China

In a comment sure to stir up questions over dollar hegemony (and new world order conspiracy thoughts), IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde admitted during an event today in Washington that The International Monetary Fund could be based in Beijing in a decade.

As Reuters reports, Lagarde said that such a move was "a possibility" because the Fund will need to increase the representation of major emerging markets as their economies grow larger and more influential.

The first to suffer Beijing's crackdown against China's private merger-crazy conglomerates, wave was the acquisitive "insurance" behemoth, Anbang, whose CEO Wu Xiaohui briefly disappeared as the Politburo made it clear that the "old way" of money laundering - via offshore deals - is no longer tolerated.

Authored by Nomi Prins via The Daily Reckoning,

I’ve just wrapped up a long trip to Japan. And I’ve taken away one lesson from all of my conversations, speeches and research: The rise of nationalism in the U.S. will cause massive shifts in global trade alliances.

One of the main beneficiaries will be Japan. Now, Japan might not be on your radar, day-to-day, but it’s about to play a very important role in the world of Donald Trump.

Here’s what I mean…

We doubt that many have heard of it, or know what it’s used for, but the price of Praseodymium-Neodymium (sold in oxide form) has been on a tear, up 43% ytd.

Neodymium and Praseodymium, collectively known as NdPr, are two of the family of seventeen rare earth elements (REEs). The price of several other REEs, like Terbium – Ticker SHRATBOX (really) and also used in very powerful permanent magnets - have been rising too (up 36% ytd). 

China's overall housing market remained resilient in June according to official NBS data on Tuesday, with the average property price rising 0.7% for the month and 10.2% on an annual basis (fractionally below the 10.4% yoy increase in May) even as the decline in Tier 1 cities accelerated and home prices in Beijing fell for the first time in more than two years, while Shanghai declined further and Shenzhen stalled, pointing to significant cooling in China's biggest real estate markets.