United States

The last few days days have been rife with speculation about the motivation, if any, behind the release of the Panama Papers, with the most prominent example coming from Wikileaks two days ago on Twitter which accused the journalist consortium behind the leak, the ICIJ, of being a "Washington DC based Ford, Soros funded soft-power tax-dodge which has a WikiLeaks problem" and adding that "PanamaPapers Putin attack was produced by OCCRP which targets Russia & former USSR and was funded by USAID & Soros."

Andrew Bacevich has written an excellent article on the need to end our ongoing “war for the Greater Middle East.” This part jumped out at me in connection with the debate over the Libyan war:

A particular campaign that goes awry [bold mine-DL] like Somalia or Iraq or Libya may attract passing attention, but never the context in which that campaign was undertaken [bold mine-DL]. We can be certain that the election of 2016 will be no different.

• U.S. readies bank rule on shell companies amid 'Panama Papers' fury (Reuters)
• Co-Founder of Mossack Fonseca Defends Law Firm at Center of ‘Panama Papers’ (WSJ)
• Fed's Cautious Approach on April Rate Hike Raises Stakes for June (BBG)
• Dollar sinks again after Fed remains cautious (Reuters)
• New Tax Rules on Inversion Deals Are Met With Protest (WSJ)
• Fed Chairs Since 1979 Offer Peek Into Central-Bank Philosophy (BBG)
• Election stirs debate about Fed's handling of political pressure (Reuters)

Two days after stocks slid in a coordinated risk-off session, and one day after a DOE estimate of US oil inventories sent US stocks surging while the failed Allergan-Pfizer deal unleashed torrential hopes of a biotech M&A spree leading to the single best day for the sector in 5 years, sentiment has again shifted, this time due to a violent surge in the Yen as the market keeps testing the resolve of the Japanese central bank to keep its currency weak, and so far finding it to be nonexistent.

Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook has begrudgingly admitted that terrorist groups Al-Qaeda and Al-Nusra are one and the same. In reply to persistent questions from reporters at a Pentagon press briefing, as to whether the two terrorist groups that are being targeted by the U.S. are somehow distinct from one another, Cook gave up and said: “Yeah, ok, ok! Al-Nusra and Al-Qaeda are one and the same! There I said it.” Russia Insider reports: Well what do you know.