Europe

Authored by Jeff Thomas via InternationalMan.com,

For millennia, people believed that the sun revolved around the earth, appearing, as it did, on the eastern horizon in the morning and setting on the western horizon in the evening.

Greek astronomer Aristarchus of Samos is generally credited with the concept that the universe is heliocentric, with all the planets revolving around the sun. Yet it took a further eighteen centuries before Nicolaus Copernicus came along and convinced people that this was the case.

CNBC's cheerleading staff had a very difficult time finding the silver lining in retail investing this morning as they relentlessly pressed Sam Zell on the value of commercial real estate.  Asked to offer up his thoughts on where retail real estate is headed over the next five years, Zell highlighted the significant excess inventory in the U.S., 4-5x more per capita than Europe, and said investing in the space right now is like catching a "falling knife."

Authored by Raul Ilargi Meijer via The Automatic Earth blog,

“Forget Germany, Spain Is The Real Problem”, reads a headline. Eh… no. Germany is definitely the problem in Europe. Spain is a bit player. That doesn’t mean nothing major could happen in Spain in its fight with Catalonia, and soon, but Spain, like all EU nations, is a de facto province of Germany.

S&P futures are flat after Monday’s drop in the S&P 500 where a rout in Apple weighed on tech companies and tensions with North Korea persist; Asian stocks are modestly lower while Europe has shaken off the Korean crisis and is in the green on the back of a sharp drop in the EURUSD which has tumbled below 1.18 as the USD rises ahead of much anticipated speeches by the Fed Chair and the French president.

Greeks are working longer for less pay, suffering from depression and committing suicide at a record pace, and seeing a mass exodus of young talented workers amid continued capital controls and pension cuts.

So it should be no surprise that Greek government bonds are being bought with both hands and feet by global investors reaching for yield, sparking GGBs to a return of almost 17% year-to-date - the best across Europe - even as concerns linger about the sustainability of Greece’s economic recovery once the current rescue program ends in 2018.