Business

With one bank after another - including Goldman, JPM and BofA - quietly urging investors in recent weeks to head for the exits in a time when the Fed is not only hiking rates but warning about "vulnerabilities from elevated asset positions", over the weekend the latest bank to join the bearish chorus was Citi, and specifically Jeremy Hale's cross-asset team, which in a moment of surprising honesty writes that "eight years into the cycle - and one where QE has been the asset market driver – virtually every market appears rich", including stocks, bonds and credit.

Bitcoin is the original cryptocurrency, and its meteoric rise has made it a mainstay of conversation for investors, media, and technologists alike.

In fact, as Visual Capitalist's Jeff Desjardins details, the innovation of the blockchain is changing entire markets, while causing ripples with central banks and the financial industry. At time of publication, the bitcoin price now hovers near US$2,200, a massive increase from this time last year.

When Albert Edwards predicted in late 2016 that a surge in wage inflation was imminent, we were confused by this prediction from the world's preeminent deflationist: after all, not only had not a single economic indicator validated a tighter labor market despite unemployment just above 4%, but as we have have repeatedly demonstrated what little wage inflation existed, was attributable to managerial-level, supervisory positions while the bulk of job creation remained with minimum-wage jobs, which have continued to see virtually no wage growth.

The last two weeks have seen speculators cover over $710 billion worth of Fed rate-hike bets - the biggest move in Eurodollar futures history as Trump concerns and Fed Minutes reignite lost faith in the ebullient future that sparked the creation of a record $3 trillion bet that The Fed will be right this time.

Macro data has done nothing but collapse since The Fed hiked rates in March...

Authored by Simon Black via SovereignMan.com,

In the late 1760s and early 1770s, the government of France was in a deep panic.

They had recently suffered a disastrous and costly defeat in the Seven Years War, and the national budget was a complete mess.

France had spent most of the previous century as the world’s dominant superpower, and the government budget reflected that status.