United States

Following the Fed's disappointing "dovish, but not dovish enough" statement which effectively admitted Yellen had committed policy error by hiking just as the US economy "was slowing down" which in turn lowered the odds of a March rate hike to just 18%, it was up to oil to pick up the correlation torch, and so it did, rising in an otherwise mixed session which has seen European stocks slide on continued weakness surrounding Italian banks, many of which have been halted limit down, while Asia was unable to pick a direction after the resignation of Japan’s "Abenomics" minister Akira Amari to

In his final State of the Union Address, President Barack Obama noted in passing that the United States spends as much on defense as the next eight countries combined. He might have added that the proportions are similar for the Foreign Service and the intelligence community, which cost $50 billion and an estimated $80 billion respectively. The president might well have asked why, if that is so, is there so little bang for the buck in terms of what the U.S. taxpayer gets in return.

Submitted by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.com,

As economic turmoil worldwide becomes increasingly apparent, I have been receiving messages from readers expressing some concerns on the public “perception” of collapse. That is to say, there are questions on the average person’s concept of collapse versus the reality of collapse. This is a vital issue that I have discussed briefly in the past, but it deserves a more in-depth analysis.

Back in September 2012 we first presented "the world's biggest hedge fund nobody had ever heard of": a small, previously unknown company called Braeburn Capital which, however, managed more cash than even Ray Dalio's Bridgewater, the world's largest hedge fund.

How had the little firm operating out of a non-descript office building in Nevada achieved this claim to fame? By managing the cash hoard (now well over $200 billion) of the world's biggest and most valuable company: Apple.

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.