European shares fell modestly, Asian equities declined for the first day in three, and US equity futures were unchanged before the December U.S. nonfarm payrolls report. China’s offshore yuan fell the most in a year to pare a record weekly rally, while Mexico’s peso climbed after the central bank sold dollars. Oil was trading lower in early trading.
Submitted by Douglas Murray via The Gatestone Institute,
Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,
Profits are faltering for structural reasons that are not easily resolved..
The bedrock assumption of the Bull market is that corporate profits will keep rising indefinitely. Hiccups are allowed, but current stock market valuations are implicitly based on profits expanding.
In a special report by Barclays' Michael Cohen, the analyst lays out what he believes are the 13 commodity "black swan threats" for the current year, divided into two "shock" categories: supply and demand, split evenly between bearish and bullish.
Obama has deployed US Special Forces close to the Russian border to defend Baltic states who are allegedly ‘scared to death’ of Putin’s aggression. As part of a “persistent” presence of American troops in the Baltics, dozens of special ops solders will be being stationed along Europe’s eastern flank to provide reassurance to NATO allies Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. They will also complement around 4,000 Nato troops being posted to Poland, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia in the coming months.