In late January, when George Soros was interviewed in Davos, he revealed what may have been his most bearish outlook yet, revealing that he is not only short the S&P 500, saying the Fed rate hike was a "mistake" (something the Fed's subsequent relent and global easing U-turn have confirmed), and that China will have a hard landing.
Whether or not there was a secret "Shanghai Accord" to push the dollar lower, the outcome has been clear: moments ago, the USD as measured by the Bloomberg Dollar spot index just dropped to the lowest level since June 22, long before the Fed commenced its rate hikes, indicating that the market is, at least for now, convinced that the Fed is "one and done" and that Eric Rosengren's warning that rate hikes will accelerate from here is nothing but a hollow threat.
Overnight a historic event took place when China, the world's top gold consumer, launched a yuan-denominated gold benchmark as had been previewed here previously, in what Reuters dubbed "an ambitious step to exert more control over the pricing of the metal and boost its influence in the global bullion market." Considering the now officially-confirmed rigging of the gold and silver fix courtesy of last week's Deutsche Bank settlement, this is hardly bad news and may finally lead to some rigging cartel and central bank-free price discovery.
"Low oil price is a function of excessive supply+true demand realization" - Reggie Middleton
Submitted by David Stockman via Contra Corner blog,
Every day there is more confirmation that the casino is an exceedingly dangerous place and that exposure to the stock, bond and related markets is to be avoided at all hazards. In essence the whole shebang is based on institutionalized lying, meaning that prouncements of central bankers, Wall Street brokers and big company executives are a tissue of misdirection, obfuscation and outright deceit.