Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith of OfTwoMinds blog,
This week I am addressing themes I see playing out in 2016.
A number of systemic, structural forces are intersecting in 2016. One is the decline of Great Power leverage.
Once a nation's civil society--broadly speaking, the institutions of social cohesion--has been shredded so that power rests in the hands of the few, the nations becomes exquisitely vulnerable to coups and regime change.
Each year for the past three decades Blackstone's Vice Chairman of Multi-Asset Investing Byron R. Wien presents his top 10 "surprises" for the upcoming 12 months.
What constitutes a "surprise", you ask? A surprise is "an event that the average investor would only assign a one out of three chance of taking place but which Byron believes is 'probable,' having a better than 50% likelihood of happening." Last year's list included a few predictions that didn't exactly pan out including:
After a lot of research, the technicians over at the BBC have unveiled the new logo for BBC three, ahead of its transition to an online only service by February. It looks strangely weird. Tech Radar reports: While it’s meant to show the number three in Roman numerals, the logo seems to say “BBC II” followed by an exclamation mark. Or is it, in fact, a pause symbol? BBC Pause! No, that can’t be right.
A ‘drafting error’ in California’s revision to its medicinal marijuana law could leave established growers like the “Sisters of the Valley” without a crop and out of business. Sister Kate and Sister Darcey from Merced in California have been producing salves and tonics made with cannabis. According to their website sistersofcbd.com, the sisters are not members of a religious order but they say they are on a spiritual quest to heal the sick with their medicinal cannabis cures. They have produced a variety of products made from the cannabinoids or CBD’s found in the marijuana.
Via FactSet's Director of ETFs, Dave Nadig,
This week, the SEC gave us a belated Christmas present. But what does it actually portend?
The present in question is an 88-page "Research Note" from the SEC's Division of Trading and Markets titled "Equity Market Volatility on August 24, 2015." It's an innocuous-enough title, but for us market-structure wonks, it's kind of a big deal.