Just around 2:14am local time (2am EDT), Asian traders were surprised to observe in the Chinese market something which until recently had been a purely development market phenomenon: a flash crash. A sudden plunge by Chinese stocks in Hong Kong had traders scrambling to find a trigger for the slump that coincided with a surge in futures volumes Bloomberg writes.
The main risk over the weekend was that markets, which have now dropped for three consecutive weeks the longest negative streak since January, would focus their attention on the latest batch of negative Chinese economic news released over the weekend, which missed expectations across the board, most prominently in Retail Sales (10.1% vs. Exp. 10.6%, down from 10.5%) and Industrial Production (6.0% vs. Exp. 6.5% down from 6.8%), and following Friday's disappointing new credit loan data, would sell off as the Chinese slowdown once again becomes a dominant concern.
Submitted by Michael Shedlock via MishTalk.com,
Irreconcilable Positions
Greece owes the Troika over €11 billion in bailout repayments through the end of July. Greece is unable make those payments unless the Troika releases the funds.
Position 1: “We need a big debt restructuring, no more kicking the can,” says Greece’s Minister of State.
Submitted by Alasdair Macloed via GoldMoney.com,
There is a growing fear in financial and monetary circles that there is something deeply wrong with the global economy. Publicly, officials and practitioners alike have become confused by policy failures, and privately, occasionally even downright pessimistic, at a loss to see a statist solution. It is hardly exaggerating to say there is a growing feeling of impending doom.
In yet another paradoxical move that will leave many scratching their heads, just days after throwing in the towel on its bullish dollar call (now that it expects far less rate hikes over the next year), Goldman moments ago announced that it is also cutting back on its longer-term oil price forecasts (which paradoxically are linked to a stronger dollar) for the coming year, as a result of a rebalancing that is taking far longer to take place than previously anticipated.
This is how Goldman explains its bearish pivot on crude: