United States

Following an epic stock rout to start the year, one which has wiped out trillions in market capitalization, it has rapidly become a consensus view (even by staunch Fed supporters such as the Nikkei Times) that the Fed committed a gross policy mistake by hiking rates on December 16, so much so that this week none other than former Fed president Kocherlakota openly mocked the Fed's credibility when he pointed out the near record plunge in forward breakevens suggesting the market has called the Fed's bluff on rising inflation.

Submitted by Dan Sanchez via TheAntiMedia.org,

Before the French Revolution and its Reign of Terror, Louis XV predicted, “After me, the Deluge.” Before being overthrown, Libya’s secular dictator tried to warn the West of a new Reign of Terror, essentially foretelling, “After me, the Jihad.”

This was disclosed with the recent release of phone conversations from early 2011 between Muammar Gaddafi and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

According to Citigroup's Matt King, it is now officially too late to save junk debt, which has entered the final stage of the credit cycle, the one where defaults for high yield bonds rise with every passing month.

Both what about investment grade, which according to Citi is still just ahead of the "bubble bursting phase"? Here is UBS' credit strategist Matthew Mish with one take on what happens to IG debt over the coming 12 months.

How The Dominos Will Fall?

Submitted by Mac Slavo via SHTFPlan.com,

Forget for a moment that U.S. stock markets have seen their worst start to a new year since the Great Depression or that some $2.5 trillion in wealth has been evaporated in less than two weeks.

CNN says it’s hardly the time to panic:

Time to panic? Hardly.

 

There are plenty of reasons to relax, especially if you are a U.S investor. Here are the top two:

 

1. America’s economy is still in good shape.

 

JPMorgan shifts to the dark-side...

It would be hard for a year to start any worse than 2016 has.