China

Submitted by Ben Hunt via Salient Partners' Epsilon Theory blog,

• Crude sinks 4 percent as market braces for more Iranian oil (Reuters)
• Plunge in crude oil prices send stock futures sliding (Reuters)
• Oil Slides, Deepening Gloom in Stocks as Bond Buyers Celebrate (BBG)
• China Stocks Enter Bear Market, Erasing Gains From State Rescue (BBG)
• Goldman Says It Will Pay $5.1b in U.S. Mortgage Probe (CBS)
• Friendly no more: Trump, Cruz erupt in bitter fight at Republican debate (Reuters)
• China to expand coverage of advantaged import tax policies nationwide (Xinhua)

Back in March of last year we noted, with some incredulity, that some 30% of China’s newly-minted day traders had an elementary education or less. Even more incredible, we learned that nearly 6% of the country’s new “investor” class were illiterate.

Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith of OfTwoMinds blog,

Who's going to buy the tens of millions of empty flats held as investments?

I've been writing a lot about China recently because it's becoming increasingly clear that China's economy is slowing and the authority's "fixes" are not turning it around. That means the engine that pulled the global economy out of the 2009 recession has stalled.

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China Flexes Muscles At Shanghai Gold Exchange

Written by Jeff Nielson (CLICK FOR ORIGINAL)