Business

Having warned that "everything will grind to a halt on March 5th" due to the under-appreciated debt-ceiling debacle that looms over Washington, and exclaiming that "what is going on today is complete insanity," former Reagan Budget Director David Stockman is rapidly losing faith that anything can be done... 

"I've thrown in the towel because he’s not paying attention and he’s not learning anything and he’s making ridiculous statements."

Earlier today, the world's biggest fast food retailer spooked its investors when it briefly halted trading in its stock ahead of its annual investor day. However, instead of some dramatic M&A deal revelation, McDonalds had a far less exciting announcement: it had decided to go back to basis in an attempt to recover some 500 million U.S. orders it had lost over the past five years to competition as a result of failed attempts to widen its customer base.

By Mark O'Byrne of GoldCore

Art Market Bubble Bursting - Gauguin Collapses 74% To $22 Million

Te Fare by Paul Gauguin - Source: Christie’s

Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev paid €54 million or $85 million for a landscape by Paul Gauguin in a private transaction in June 2008. Yesterday, he incurred a whopping 74% loss on his store of value "investment" as reported by Bloomberg:

The cost of funding for your average joe, average corporation, and average swaps trader, surged overnight. 3M Libor rose by the most since Dec 2015 (Fed rate hike) to the highest level since April 2009.

Biggest jump since the fed rate hike in Dec 2015...

As Reuters reports, the cost for banks to borrow funds in U.S. dollars surged by the most since December 2015 on Wednesday, a day after a series of Federal Reserve officials jolted short-term interest rate markets with talk of a near-term rate rise.

One day after a duo of Fed presidents unleashed the biggest plunge in 2 month Fed Fund futures since 2008, sending March rate hike odds from 50% to 80% in under two hours...