Business

Following Friday's further freefall in crude oil prices, The Middle East is opening down notably. Abu Dhabi, Saudi, and Kuwait are lower; Israel is weak and UAE and Qatar are tumbling, but Dubai is worst for now.  Dubai is down for the 6th day in a row (dropping over 3% - the most in a month) extending the opening losses to 2-year lows. The 11% drop in the last 6 days is the largest since the post-China-devaluation global stock collapse. Leading the losses are financial and property firms.

With Emerging Market currencies, bonds, and stocks collapsing, US corporate debt crashing, and carry trades unwinding everywhere (ahead of the $800 billion liquidity withdrawal that looms from next week's 25bps hike from The Fed), it is no surprise that US equities are beginning to shudder (even the FANGs are not immune). But, as InvesTech Research notes, among its 6 compelling reasons to be cautious in 2016, the so-called Coppock Guide may be close to confirming that a bear market is at hand...

The Sanders campaign tests how much we really believe the American people will share our critique of corporate dominance if they ever really get to hear it.

Submitted by Jeffrey Snider via Alhambra Investment Partners,

Now that Kinder Morgan has come out with a massive dividend cut, I think it will get harder to ignore that this isn’t just about crude oil prices and the death of “transitory.” There is a financial element here that is perhaps even more important.