Business

US carriers have grounded 1,796 flights today, and 3,384 tomorrow - numbers which keep constantly rising - as Winter Storm Stella approaches the U.S. Northeast, according to FlightAware.com. 

Chicago is bearing the largest share of Monday's cancellations, while Tuesday's disruptions are hitting hardest from Washington to Boston including the New York City area, AP adds. The major airlines are waiving ticket-change fees that range up to $200 for customers who want to change their travel plans. Restrictions vary by airline.

Authored by Charles Hugh-Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

Rather than bemoan the inevitable failure of centralized "fixes," let's turn our attention and efforts to the real solutions: decentralized, networked, localized.

Thanks to commodities, Bloomberg's Mark Cudmore warns that the Fed meeting is more likely to be the death knell for reflation trades rather than mark their moment of victory.

This week is set to provide confirmation that we’re in the midst of a true tightening cycle in the U.S., with rate hikes in consecutive quarters for the first time since 2006.

 

 

One week ago we reported that "Mega-Bears Smell Blood As Mall REITs Tumble" in which we wrote that "just like 10 years ago, when the "big short" was putting on the RMBX trade, and to a smaller extent, its cousin the CMBX, so now too some are starting to short CMBS through the CMBX. They are betting against securities backed by malls in weaker locations where stores could close in quick succession, triggering debt defaults."

The Fed meets this week on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The market believes that there is an 86% chance the Fed will be hiking rates during this meeting. The Fed has been broadcasting this for a month straight. It is possibly THE most expected rate hike in years. The consensus is that we will see a 0.25% rate hike bringing the Federal Funds Target rate to 0.75%-1.00%.

BORING.

No one makes money by trading the most expected thing. With that in mind, what the Fed does or doesn’t do is largely irrelevant as far as I’m concerned.