Europe

A giant spherical rock could be proof of a lost European civilization, according to an archaeologist. Semir Osmanagic discovered the strange stone sphere in Podubravlje village near Zavidovici, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He claims the round boulder with a radius of between four and five feet (1.2 to 1.5 metres)  is the world’s oldest man-made stone sphere, pointing to an advanced lost civilization in Europe some 1500 years ago. Daily Mail reports: Controversial archaeologist Semir Osmanagic made the sensational claims in a forest at Podubravlje.

In recent days, we have observed a distinct trading pattern: a ramp early in the US morning, usually triggered by some aggressive momentum ignition, such as today's unexplained pump then dump in the EURUSD...

... with stocks rising after the European open, rising throughout the US open, then peaking around the time the US closed at which point it is all downhill for the illiquid market.

Back in October 2014, just after the BOJ drastically expanded its QE operation, we warned that the biggest risk facing the BOJ (and the ECB, and the Fed, and all other central banks actively soaking up securities from the open market) was a lack of monetizable supply. We cited Takuji Okubo, chief economist at Japan Macro Advisors in Tokyo, who said that at the scale of its current debt monetization, the BOJ could end up owning half of the JGB market by as early as in 2018.

"Europe looks concerning" warns BofAML's Stephen Suttmeier, pointing out, rather ominously that the broad European index - STOXX 600 - is trading like it did in 2001 & 2008.

The STOXX Europe 600 (SXXP) is trending below declining and bearishly positioned 26 and 40-week moving averages. ECB quantitative easing has not reversed this bearish trend.

Submitted by Ron Paul via The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Proseprity,

On Sunday Ukrainian prime minister Yatsenyuk resigned, just four days after the Dutch voted against Ukraine joining the European Union. Taken together, these two events are clear signals that the US-backed coup in Ukraine has not given that country freedom and democracy. They also suggest a deeper dissatisfaction among Europeans over Washington’s addiction to interventionism.