Europe

Submitted by Ben Hunt via Salient Partners' Epsilon Theory blog,

Once again we find that it is only after they leave their official posts that central bankers finally tell the truth.

Last night, it was Alan Greenspan who blasted the state of the economy, saying that "we’re in trouble basically because productivity is dead in the water" and when asked if he is optimistic going forward, Greenspan replied "no, I haven't been for quite a while."

Another crazy day in the markets...

While stocks dropped and popped on the day... with a panic-buying scramble into the close to get Nasdaq unch...

On SPY's lowest volume day of 2016

Given the vicious downward spiral of competitive devaluation that is washing around the world's economic bathtub, it appears - just as we saw during The Great Depression - that currency wars have given way to mal-investment-fueled protectionism as US launches the first missile in the trade wars with a massive 266% tariff on imports of cold-rolled steel. “There’ll be a short-term benefit,“ said John Packard of Steel Market Update. ”However, in the long run, the U.S.

In the aftermath of this weekend's disappointing G-20 summit in Shanghai in which the much anticipated "grand Chinese devaluation" was not only not discussed, but any abrupt devaluation was taken off the table (if only for the time being), the market has shifted its attention to the next big policy event, which is the March 10 ECB announcement where much more easing is already priced in.