Business

U.S. index futures point slightly lower open. Asian shares rose while stocks in Europe fell as energy producers got caught in a downdraft in oil prices and reversed an earlier gain after Goldman unexpectedly warned that WTI could slide below $40 absent "show and awe" from OPEC. The dollar rose, hitting a four-month high against the yen and bonds and top emerging market currencies were back under pressure on Tuesday, following last week’s hawkish rhetoric from central bankers.

Goldman has done it again: less than two weeks after the bank said "oil prices have likely hit bottom of the price range, and look attractive" when it slashed its WTI price target from $55 to $47.50 (and every other Wall Street bank promptly followed), in a note released overnight by its analysts including Damien Courvalin and Jeffrey Currie, the central banker incubator has effectively thrown in the towel, and writes that while its 3 month base case price target remains$47.5, it warns that absent a "shock and awe" production cuts from OPEC, oil could tumble below $40/barrel

Authored by Milton Ezrati via NationalInterest.org,

Authored by John Mills via The Mises Institute,

In December 2016, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) nationalized Ukraine’s largest private bank for what we now know was an incorrect understanding of the facts. It remains unclear who benefitted from this expropriation...

But it wasn’t just a misunderstanding. The nationalization of PrivatBank very likely was the result of a still-unexplained refusal by the NBU to accept the financial reality of the situation.

The prosecution in the trial of former Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli called more investors to testify about alleged malfeasance by Shkreli during his time as a hedge-fund manager on Monday. And while two witnesses echoed earlier descriptions of Shkreli being evasive when investors asked for their money, both ultimately admitted that they were paid back with interest.