Business

Despite expectations (among 19 'economists') that growth would be up 1.0% in Q1, South African GDP tumbled 0.7% (the second drop in a row) pushing the nation back into recession after eight years.

The median of 19 economists’ estimates in a Bloomberg survey was for 1 percent expansion. There was only one forecast for a contraction. This was a four standard deviation miss...

Indicating contraction for the second quarter in a row - technically signaling a recession -  as all bar two industries shrank.

As we’ve been outlining for weeks now, Subprime 2.0 is the subprime auto-loan industry. And just as the collapse in the subprime mortgage lending was what signaled the beginning of the housing crisis… trouble in the subprime auto-loan industry will be what signals that the next Debt Crisis is here.

On that note… subprime auto-loan defaults are soaring, hitting 11.96%. The last time they were anywhere near these levels was in early 2008 right before the credit crisis hit.

Authored by Sumit Roy via ETF.com,

Bitcoin is flying. Prices for the digital currency briefly topped $2,800 in May, the latest milestone in what's become a parabolic move higher. Consider these figures: In the past month, bitcoin is up 68%; year-to-date, it's up 154%; over the past year, it's up 350%; and over the past two years, it's up 973%.

In what has emerged as the most significant escalation to result from the Qatar diplomatic crisis - which pits two of OPEC’s largest oil producers, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, against the world’s biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas and further disrupts stability in the region -  the biggest Middle East oil and container ports banned all vessels sailing to and from Qatar from using their facilities.

Via The Daily Bell

Banks are supposed to be the epitome of secure. You can put your money in their vaults, and forget about it. Don’t worry everything will be fine. And even if the bank goes under, the federal government insures deposits of up to $250,000.

But that won’t help if the government is the thief. The United States government can freeze your bank accounts for basically no reason, without due process. Then it is up to you to prove your innocence.