Business

Moments ago, ECB governing council member and Bank of Italy governor Ignazio Visco had some very troubling comments.

He said that while helicopter money is not currently part of the discussion in the Governing Council that "no policy tool within our mandate can or should be dismissed a priori." The reason for this startling admission is "the importance of expectations of low inflation in determining wage outcomes, and thus giving rise to second- round effects, may be increasing.”

Once again, US equities have given up the 'great' jobs report gains and are plunging fast with The Dow sufferung its worst day in 6 weeks. FX markets are turmoiling (USDJPY <108) and bond yields are collapsing to on-month lows. European and US banks are tumbling as despite Dimon's bottom and the coordinated ease-fest of the world's central banks, investors prefer to sell a multi-trillion dollar opaque hole of derivatives debacle-ness than buy it.

By Richard Breslow, a former FX trader and fund manager who writes for Bloomberg

Mood swings have been fluctuating so quickly they resemble rapid-eye-movement rather than the expected ebb and flow of a normal market, such as it is in a QE world.

On Monday S&P 500 futures made a year-to-date high. On Tuesday we were told the market was in full “risk-off” mode. You guessed it, they surged Wednesday. This makes it, perhaps, worth taking a moment to try for some perspective from a technical point of view.

Submitted by Mike "Mish" Shedlock of MishTalk

Department of Education Wonders “Why 40% of Student Borrowers Don’t Make Payments”; Blame Bush (Seriously)!

Over 40 percent of those in student loan programs have stopped making payments. Many borrowers have never made any payments.

The department of education (a useless body that I would eliminate in one second if given the chance), cannot figure out why this is happening.

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.”