being Looted By Privatization And Deregulation

Paul Craig Roberts

Unlike Monday's global PMI deterioration (which sent markets around the globe soaring), there was little in terms of macroeconomic data overnight (German IFO earlier missed on expectations and business climate but beat on current assessment) so the "market made the news." These came most from the USDJPY which has continued to fall, sliding to 111.85 overnight, and dragging the Nikkei to a -0.4% drop.

Authored by Saxobank CIO Steen Jakobsen, via TradingFloor.com,

• Cameron's EU deal is far short of what he promised
• This represents formal acceptance of a two-tier Europe
• Populists elsewhere already calling for their own referendums
• By October, Cameron and Merkel could be history and Le Pen's star shining

 No wonder David Cameron looks worried.  

With the UK's referendum on EU membership due in four months, it appears the market is gravely concerned about the possibility of Brexit. Despite the unleashing of Project Fear (both military and corporate fearmongery), cable (GBPUSD) has crashed 2.3% (the most in 7 years) to its lowest in 7 years, and both FX volatility and credit risk Brexit indicators are soaring to record highs.

Just as we warned, Friday's dubious gains have evaporated and cable is crashing to 7 years lows...

As Deutsche Bank's Jim Reid notes,