Russia

It is safe to say that nobody expected the BOJ stunner announced last night, when Kuroda announced that Japan would become the latest country to unleash negative interest rates, for one simple reason: Kuroda himself said Japan would not adopt negative rates just one week ago! However, a few BIS conference calls since then clearly changed the Japanese central banker's mind and as we wrote, and as those who are just waking up are shocked to learn, negative rates are now a reality in Japan.

Submitted by Eric Zuesse via Strategic-Culture.org,

Putin has announced plans to ban soybeans and corn imports into Russia from the United States over possible GMO contamination.  Russia’s food safety watchdog say that the contaminated products risk affecting food safety in Russia and could adversely affect other Eurasian Economic Union members. RT.com reports: The Russian agency says it notified US authorities on Monday to halt exports of corn contaminated with dry rot to Russia.

Russia may sue the British government for slander over comments made in the wake of the inquiry into the death of Alexander Litvinenko, the country’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said. During his annual press conference on Monday, Lavrov stressed that the results of Robert Owens inquiry, which concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin had  ‘probabaly’ sanctioned the assassination of Litvinenko, would “seriously complicate” ties with the UK. Press TV reports: Litvinenko, a former KGB agent and a critic of Putin, died of polonium poisoning in London in 2006.

Submitted by Allen Gilmer via OilPrice.com,

The one given in this industry is that the analyst community is consistently wrong about where the price of oil is going in the near to mid-term. Just as $100 oil was a sentiment driven price that baked in the risk of every potential negative impact on the supply chain, $28, $30 or $40 dollars is equally sentimental, assuming that any and all incremental barrels are and will be available AND demand will slow or stop.

2013 and 2015 forecasts. (forecasting sentiment is hard) Image Sources: EIA