European stocks were little changed and oil fell as investors assessed declining prospects for an OPEC deal and risks from Italy’s referendum. Asian stocks declined, while S&P futures pointed to a fractionally higher open, erasing 3 points from yesterday's drop.
Trader attention today - and tomorrow - will be focused on oil which retreated back under $47 as OPEC members failed to bridge differences on production cuts, while a rally in metals ran out of steam. The rand plunged after President Jacob Zuma survived a leadership threat.
Conduit CMBS (Commercial Mortgage Backed Security) debt outstanding is down from $740 billion in 2007 to $400 billion currently according a recent note from Goldman Sachs. The Non-Agency RMBS (Residential Mortgage Backed Security) Market, not backed by the US Government, has been contracting at a rate of 10 percent year, mostly due to prepayments and studious lenders paying off their loans. Agency RMBS (loans backed by the US Government) have been steadily climbing, reaching a level of $200 billion in issuance for the trailing 12 months.
by Ron Paul
Former Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Richard Fisher recently gave a speech identifying the Federal Reserve’s easy money/low interest rate policies as a source of the public anger that propelled Donald Trump into the White House. Mr. Fisher is certainly correct that the Fed’s policies have “skewered” the middle class. However, the problem is not specific Fed policies, but the very system of fiat currency managed by a secretive central bank.
In these volatile times, gold is more important than ever. Bonner & Partners' Bill Bonner explains in this two-part series (Part 1 here), the importance of 'real money' and why you need it now...
Why You Will Need Gold
What troubles my sleep is what is not in the textbooks.