Two months ago we presented what we thought was a "very troubling"chart, one showing the latest data on FBI background checks, a proxy for gun purchases. The chart had just hit an all time high.
Since then, the progression has escalated and gun sales have continued to soar as the following update showing gun sales for the month of February over the past decade:
The S&P 500 is trading around 1950. It has traded at that level numerous times in the last 18 months.
During that time, consensus earnings expectations for the S&P 500 have plunged...
In fact - since the start of the year - when stocks were at exactly this level, earnings expectations have tumbled almost 3% non-stop??
It appears the mother's milk of markets is rapidly drying up.
Services economy cliff-dives and we squeeze higher again... sure why not...
Another day another huge short squeze - the last 3 days are the biggest rise in "Most Shorted" stocks since Black Monday week's bounce...
Submitted by Simon Black via SovereignMan.com,
In the middle of a heated battle against my jetlag yesterday, I finally decided to exercise the nuclear option and turn on CNBC in order to stay awake.
I figured someone would say something completely ridiculous, and it would get my blood boiling enough to power through the next couple of hours.
Within minutes I saw a top economist for Moody’s (one of the largest rating agencies in the world) saying that there are absolutely zero signs of recession.
“The Brazilian economic downturn took a real turn for the worse in February," according to Markit's Composite PMI, which collapsed to record lows at 39.0. Despite a slightly less bad than expected GDP print this morning (stil down a record 5.89% YoY), hope was quickly extinguished as PMIs showed economic activity continuing to contract at a record pace, job losses accelerating, and manufacturing's collapse accelerating.