Business

While September and Q3 were the latest solid month for US risk assets, which ended the month and quarter at all time highs, across the globe returns were relatively more mixed for the sample of assets tracked by Deutsche Bank. That said, a large number of assets (21 of 39 in local currency terms) finished with a total return between -1% and +1% which in part reflects another month of incredibly low volatility with the VIX in particular spending much of it trading between 9.5 and 11.0.

Last Friday, when looking at the historic, record lows in September volatility and the daily highs in US and global equity markets, BofA's chief investment strategist Michael Hartnett said that the "best reason to be bearish in Q4 is there is no reason to be bearish."

An Accountant Smells a Rat

Written by Peter Diekmeyer, Sprott Money News

Twenty years ago, Doug Noland was so worried about imbalances surrounding the dot.com boom that he began to title his weekly reports “The Credit Bubble Bulletin. Years later, he warned the world about the impending 2008 crisis.

However a coming implosion, he says, could be the biggest yet.

Thanks to Goldman, Disney, and3M, The Dow has surged this morning, topping 22,500 for the first time as Nasdaq has suffered since Europe closed...

Nasdaq dipped red briefly..

It seems European markets closing prompted selling in Tech stocks...

It appears Europe's close also sparked a buying panic for value stocks...

And here's why...

A broken market fixes all ills.

While JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said he "would fire" any employee found trading Bitcoin, Goldman Sachs' leadership is embracing reality as WSJ reports the bank is weighing a new trading operation dedicated to bitcoin and other digital currencies.

On the heels of IMF Chief Christine Lagarde's comments that: