Bitcoin Blockchain technology has progressed from a little known nerd interest, to media darling to Mt. Gox/Silk Road infamy, to the realization that modern finance and the burgeoning Internet of Things as well as large swaths of everyday personal and corporate life will likely be based on it for the foreseeable future. The last year has witnessed a sea change in understanding of this new paradigm.
"It’s a wonderful life for the 1% and a Xanax existence for the 99," Bill Gross says, bemoaning the pacification of the masses that the (former) bond king likens to "a day at the Coliseum" for Plebian citizens and "cake" for the French Bourgeoisie.
The much-watched four-week average of initial jobless claims rose to 277k, accelerating to the highest levels since early July 2015. This "trend shift" began as rate-hike odds increased in October... just as we saw the trend shift after QE3 ended...
Continuing claims rose once again hovering at its highest in 4 months.
A little over two months ago, when official PBOC data revealed that not only had Chinese reserve outflow slowed down, but actually posted an uptick in October, we warned that "Capital Is Still Flowing Out Of China, Here's How Beijing Is Hiding It", in which we explained that in taking a page from the western bankers' playbook, the Chinese central bank had shifted to less "traceable" forms of currency manipulation, namely via "forwards". To wit:
It goes without saying that France is on edge following the attacks by Islamic State that left some 130 people dead in Paris on a Friday night that will forever live in infamy.
The alleged ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud - who was emir of war in Deir Ezzour - was also planning to attack the French capital's La Defense business district. We say “was” because Abaaoud was blown to pieces in a siege on an apartment in Saint-Denis.