In the same quarter in which the US teetered on the verge of contraction (supposedly due to inclement weather despite not one but two seasonal adjustments meant to eliminate "residual seasonality"), Japan grew at the fastest pace in a year and nearly triple that of the US.
Authored by Irina Slav via OilPrice.com,
When President Trump came into office, he openly resented the major trade deficit with Asia’s number-two economy and vowed to remedy the situation. While his words smacked of economic protectionism to many, the latest news about China-U.S. economic relations reveal a different picture.
Authored by Ted Bauman via BanyanHill.com,
How do I despise thee, O Congress? Let me count the ways.
Don’t take my word for it: 75% of Americans disapprove of the job our representatives are doing. It’s things like this that explain why:
Whilst only about 13% of U.S. employees nationwide enjoy a retirement fund that assures stable, lifelong income, all 535 members of Congress do … courtesy of Uncle Sam.
Authored by David Stockman via The Daily Reckoning blog,
The Deep State is escalating its war on President Trump but the Wall Street partiers apparently couldn’t care less until today's relatively modest drop. When the machines tagged 2402 on the S&P 500 yesterday, it was surely a historic case of “look ma, no hands!”
It’s hard to imagine what more will be needed to ignite an eruption of fear and panic in the casino amidst Wall Street’s record and wholly irrational state of somnolence.
It was just over two months ago - well before VIX hit its record stretch of nearly 20 days below 11 - when we first discussed why one of the major threats to the complacent market was the danger of a forced liquidation by trend-following and vol-neutral, CTA, risk-arb and other systematic funds - many of whom have been the fundamental catalyst for the unprecedented VIX compression seen in May - resulting in an explosive unwind of vol positions.