Oil dropped to the lowest in seven months, with both Brent and WTI sliding to prices not seen since November, following a burst of volume just after 6am, amid a revival in output from Libya and rising volumes of fuel held in floating storage, although today's move was likely yet another hedge fund capitulating and liquidating long positions. As a reminder, Pierre Andurand was down 17.3% through end of May.
European stocks were flat after starting off strongly earlier, dragged lower by energy stocks. Asian stocks, U.S. futures little changed as oil tumbled with Brent tumbling as low as $45.85/bbl to the lowest intraday since November 30 and taking out a 38.2% Fib support, after a one-minute spike in volume to a day-high 5,208 lots just after 6am, with WTI mirroring Brent's momentum, and falling as much as 98c to $43.22, lowest since November 14.
Two familiar names are in the news this morning, after the UK's Serious Fraud Office filed criminal charges against Barclays Plc and four former executives, including former CEO John Varley, for conspiracy to commit fraud regarding the bank’s 2008 capital raising from Qatar. The SFO said Tuesday that former Chief Executive Officer John Varley, former chairman of investment banking for the Middle East Roger Jenkins, ex-deputy head of investment banking Richard Boath and ex-wealth chief Thomas Kalaris face charges along with the bank.
On Monday morning, we reported that in a stunning development, chronic defaulter Argentina - which just one year ago emerged from its latest bankruptcy - has found enough willing greater fools to sell 100-year bonds to. One person who especially stunned, was Mint's Bill Blain, who issued an entire note describing his disgust with what the market has devolved to.
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Argentina 100 Year Bonds: Really? Nobody Believes, But They Will Buy.
“Everyone should learn to Tango before they die.. ”
Investors added $871 million to the Vanguard FTSE Europe exchange-traded fund in the five days through Friday, pushing the largest European ETF to its largest two-week inflow in history.