United States

Ahead of this week's AAPL earnings, investors were looking forward to more clues what the company with the quarter-trillion cash war chest would do with the funds that are now greater than the GDP of Greece, and aside from the token increase in shareholder distributions, they got little else, which has once again prompted speculation who Apple will acquire once the company decides to shift away from corporate bond holdings (recall that as of this quarter Apple now has more corporate debt on its books than the biggest bond mutual fund) to acquisitions.

Via The Daily Bell

Whether directly or indirectly, the CIA and U.S. government were certainly involved in creating ISIS.

Indirectly, weapons were supplied to rebel forces in Syria, who turned out to be ISIS, among other rebel groups.

But it is more than likely that the CIA created ISIS directly, just as it funded Al-Qaeda in the 1980’s to fight the Soviets. Then there are the green screen beheadings staged on what many believe to be a western studio set. The CIA is said to have paid over half a billion dollars to have the propaganda made.

Sauron Rules in Washington

Paul Craig Roberts

“The problem is that the world has listened to Americans for far too bloody long.”  — Dr. Julian Osborne, from the 2000 film version of Nevil Shute’s 1957 book, On the Beach 

A reader asked why neoconservatives push toward nuclear war when there can be no winners. If all die, what is the point?

The answer is that the neoconservatives believe that the US can win at minimum and perhaps zero damage.

In the latest verbal fireworks involving the Pacific Rim's most unstable nation, overnight North Korea accused the CIA and the South Korea National Intelligence service of supporting a terrorist cell plotting to kill its "supreme leadership" with a bio-chemical weapon and said such a "pipe-dream" could never succeed.

According to AFP, the North's Ministry of State Security released a statement saying "the last-ditch effort" of U.S. "imperialists" and the South had gone "beyond the limits."

With all eyes on crude, following last night's mini flash crash which sent WTI lower by 3% from just above $45 to under $43 in under 10 minutes, equity markets, generally quiet overnight, have taken on a secondary importance ahead of today's key risk event, the April payrolls report (full preview here). In global equities, Asian and European stocks are lower, while S&P futures are little changed.