Europe

Where are Marx and Lenin when we need them?

Paul Craig Roberts

Former aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Igor Ivanov, says that the risk of WWIII is higher than at any other time in history. According to The Daily Star: Only this January, some of the world’s top boffins kept the dreaded “Doomsday Clock” positioned at three minutes to midnight – its closest to armageddon in 20 years. Looming war between the West and other nuclear powers such as Russia and China was a chief reason. And Mr Ivanov agrees that this horrific scenario is possible.

Two weeks ago we previewed how, in the aftermath of the ECB's stunning announcement the hedge fund masking as a central bank would start buying investment grade corporate debt, it is only a matter of time before the ECB is forced to buy junk bonds too.

• Stocks up as investors look to end bruising week on a high (Reuters)
• Treasuries Set for Two-Week Gain; Greenspan Warns of Global Risk (BBG)
• Yellen, alongside Fed alum, says rate hikes on track (Reuters)
• Oil Prices Lifted by Fed Comments on U.S. Economy (WSJ)
• China says G20 summit should be about economics, not politics (Reuters)
• Cameron Accused of Hypocrisy for Stake in Father's Offshore Fund (BBG)
• US government to challenge MetLife ‘too big to fail’ decision (FT)

In the final day of the week, it has again been a story of currencies and commodities setting stock prices, however instead of yesterday's Yen surge which slammed the USDJPY as low as 107.67 and led to a global tumble in equities, and crude slide, today has been a mirror imoage after a modest FX short squeeze, which sent the Yen pair as high as 109.1, before easing back to the 108.80 range.