United States

Via John Murphy,

MAJOR STOCK INDEXES ENTER CORRECTION TERRITORY... After suffering the worst start to a new year in history, the U.S. stock market has entered correction territory which is defined by a drop of 10% from its old high. The charts pretty much speak for themselves. All three major stock indexes fell to three month lows in heavy trading. The next downside target is the two lows formed in August and late September.

Submitted by David Stockman via Contra Corner blog,

Here’s a newsflash that CNBC didn’t mention. According to the BLS, the US economy generated a miniscule 11,000 jobs in the month of December.

After the San Bernardino Terrorist attacks, a new law has been passed by US lawmakers that amended the visa waiver program in order to provide enhanced security. The new law, known as HR 158, restricts a group of people and certain nationalities from automatically gaining access to US soil without a thorough background check. While the US tries to combat the threat posed by the Islamic State, it could at the same time be hindering its own progress in opening up to a whole group of moderate Muslims.

Another Fabricated Jobs Report

Paul Craig Roberts

According to Friday’s (January 8) payroll jobs numbers, almost 300,000 new jobs were created in December. Additionally, the previous two months were revised upward by 50,000 jobs. Apparently, the equity market did not believe the report, with the averages moving down today.

Submitted by Jeffrey Snider via Alhambra Investment Partners,

The focus on China as if their problems were only Chinese is highly misplaced, though you can understand the appeal of the excuse. This sentiment was expressed over and over today (just as it was in August):