Business

Japan's third-biggest steel producer is in trouble. After admitting falsifying data about the quality of aluminum and copper it sold, shares in Kobe Steel have collapsed 37%,  -20% limit down yesterday and another -17% at the open today following news that the falsification also involved iron powder product, in the biggest bloodbath the company has ever seen.

Bloomberg provides a quick Q&A:

Authored by Nicholas Trickett via OilPrice.com,

Oil Royalties

The Real Peak Complacency

Posted with permission and written by John Rubino, Dollar Collapse

Stocks are at record highs while volatility is at a record low. Which is another way of saying that investors aren’t as worried as they probably should be about the coming year.

Odd..

Steven Cohen's veteran top trader is leaving, just months before the formerly-barred hedge fund manager is expected to resume managing outside investor money.

As the NYT's Matt Goldstein reports, Phil Villhauer, 52, who started working for Cohen's then-SAC Capital in 2002, was promoted to global head of trading at the successor company, Point72, shortly after Cohen was forced to stop accepting outside investors’ money as part of an insider trading settlement with federal authorities, converting his hedge fund into an $11 billion family office.