Business

• China turmoil sends oil, stocks sliding (Reuters)
• China's Stock Traders Go Home After 29 Minutes (BBG)
• Yuan hits weakest since Feb 2011 on fresh low midpoint (Reuters)
• Stocks Extend Rout, Oil Slides on China as Soros Warns of Crisis (BBG)
• China's 29 Minutes of Chaos: Stunned Brokers and a Race to Sell (BBG)
• North Korea Uses Bomb Test to Boost Dictatorship (WSJ)
• Arab Shiites Are Caught in Iranian-Saudi Strife (WSJ)
• Oil slides below $33 to near 12-year low as China turmoil rattles investors (Reuters)

In yesterday's overnight market wrap, we commented that while Chinese stocks had succeeded in levitating following another massive government intervention, "the global market was far more focused with what was going on in China's currency, which as previously reported, plunged to new 5 year lows, while the spread between the onshore and offshore Yuan rose to a record wide, suggesting the depreciation in the currency is only going to accelerate from here, and a big payday for Kyle Bass is coming."

Surging volatility in global equity, currency, and credit markets and significant stress in a major world economy have George Soros on edge. Speaking at an economic forum in Sri Lanka, the billionaire hedge fund manager warned global markets are facing a crisis and investors need to be very cautious. On the heels of the second trading halt in four days, Soros exclaimed "I would say it amounts to a crisis... which reminds me of 2008."

Volatility is surging everywhere...

With Chinese trading halted mere minutes into its day-session on the back "insane" moves as one Asian manager exclaimed, the rest of the world's markets have borne the brunt of hedging, unwind, selling pressure.

Dow Futures are down 300 points from After-Hours highs...

Crude has crashed back to a $32 handle...

The dollar is weaker as JPY and EUR surge...

And Gold has jumped back above $1100...

Surely, The PBOC will step in at some point and save the collapsing currency? Nope - not if options traders (and Kyle Bass) are to be believed. The odds of the yuan breaking beyond 7 to the greenback by the end of March more than doubled to 12% (from 5.8% at the start of December). Ironically, Bloomberg reports only 1 of 39 analyst predicts Yuan to trade beyond 7 by the end of 2016.