Business

With the "generals" finally meeting their reality-maker, investors appear to be questioning the DotCom bubble-like highs as momentum collapses. "Exuberance has turned to panic pretty quickly," notes one asset manager and after a very rapid plunge in recent days, options traders are piling into protection at a pace not seen since Q4 2008.

The Nasdaq-S&P implied vol spread is more than double its 5 year average...

(ignore the spikes as they represent rolls as opposed to trends)

Two months ago the Australian media, which unlike its US counterpart refuses to be spoon fed ebullient economic propaganda, called bullshit on the spectacular October job numbers, when instead of adding 15,000 jobs as consensus expected, Australia's Bureau of Statistics reported that a whopping 58,600 jobs had been added.  We covered this in "Australian Media Throws Up All Over 'Stellar' Jobs Report: "Don't Believe The Jobs Figures!"

Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith of OfTwoMinds blog,

Ironically perhaps, the ideas that are scarce are those that disrupt "business as usual" by automating what has not yet been automated.

Let's consider a syllogism: Knowledge is power, power equals wealth, so knowledge equals wealth.

You know it's serious when the denials begin. Speaking in a Bloomberg TV interview, Goldman Sachs President Gary Cohn explained how "US banks took their medicine early," adding that "some European banks have been slow getting recapitalized." Having thrown his 'competitors' across the ocean under the bus, Cohn then unleashed his comments with regard Goldman's own spiking credit risk - demanding that "no one should question the viability of US banks." 

Following this morning's proclamation by Deutsche Bank co-CEO John Cryan that Germany's largest bank is "rock solid," David Stockman exposed the ugly truth that everyone appears to have forgotten from just 7 years ago...

"in my experience is that when the crunch comes, bank CEOs lie"

Stockman details the Morgan Stanley, BofA, Lehman, and Bear Stearns bullshit that occurred before exclaiming...