Remember how the Fed claimed it was embarking on a tightening cycle?

Well, the Fed failed to hike interest rates in January, March AND April despite the “data” hitting levels at which the Fed said it would hike. There is now talk of a potential hike in June… but the Fed futures indicate less than half of traders expect another hike before February 2017.

Submitted by David Stockman via Contra Corner blog,

Donald Trump says a lot of whacko things, and his recent wild pitches about defaulting on the national debt and replacing Yellen because she is not a Republican sound as if they were coming right out of his wild man wheelhouse. Certainly these statements have gotten mainstream financial journalists and editorial writers in high dudgeon.

Said the NYT editorial page about Trump’s observation that if things got bad enough he’d seek to negotiate “discounts” on Uncle Sam’s towering debt,

Exactly one week ago, when looking at the record 14 consecutive weeks of selling by the "smart money" clients of BofA, i.e., hedge funds, institutions and private clients, we said that "maybe next week, which would mark a historic 15 weeks of consecutive smart money outflows, is when the tide finally turns, assuming the market slides here. Or perhaps, due to accelerating redemptions, it won't, and the ongoing selling deluge will continue indefinitely. Find out one week from now."

Overnight BofA revealed the answer, and as it turns out, it was the latter:

Another day, another stunning reversal in Brazil's neverending Rousseff impeachment saga.

Just hours after Brazilian stocks and currency tumbled when the head of Brazil's lower house Waldir Maranhao said he would annul the soon to be former president's impeachment process, the drive to oust President Dilma Rousseff is once again back on track after Maranhao reversed a decision that had earlier threatened to throw the entire impeachment process into chaos.

A ‘Suicide bomber’ detonated explosives in the Trafford Centre, Manchester, ‘killing and wounding’ dozens of people Explosions and gunfire could be heard in one of  Britain’s second busiest shopping centre early this morning in one of the biggest counter terrorism training exercises. The SAS were also involved in the operation, which took place while the shopping centre was closed between midnight and 6am. The Independent reports: A mock suicide bomber acted out an explosion at Manchester’s Trafford Centre overnight as hundreds of people ran screaming and hid in shops and restaurants.