Business

Spain’s top central bankers have been hauled into court and are facing jail sentences after being charged with a lengthy rap sheet of criminal offenses against the people of their country. Spanish authorities allege the central bankers encouraged the Spanish people to buy shares in a new bank they knew was guaranteed to fail – but which they also knew would be bailed out by the government and taxpayers. This scheme made the central bankers a fortune twice over – while leaving the Spanish people out of pocket twice.

Considering that in the past 3 months the only daily topic of relevance for the media has been "Donald Trump" both in the US and abroad, one would assume that when it comes to global policy uncertainty the primary source would be, record S&P 500 paradoxically notwithstanding, the United States.

Two years ago, when Saudi Arabia launched on an unprecedented campaign to crush high-cost oil producers, in the process effectively putting an end to the OPEC cartel (at least until last year's attempt to cut production), it made a bold bet that US shale producers would be swept under when the price of oil tumbled, leading to a tsunami of bankruptcies, as well as investment and production halts.

Despite record gluts in crude and gasoline amid resurgent US crude production, hedge funds boosted their net long position in WTI last week to a new record high.

The International Energy Agency said the group has achieved a record 90 percent initial compliance with an output accord, and as Bloomberg notes, it seems hedge funds are loving te fact that OPEC has never been more serious.

After some hesitation in the previous week, it was the fifth time this year that they’ve upped their bullish stance, and the third they took it to a new record.

Back on January 12th, 8 days before Trump even officially moved into the White House, the prospects of a quick repeal and replacement of Obamacare were looking really good when the Senate voted 51-48 to instruct key committees to start drafting legislation to do away with Obama's crowning "achievement".  In fact, that early January budget resolution required lawmakers to submit repeal proposals for consideration by January 27th, a lofty goal, but welcome news to conservative voters around the country that were eager for a quick unwind of the controversial legislation.