Once upon a time, markets trembled when Greek bailout implementation headlines were announced, which is what just happened if slightly ahead of our forecast schedule...
Kazimir Says Eurogroup Meeting Won’t Be an Easy One: translation - Greece will agree to everything some time around 4am
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) May 24, 2016
Global M&A fell off a cliff in Q1, with volume levels not seen since Q1 2014. Dollar volume was down 49.2 percent sequentially, and 13.8 percent on a YoY basis.
According to Goldman Sachs, economic uncertainty, higher levels of volatility, and uncertainty around global central bank activity all played a role in the slowdown.
From Goldman's 10-Q
Submitted by Clint Siegner of Money Metals Exchange
Northwest Territorial Mint Scandal: Investors Had Fair Warning On This Blowup As Well
The news unfortunately just keeps getting worse for customers and
creditors of Northwest Territorial Mint. The prominent bullion dealer
located near Seattle, Washington filed for bankruptcy court protection
at the end of March. The losses of customers who never received delivery
of orders plus the losses of other creditors could be as high as $50
million, according to news reports.
When the price of oil was above $100, many of the less developed oil exporting OPEC members decided to capitalize on the high price and cash out by taking loans using the precious liquid as collateral very much the same way corporate CEOs use their inflated stock (thanks to buybacks they authorize) to issue loans against said stock. And why not: even if the price of oil were to drop, they could just pump more until the principal is repaid.
By the SRSrocco Report
The Royal Canadian Mint just published its Q1 2016 Report, and the silver bullion coin sales figures were stunning to say the least. Not only did sales of Canadian Silver Maple Leafs surpass its previous record during the third quarter last year, it did so by a wide margin.