The US markets are in a quandary.
On the one hand, some of the data (GDP growth, unemployment, etc.) suggests the Fed should continue to hike rates. On the other hand, other data points (food stamp usage, labor participation rate) suggest the US never actually entered a real recovery.
More importantly, how can the jobs data suggest such a strong employment situation… when one in seven Americans are on food stamps?
In a case of supreme poetic justice, the SEC probe into Valeant which was reported on Monday and which led to a 20% plunge in the price the company's shares and resulted in Pershing Square's -19.9% performance through the end of February, was started by Valeant itself following its request of an SEC investigation into short-seller Citron's claims which made the rounds last fall, and which were among the numerous catalysts that precipitated the historic drop in the price of VRX stock.
Bail-In Regulation To Blame For “Bank Turmoil” In EU?
The Financial Times recently looked at how the new bail-in resolutions in the EU, U.S. and most of the western world and asked whether they may be leading to "bank turmoil" and increased concerns about banks and the banking sector in the EU. As is typically the case with coverage of the bail-in regime, the important article was little noticed.
And the CapEx hits just keep on coming.
Two weeks after Goldman reported something troubling, namely that there is a massive gap of nearly 20% between sellside CapEx estimate for what US oil companies will spend on CapEx and what implied guidance suggests as shown in the table below...
Following weeks of fertile speculation whether it will or won't file for bankruptcy, this morning Colorado-based Sports Authority, whose name graces the home stadium to the Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos, put all doubts to rest when it filed Chapter 11 in Delaware bankruptcy court (Case 16-10527) listing $0-$50,000 in assets and between $1 and 10 billion in liabilities in its bankruptcy filing, adding that it will close as many as 140 of its 463 locations.