With one central bank meeting down, but two to go, VIX and VSTOXX (Europe's VIX equivalent) have plunged to 2016 lows discounting any 'events' upsetting the complacency anytime soon. However, as Goldman's options strategists note, the medium-term skew (3M to 1Y) are at or near record highs as traders prepare for turbulence amid 'Brexit', US elections, and of course the inevitable 'Fold or No Fold' Fed decisions later in the year.
One month ago, we noticed the latest "shoe to drop" in the global credit rout, when as a result of soaring downgrades to energy companies' credit ratings, the Collateralized Loan Obligations (CLO) market went into a state of frozen animation, leading to a standstill in new CLO issuance.
Meet Abu Omar al-Shishani, or, “Omar the Chechen.”
Al-Shishani is Islamic State’s “minister of war,” and on March 4, the US tried to kill him.
Initially, reports indicated that an airstrike in the northeastern Syrian town of Shaddadi likely succeeded in “eliminating” the militant. But “on-the-ground” intelligence from London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (who else?) suggested that in fact, al-Shishani was still alive and had been transported to Raqqa where he was being treated for serious injuries.
Two days before the deadly blast in Ankara, the US embassy in Turkey issued a security warning to US citizens about the threat of a terrorist attack in the Turkish capital. The notice was published on March 11 on the website of the US Embassy in Turkey. At least 37 people were killed and 125 injured in a car bomb explosion on Sunday RT reports: The American embassy had warned on its website about a “potential plot to attack Turkish government buildings and housing in the Bahcelievler neighborhood,” in Çankaya District, where the Turkish National Library is located among other landmarks.
One week ago, the market was disappointed when Goldman's head commodity strategist, Jeffrey Currie poined out the obvious, namely that the higher the price of oil rises, the greater the probability it will tumble shortly, as a result of recently shut off production going back online. To wit: