Business

Forex remains to be the largest market in the world and the least understood.  Central banks have more influence on global markets than any other force.  In other words, monetary policy is the ONLY economic indicator(s) investors should be watching, because let's face it, if the Fed raised rates to 10% like they should do and called in all that QE money, stocks would collapse.

But yet Forex remains a mystery, something that someone may have mentioned or you heard about.. wait FX is a TV channel?  or graphics?  a movie?

In September last year, Chinese regulators stepped on the throat of a 'fair' market in equity futures trading and for all intent and purpose killed the Chinese equity market. Tonight - after 2 days of Yuan weakness - having warned everyon from Soros to Kyle Bass that "betting against the Yuan can't possibly work," The PBOC just unleashed plans for so-called "Tobin Tax" on FX transactions (which implicitly taxes each transaction, reducing liquidity, raising margins and reducing leverage).

You know something is strange when "the riskiest" country in the world is the nation whose central bank everyone is relying on to 'save the world' and "the safest" stock market in the world is from a nation whose neighbor is actively test-firing nuclear missiles? It appears activist central banks - following Draghi's "kitchen sink" - have become the new normal's 'nukes'.

As Goldman notes,  Brazil & Japan vol is highest and Korea lowest on %-ile basis

Mises' Ryan McMaken warns,

Just a week ago we were surprised to find that current Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard gave $750 in three contributions to Clinton’s campaign between November and January, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Earlier today we reminded readers about the circular (and why note fraudulent conveyance) scheme hatched by JPMorgan to reduce its secured loan exposure to Weatherford, when just two weeks ago none other than JPM underwrote an WFT equity offering in which it sold equity in the company, and which proceeds were promptly used by the company to repay the JPMorgan revolver.