Business

• CNN reports the US running out of space to store oil.
• At the same time, OPEC actually ramps up oil production...

 Many "smart guys" allege that the drop in oil is bad for the ecomomy. I call BS. Oil prices are an input costs. Input costs are what strip revenues down to profits and potentially losses. The lower the input cost, the higher profit. What has occured was a decades long credit bubble that fueld a profligate binging on debt.

The Fed may "seriously consider" negative rates after moving rates back to zero, reintroducing forward guidance and making "stronger pleas" to Congress for fiscal policy action as there are complications for money markets, according to BofAML strategist Mark Cabana.

This would not be a total surprise as Mises Institute's Joseph Salerno warns recent Fed commentary suggests they want to test-drive negative interest rates...

As this website exclusively reported three weeks ago, under explicit guidance by the Dallas Fed and associated regulatory pressure, US lenders have been instructed to not only not accelerate energy company counterparty defaults but to suspend energy loan book MTM entirely in distressed cases to avoid contagion concerns.

Questionable marks notwithstanding, in their fourth quarter earnings reports and conference calls banks had no choice but to reveal what their existing "publicly appropriate" exposure to oil and gas companies looks like.

While market volatility remains so high it leaves many trading desks speechless by "brutal" if obvious unwinds, and both institutional and retail traders clueless and at best hoping to ride the momentum wave in any direction before it violently reverses, one person who is a steadfast seller into any and every rally is BofA's chief investment strategist Michael Hartnett who in a note titled "Fed, dollar & the end of splendid isolation" explains just why with one simple chart, and further notes that he will continue to sell "at least until a coordinated and aggressive global policy respon

Russia is now the top crude oil exporter to China. It appears that Russia is reaping the rewards of dumping the dollar. At the the beginning of the decade the Saudi share of Chinese crude imports was around 20%, while Russia’s was below 7%… But that has changed and as the Russians creep in, the Saudis are starting to get nervous. Russia Insider reports: Now the Saudis find themselves neck and neck with Moscow for the lead in Chinese market share, with both performing in the 13-16% range. But Russia’s share continues to rise, as The Kingdom struggles to maintain a foothold. Why?