US equity futures and Asian stocks were unchanged while European stocks declined after touching the highest level in almost a year, as Italian and Spanish banks dragged indexes lower. The dollar eased back from 14-year highs as bond yields fell on Wednesday and oil extended its advance in increasingly thin trading.
Submitted by a Zero Hedge reader who wishes to remain anonymous:
OPEN LETTER TO MINISTER-PRESIDENT SEEHOFER(Sent before the carnage in Berlin's Christmas market)
Dear Minister-President Seehofer,
I would like to commend you on your opposition to mass uncontrolled immigration into Europe. One would think that it would be trivial to praise politicians – who are elected to uphold law and order, meaning our culture and values – for doing so, but these are the times we are living in.
Submitted by Mike Krieger via Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,
In the weeks since Donad Trump was elected president, US financial stocks (and energy companies) have soared with all eyes on Dow 20k. However, across the world's capital markets, investors have lost a combined $1.2 trillion in debt and equity values, as the bond losses have outweighed stock gains dramatically (especially post-Fed). The question is - what happens next?
The drop in global debt and equity values in Q4 2016 is very reminiscent of the drop into 2015's Fed rate hike... which did not end well...
The danger signs are building up for the Chinese bond market.
First, last Thursday, Chinese bond futures crashed by the most on record forcing China's regulator to briefly halt trading in the security until the panic fades.
Then, on Friday, a Chinese bill auction technically "failed" when it was unable to find enough buyers for the total amount offered for sale.