S&P futures are little changed as the Fed begins its two-day FOMC meeting pushing the VIX below 10, down 1.3% and falling for the 7th day; European shares are lower as is the dollar while Japanese stocks soar on the back of a tumbling yen as a snap election in Japan now appears imminent. Despite the cautious action ahead of the Fed, the The MSCI All-Country World Index rose 0.1% to a new record high.
Submitted by Bill Blain of Mint Partners
Blain’s Morning Porridge – September 19th 2017
“I had to phone someone so I picked on you. Hey, that far out so you heard him too..”
There is a veritable hurricane of new issues hitting the market. Like the new Ukraine deal they are being priced to sell – perhaps racing to get down before the rains come. There is the sure and certain knowledge this feeding frenzy is going to stop. With a thumping great crunch.
Day-in, day-out, asset-gatherers and commision-rakers remind hapless investors that all is well in stock markets because "there is a coordinated global economic recovery" going on... "that hasn't happened for years." As you might imagine... that is not exactly true when one looks at the hard data.
As global growth expectations slipped throughout 2015 and into Q1 2016, so global stocks (and bond yields) also declined.
The past two weeks have been quite a rollercoaster for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. In loose chronological order, we have seen:
We've frequently argued that public pensions in the U.S. are nothing more than elaborate ponzi schemes being propped up by unrealistic accounting assumptions that make them seem more healthy than they actually are. As it turns out, the State Budget Director of Kentucky, John Chilton, is coming around to our way of thinking.