There has been much speculation whether foreign official institutions (central banks, SWFs, reserve managers and so on) are selling Treasurys or equities, or both as part of the Quantitative Tightening phenomenon.

Moments ago, courtesy of the latest TIC data we have an answer: based on the monthly flow report breaking down Treasury transactions between foreign official and private entities, in December the far more important, former, group sold $48.1 billion in US Treasurys: the highest single monthly outflow on record.

A Foreign Intelligence Service report has revealed that US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia visited President Obama just hours before his suspicious death in Houston.  The secret meeting was held aboard a US Air Force plane heading to a Texas ranch owned by a close friend of Obama’s.

First it was over-invoicing 'exports' to friends in Hong Kong; then it was Bitcoin, most recently it was buying domain names, and now, the ever-industrious (and increasingly desperate) Chinese have found a new way to beat the government's quasi capital controls... by losing.

China Law Blog's Dan Harris explains how the Chinese are getting money out of China by losing in Arbitrations...

File this one under “just when I thought I had seen/heard everything.”

A study has confirmed that 26 vaccinated Florida toddlers all got sick with whooping cough (B. pertussis) after receiving the DtaP vaccine in 2013.  All of the children, aged one to five year olds, attended the Tallahassee preschool and had received four doses of the pertussis vaccine (DtaP) – according to official CDC recommendations.

Ukraine have confirmed that an imminent collapse of its current coalition government is on the cards, amid a Parliamentary vote on whether to hold snap elections in the country.  Ukraine’s largest political party confirmed that they will vote whether the performance of Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk is “unsatisfactory” before arranging a general election. Theglobeandmail.com reports: If the government loses, lawmakers need 150 signatures in parliament to hold a no-confidence vote, which could lead to national elections if the coalition cannot agree on a new cabinet.