Business

One week ago we said that Category 1 storm clouds are gathering over what has traditionally been one of the most lucrative, and perhaps only profitable, sectors to come out of Silicon Valley in decades: online advertising. We directed readers' attention to the recent Global Retailing Conference organized by Goldman Sachs, in which Restoration Hardware's delightfully colorful CEO, Gary Friedman, divulged the following striking anecdote about the company's online marketing strategy, and the state of online ad spending in general. What Friedman revealed - in brief - was the following:

Back in March, when we detailed the ongoing catastrophic deterioration in the US retail sector, manifesting itself in empty malls, mass store closures, soaring layoffs and growing bankruptcies - demonstrated most vividly by the overnight bankruptcy of Toys "R" Us, the second largest retail bankruptcy in US history after K-Mart - we said that "just like 10 years ago, when the "big short" was putting on the RMBX trade, and to a smaller extent, its cousin the CMBX, so now too some are starting to short CMBS through the CMBX, a CDS index which tracks the values of bonds backed

Authored by Nick Cunningham via OilPrice.com,

The oil market has been awash in crude for more than three years, and OPEC has struggled to accelerate the rebalancing effort, but the world could be heading for a supply crunch in a few years due to the sharp fall in industry spending.

After an exuberant overnight session - ignoring the slump in USDJPY and bond yields - the US cash session open appears to have triggered a wave of selling (especially in tech stocks)...

Nasdaq is getting whacked at the open...

Bank stocks are bid once again - back to pre-FOMC Minutes levels - as Tech rolls over...

The S&P is back to unchanged...

As VIX spikes back above 10...

And as a reminder, yesterday's open was the opposite - a panic-bid...

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

The Student Loan Debt and Housing Report 2017 by the National Association of Realtors and the nonprofit group American Student Assistance shows the obvious: Student debt delays household formation, home buying, and saving.