It is not just Caterpillar that continues to post horrendous numbers, and has now recorded 38 consecutive months of declining Y/Y sales, double the length of the contraction of the great financial crisis. Moments ago heavy farm equipment maker Deere likewise shocked its investors with a round of terrible numbers, when at first it reported a revenue and EPS beat, announced it had earned $0.80 EPS in Q4, above the $0.71 estimate, on $5.53BN in revenue, well above the $4.90BN expected, however it was the unprecedented drop in the forecast that was the punchline.
Not even this morning's mandatory European open ramp has been able to push US equity futures higher, and as a result moments ago the E-mini hit session lows on rising concerns about Brexit as talks drag on in Brussles, but mostly as a result of overnight confusion about China's loan explosion and whether the PBOC has lost control over its maniacally-lending banks.
Below is the latest KBRA comment on the travails affecting the largest global banks. Global capital levels are at the highest levels ever, but investor confidence in the big banks is at an all time low. Over a century ago, J.P. Morgan told a congressional hearing that commercial credit is not based upon money or property, but character. You could substitute the word confidence for character in the exchange between Morgan and Samuel Untermyer.
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The Illegitimacy of Comex Pricing
Posted with permission and written by Craig Hemke, TF Metals Report & Sprott Money correspondent