The race for the Republican presidential nomination went from circus to melee over the weekend.

The latest debate saw the candidates hurling insults at one another on stage in a truly epic (if absurd) verbal grudge match that at times appeared as though it might devolve into a fist fight. As Donald Trump acknowledged in an interview with CNN, the hopelessly contentious nature of the race threatens to weaken the GOP going into the national elections.

Hope for production cuts were dashed early on as producers agreed to no change from the record high levels of production January - which Barclays says means 1mm bpd excess supply at current levels. However, following a Genscape report suggesting a major 705k build in Cushing crude inventories, WTI just broke down to a $28 handle (down over 8.5% from overnight highs)...

As we warned yesterday - no, Deutsche Bank is not fixed...

So, no, Deutsche Bank (and its $64 trilion derivatives book) is not "fixed" - far from it...

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US Financial stocks are holding "Dimon is buying" gains but their credit is leaking wider this morning.

The Aunt of British prime minister David Cameron took part in a demonstration against Tory cuts to children’s centres in his own Oxfordshire county. Auntie Clare was was waving a banner which read: “No ifs, no buts, no cuts. Last week David Cameron’s own mother Mary spoke out against cuts to local children centres and signed a petition against the cuts. The Mirror reports: Clare Currie, who last week spoke out against cuts which will lead to the closure of 44 children’s centres, joined the anti-austerity demonstration on Saturday, and waved a banner reading “No ifs. No buts.

Judging by all the bearish commentary unleashed in recent weeks, one would think that the S&P has lost half of its gains since the artificial central-bank driven levitation was unleashed in 2009. Instead it is just over 10% below its all time highs. Still, for many the lack of the low-volume, low-vol levitation they have grown to love so much over the past 7 years, is making them nervous.