Business

When the going gets tough, the rich get going first... and the rest should pay attention. While the smorgasbord of well-heeled wealthy elites will continue to proclaim that all is well in the world at any and every opportunity - for fear of the revolt of the masses - two disturbing headlines from one of the world's centers of money should have the 99% nervous.

Demand for London homes under construction slumped by 33%, according to Bloomberg, with "very few higher-end expensive sold in the central areas this year."

A week ago we highlight the "last bubble standing" was finally bursting, and as China's corporate bond bubble deflates rapidly, it appears investors are catching on to the contagion possibilities this may involve as one analyst warns "the cost has built up in the form of corporate credit risks and bank risks for the whole economy." As Bloomberg reports, local issuers have canceled 61.9 billion yuan ($9.6 billion) of bond sales in April alone, and Standard & Poor’s is cutting its assessment of Chinese firms at a pace unseen since 2003.

A funny thing happened when US slapped a major tariff on China's steel exports... prices exploded higher. But the almost 50% surge in steel prices since mid-December back to 15-month highs have left traders equally split on what happens next.

Submitted by Gail Tverberg via Our Finite World blog,

Oil production can be confusing because there are various “pieces” that may or may not be included. In this analysis, I look at oil production of the United States broadly (including crude oil, natural gas plant liquids, and biofuels), because this is the way oil consumption is defined. I also provide some thoughts regarding the direction of future world oil prices.

The Doha-disappointment appears to have sparked some risk-aversion as yesterday saw Russia's biggest exchange-traded fund - Market Vectors Russia ETF - suffer its largest outflows since May 2015.

However, in a perfect example of ill-timed moves, Russian stocks have soared over 6% from the knee-jerk lows pushing back up towards cycle highs.