Business

Ignore the bounce in stocks, something much larger is playing out beneath the surface.

That “something” is key admissions from Central Banks that they have lost their ability to generate anything resembling a recovery. In particular the Bank of Japan has finally come clean in an admission so startling that it took three months for the media to even catch on.

In January 2016, the head of the Bank of Japan, Haruhiko Kuroda stated that Japan has a “potential growth rate of 0.5% or lower.”

Three days ago, the latest catalyst to weigh down Valeant stock was news that the company's lenders were pushing back on its demands to obtain a default waiver and to loosen restrictions on its negative debt covenants.  It appears, however, that that issue has been resolved, and as the company reported moments ago in a press release on its website, VEX "has obtained the requisite lender approval for the amendment and waiver to its credit facility.  The Company expects to close the amendment and waiver next week."

• U.S. readies bank rule on shell companies amid 'Panama Papers' fury (Reuters)
• Co-Founder of Mossack Fonseca Defends Law Firm at Center of ‘Panama Papers’ (WSJ)
• Fed's Cautious Approach on April Rate Hike Raises Stakes for June (BBG)
• Dollar sinks again after Fed remains cautious (Reuters)
• New Tax Rules on Inversion Deals Are Met With Protest (WSJ)
• Fed Chairs Since 1979 Offer Peek Into Central-Bank Philosophy (BBG)
• Election stirs debate about Fed's handling of political pressure (Reuters)

Two days after stocks slid in a coordinated risk-off session, and one day after a DOE estimate of US oil inventories sent US stocks surging while the failed Allergan-Pfizer deal unleashed torrential hopes of a biotech M&A spree leading to the single best day for the sector in 5 years, sentiment has again shifted, this time due to a violent surge in the Yen as the market keeps testing the resolve of the Japanese central bank to keep its currency weak, and so far finding it to be nonexistent.

The US is using a ‘mythical Russian threat’ to frighten Europe in order to justify increased defense spending according to Russia’s envoy to NATO “The United States and its representatives have repeatedly said that Russia poses a threat to the United States. Many said it was almost an existential threat, but the underlying reason, in my opinion, is obvious,” Russia’s permanent envoy to NATO Aleksandr Grushko, said in an interview with Russia Today They write: “The United States and its representatives have repeatedly said that Russia poses a threat to the United States.