Asia

For Caterpillar, the great recession was bad, for about 19 months. In May 2010, after declining sharply for just under two years, CAT posted it first positive global retail sales comps and never looked back... until December 2012 when comp sales once again turned negative and have been negative ever since. For the past 41 months!

The breakdown showed that contrary to popular opinion, there has been no pick up in demand for heavy industrial machinery anywhere around the globe.

• Fed Puts June Rate Increase on Table Provided Economy Says Go (BBG)
• European shares drop as mining stocks weaken, airlines fall (Reuters)
• Oil drops below $48 on Fed hike speculation, fading support from outages (Reuters)
• Violent Struggle Over Oil and Money Rattles Global Energy Market (BBG)
• Bayer Proposes to Acquire Monsanto (WSJ)
• How Wall Street Led LendingClub Into Crisis (BBG)
• Fewer Shareholders Pay U.S. Taxes on Dividends (WSJ)
• Turkey to miss end-June deadline for EU visa-free travel (Reuters)

After yesterday's algo-driven mad dash to close the S&P green both for the day and for the year following Fed minutes that came in shocking hawkish, the selling has continued overnight, led by the commodity complex as rate hike fears have pushed oil back down some 2% from yesterday's 7 month highs, which in turn has dragged global stocks lower to a six-week low, while pushing bond yields higher across developed nations as the market suddenly reprices the probability of a June/July rate hike.

The Epic Battle Continues

Posted with permission and written by Craig Hemke, TF Metals Report (CLICK HERE FOR ORIGINAL)

Submitted by Soeren Kern via The Gatestone Institute,