Europe

Russia is being forced to look for ways to neutralise threats to its national security following the deployment of the NATO anti-missile shield in Europe. “Now, after the deployment of those anti-missile system elements, we’ll be forced to think about neutralizing developing threats to Russia’s security”  Russian President Vladimir Putin said adding that Russia is making every effort to maintain the strategic balance of power to avoid the outbreak of large-scale conflicts. The alliance launched the missile defense site in Romania on Thursday.

One recurring question over the past few weeks has been "who is buying" stocks in a world in which not only the smart money, but everyone else too is selling. The latest Lipper data will not provide the answer because as BofA reports, in the latest week there was another $7.4bn in outflows (the 5th straight week) driven by $4.8bn in mutual fund outflows and $2.7bn ETF outflows, leading to a $44bn equity exodus past 5 weeks, which as Michael Hartnett points out is the "largest redemption period since Aug’11", or when the US downgrade sent US stocks into a bear market tailspin.

Global stocks have started Friday the 13th on the wrong foot, with not only Hong Kong GDP unexpectedly tumbling by 0.4%, the worst print in years while retail sales fell for a thirteenth straight month in March, the longest stretch since 1999 as the Chinese hard landing spreads to the wealthy enclave, but also following a predicted collapse in Chinese new loan creation, which will reverberate not only in China but around the globe in the coming weeks.

When Crimea's secession to Russia was accepted by Putin, the logical next phase of the process was to cut off Crimea's reliance on Ukraine for energy, and fully integrate it into Russia's supply network. That phase has now been completed, as the fourth and final line supplying electricity from mainland Russian to the Crimean peninsula has been completed according to RT...

by Keith Weiner

In my testimony in support of the gold legal tender bill this year, I discussed failing pension funds. Retirees who count on their pension checks are being told that their monthly check will be reduced by up to 60%. This is devastating to them, obviously. What isn’t obvious is the cause. In the news coverage of this, the angry pensioners are blaming the union, the fund manager, and Wall Street in general.