Business

As was triumphantly announced over the weekend by both parties (making one wonder who actually benefited), after years of U.S. sanctions, Iran is now free to export as much of its oil as it wants after the International Atomic Energy Agency said the country had curbed its ability to develop a nuclear weapon leads to lifting of international sanctions. And while the end of sanctions also opens the door to foreign investors into country’s oil sector, most importantly it allows the country to flood the world with its oil.

In the aftermath of the latest Chinese near-panic intervention to keep its currency from an out of control collapse when as reported yesterday, the PBOC announced it would raise the RRR for offshore Yuan deposits, a move which would reduce the amount of the currency available in the market, squeezing supply further (and breaking Hong Kong HIBOR markets again in the process) and making it more difficult and expensive for speculators, the Chinese stock market went exactly nowhere, closing up 0.44% suggesting that when it comes to manipulating asset classes, China can do either stocks or

The number of barrels of oil that a single ounce of gold can buy has never, ever been higher.

For the last 30 years, when the ratio of gold-to-oil spikes, something systemically serious occurs globally (as opposed to the usual bullshit "this is transitory" statements).

So what happens next?

On the heels of new reserve ratio regulations and the biggest strengthening in the Yuan fix in 4 weeks, offshore Yuan has strengthened notably (despite Chinese default/devaluation risk surging in the CDS markets). Chinese stocks are weaker in the early going but corporate bond yields continue to slide to new record lows as the "last bubble standing" stands ignorant of the risks around it.

PBOC rixed the Yuan 0.07% stronger - the biggest gain in 4 weeks...

Earlier we reported that Wells Fargo may have an energy problem because as CFO John Shrewsbury revealed, of the $17 billion in energy exposure, "most of it" was junk rated.

But, while one can speculate what the terminal cumulative losses, cumulative defaults and loss severities on this loan book will be, at least Wells was honest enough to reveal its energy-related loan loss estimate: it was $1.2 billion, or 7% of total - as Mike Mayo pointed out, one of the highest on the street. Whether it is high, or low, is anyone's guess, but at least Wells disclosed it.