Europe

In a note that may have been quite prescient, BofA's HY strategist Michael Contopoulos released a note last night titled "Fed acknowledges global growth concerns… again", in which he said that "we have to admit; today’s dovish comments by Yellen took us by surprise" and adds that "although the market’s initial reaction was positive, we think the longer run impact of a very dovish message is bad for risk assets. In fact, we’re a bit amazed by the initial response from high yield today."

Yesterday when summarizing the Fed's action we said that in its latest dovish announcement which has sent the USD to a five month low, the Fed clearly sided with China which desperately want a stronger dollar to which it is pegged (reflected promptly in the Yuan's stronger fixing overnight) at the expense of Europe and Japan, both of which want the USD weaker.

ECB, BOJ don't want a weak dollar; China does not want a strong dollarFed sides with China for now

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) March 16, 2016

My friend the philosopher James K.A. Smith gave a talk the other day at the Ethics and Public Policy Center’s Faith Angle Forum. In the Q&A, the Benedict Option came up. Here’s a link to the audio clip. The Ben Op discussion comes up at shortly past the 20 minute mark.

When someone in the audience asked Jamie (as his friends call him) to comment on the Benedict Option, he asked to go off the record because he’s a friend of mine. Someone — Mike Cromartie, I’m guessing — said no, keep it on the record, because “he can handle it.”

Submitted by Nick Giambruno via InternationalMan.com,

In the 1989 Batman movie, the Joker (played by Jack Nicholson) showers a crowded Gotham street with free money.

In the scene, it looks like it’s raining hundred-dollar bills. The people love it. Little do they know, the money is actually a trap. Once the Joker has lured them into the street, he unleashes poisonous gas.

Well, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s worst nightmare is about to come true.

For days there have been rumors that Syria might attempt to adopt some manner of federal system at peace talks in Geneva as a kind of compromise on the way to negotiating a political solution to the country’s five-year conflict that’s killed some 300,000 people and created the worst refugee crisis Europe has seen since World War II.