Business

• Oil extends rally towards $35 after Iran welcomes output freeze (Reuters)
• Overproduction Swamps Smaller Chinese Cities, Revealing Depth of Crisis (WSJ)
• House Flipping Is Making a Comeback in Las Vegas (BBG)
• Trump leads Republican field nationally by more than 20 points (Reuters)
• Turkey blames Kurdish militants for Ankara bomb, vows response in Syria and Iraq (Reuters)
• Brexit nerves knock FTSE as oil rally cools (Reuters)
• Fed’s Kashkari: 25% Capital Requirement May Be Right for Banks (WSJ)

Moments ago the world's largest retailer by workers (if not by market cap any more courtesy of AMZN), reported non-GAAP earnings which at $1.49/share in Q4 beat expectations of $1.46 (GAAP missed at $1.43 but let's ignore that). The company also announced that comp sales at Walmart U.S. were positive for the fifth consecutive quarter, up 1.5% with traffic increasing 1.7%.

Just when traders thought that the biggest and most violent 3-day short squeeze in 7 years was about to end...

... a squeeze that has resulted in 3 consecutive 1%+ sessions for the S&P for the first time since October 2011, overnight we got one of the Fed's biggest faux-hakws, St. Louis Fed's Jim Bullard, who said that it would be "unwise" to continue hiking rates at this moment, and hinted that "if needed", the most natural option for the Fed going forward would be to do further Q.E.

Hold your real assets outside of the banking system in a private international facility  -->  https://www.321gold.com/info/053015_sprott.html 

Collapse Of The Paper Gold & Silver Market May Be Close At Hand

Posted with permission and written by Steve St. Angelo, SRSrocco (CLICK FOR ORIGINAL)

For the latest confirmation of just how trapped in a corner of its own making the Fed now finds itself, look, or rather read no further than the presentation given moments ago by St. Louis Fed president James Bullard before the CFA Society in St. Louis which was circular, confusing, illogical, and thus a splendid summary of the Fed's "thinking" from beginning to end.