Submitted by Howard Kunstler via Kunstler.com,

The elephant’s not even in the room, which is why the 2016 election campaign is such a soap opera. The elephant outside the room is named Discontinuity. That’s perhaps an intimidating word, but it is exactly what the USA is in for. It means that a lot of familiar things come to an end, stop, don’t work the way they are supposed to - beginning, manifestly, with the election process now underway in all its unprecedented bizarreness.

Currently the US Dollar, traded on the stock market as (UUP), and (USDU); is the world's reserve currency. Although there is talk of the fall of the US Dollar as the world reserve currency, it's all talk and there's no signs that this will happen any time soon. Hungary recently issued sovereign bonds in Yuan - but so what? It's just a drop in the bucket. The practical fact is there is no real threat to the US Dollar's status as a reserve currency. However, there may be one.

Back in 2014 Obama promised that as part of the US war against ISIS, there would be "no ground troops in Iraq." Moments ago U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter gave the latest confirmation that Obama was not being exactly "honest", when during a visit to Baghdad in which he met U.S. commanders, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, and Iraqi Defence Minister Khaled al-Obeidi, he announced that the US would send another 200 additional troops, raising the number of U.S. troops in Iraq to about 4,100.

By EconMatters

We reported last week that BP is facing a revolt from its shareholders over the salary of its CEO Bob Dudley. What happened was BP's Board approved an executive compensation package including a 20% raise in 2015 to nearly $20 million for its CEO Bob Dudley. Although we do not have the detail of other executive compensations, they must be pretty generous judging from Dudley's 20% raise.

Sometimes you have to laugh...

• *BRENT CRUDE ERASES DECLINE, TRADES 22C HIGHER AT $43.32/BBL

While WTI is still not quite there, Brent Crude has erased a 7%-plus decline...

Credit Suisse suggests a few reasons for the Market Bounce - Pain trade higher, Energy covering, Gorman comments, NAHB elevated, HY/Equities decoupling from oil

1-HF exposures remain at 3 year lows + long only cash parked on sidelines – Pain trade higher, dips being bought most cited reason for this morning’s bounce