United States

From The Archive: MH-17

Paul Craig Roberts

Not long ago I wrote that every American institution, public and private, is corrupt. And every week Robert Parry’s reports prove the truth of my statement.

The Census Bureau released its quarterly update on residential vacancies and homeownership for Q1 which is closely watched for its update of how many Americans own versus rent. It shows that following a modest pickup in the homeownership rate in the prior two quarters, US homeowners once again posted a substantial decline, sliding from 63.8% to 63.5%, and just 0.1% higher than the 50 year low reported in Q2 2015.

Syria has strongly condemned the United States for the deployment of troops on its soil, saying that the move amounts to aggression and a gross violation of national sovereignty. Russian media revealed on Wednesday that the first batch of US army personnel, including 150 soldiers and officers, had arrived safely to the Kurdish controlled Rumeilan Military Airport in Syrian territory.

As we approach the mid point of earnings season (this is the busiest week of the Q1 earnings season with 39% of companies having already reported in the US, 33% in Europe and 17% in Japan), here is a quick summary of where we stand.

Here is a quick rundown courtesy of JPM:

It is very fitting that on today's April 28th anniversary of the bull market, the day that officially makes this the second-longest "bull market" in history, the market got a stark reminder of just how it got there: through constant and relentless central bank intervention, which has been "beneficial" to stocks for the most part, however last night was anything but.