Business

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) are advising investors to brace themselves for a “cataclysmic year”, warning that stock markets are likely to crash and oil prices will dip to $16 USD per barrel.  The banks credit team have warned clients that the markets appear to be flashing similar “stress alerts” that preceded the Lehman crisis in 2008, advising clients to “sell everything”. “Sell everything except high quality bonds. This is about return of capital, not return on capital. In a crowded hall, exit doors are small,” the bank told clients.

Submitted by Simon Black via SovereignMan.com,

Switzerland is famous for being punctual.

The trains. The buses. The meticulously crafted, hand polished luxury watches.

The Swiss are so culturally punctual that they even tend to pay their taxes well in advance of the filing deadline.

So it was quite a shock to hear this morning that the Swiss canton of Zug is asking its citizens to delay paying their taxes for as long as possible.

Why? Negative interest rates.

By EconMatters https://player.cnbc.com/p/gZWlPC/cnbc_global

Berkley City Council in California has voted unanimously to hold Monsanto legally liable for polluting the land and water with highly toxic PCBs. The council’s 6-0 vote means that Berkeley will join Oakland, San Jose, San Diego and Spokane and Washington, in filing suits against the agricultural biotech giant. The news follows Monsanto’s announcement of cutting a total of 3,600 jobs due to declining sales. NBC reports: The suit will seek to recover the cost of cleaning up PCBs, synthetic organic chemicals whose full name is polychlorinated biphenyl.

It just seemed appropriate...

A 65% tumble for the S&P? https://t.co/QAnEECpuGX pic.twitter.com/rlr67A4qk1

— MarketWatch (@MarketWatch) January 12, 2016

8 down days as of yesterday was longest losing streak since Jan 2008 but a red close today would have made it 9 down days in a row - The longest losing streak for Nasdaq Composite since May 1984

Deja Vu All Over Again...