Business

Via The American Herald Tribune,

Bolivia's President Evo Morales has been highlighting his government's independence from international money lending organizations and their detrimental impact the nation, the Telesur TV reported.

"A day like today in 1944 ended Bretton Woods Economic Conference (USA), in which the IMF and WB were established," Morales tweeted.

 

"These organizations dictated the economic fate of Bolivia and the world. Today we can say that we have total independence of them."

In groundbreaking news for the blockchain community, moments ago the SEC issued a press release, referencing an investor bulletin on Initial Coin Offerings, which concluded that DAO Tokens, a Digital Asset, are securities for regulatory purposes, and cautioned that US Securities law "may" apply to offers, sales and trading of interested in virtual organization, targeting the increasingly more popular Initial Coin Offerings.

With no expectations of a rate-hike this week, and traders rapidly giving up on The Fed's dream of a steadily higher rate trajectory, a funny thing happened in the markets...

In the eyes of The Fed, their monetary policy has not been this 'tight' since October 2008.

However, in the eyes of the market, financial conditions just hit their easiest level in history (easier than the September 2005 previous record easiness level).

The recent trend of inventory draws (in crude and products) has supported higher Brent and WTI prices (the latter testing $48 today) despite surging production. API reported more of the same with a much larger than expected draw (-10.2mm vs -3mm exp), sending WTI above $48. All was not perfect in the report however as gasoline saw an unexpected build.

API

Speaking earlier on Monday, ECB governing council member Ewald Nowotny said that despite growing market concerns, the ECB "sees no need to set a timetable to end bond buying" adding that "the question is not when but how to continue. That will depend on the economic projections for 2018, which we will have in the fall [...] It’s not about an abrupt halt, but about registering that we are no longer confronted by such an acute crisis as we were when we implemented the measures. I consider it wise to step off the gas slowly."