United States

Prosecutors in the US have charged relatives of former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon with conspiracy to bribe a government official corruption, corruption and money laundering. The bribery case against Mr Ban’s younger brother and his nephew could threaten the diplomat’s expected bid for the South Korean presidency. Mr Ban’s relatives stand accused of offering money to a Middle Eastern official, through an American middleman. According to his spokesman Lee Do-woon, Mr Ban was unaware of the circumstances surrounding the allegations.

The last time TCW's Ted Rivelle, whose firm at last checked managed roughly $195 billion, issued a warning was back in late September, when he cautioned that the "central banking Emperors have no clothes... when the supposed solutions to the Fed’s dilemma are merely new “problems,” you know you are approaching the cycle’s end... successful, long-term investing is predicated on not just knowing where the happening parties are during the reflationary parts of the cycle but, even more importantly, knowing when the time has come to leave the dance floor.

"After a Jan/Feb wobble, we believe stocks & commodities will have one last 10% meltup in H1," explains BofA's Michael Hartnett in his latest note, but, he adds, by the end of 2017 we will see a "meltdown." BofA awaits the endgame of the so-called "Icarus Trade" amid unambiguous signs of bullish investor Positioning, bullish Profit expectations & hawkish Policy from Fed/ECB, as well as outperformance from laggard risk assets; before calling for the Big Short.

The Icarus Trade

The cold war is officially back.

The Senate Armed Services Committee is currently hearing the testimony of retired Marine General James Mattis, picked by Donald Trump to take over the Department of Defense.

Preface: Washington's Blog reached out to Dr. Haering after reading several excellent articles on India's cash ban.  Dr. Haering then combined the information into a single article for us. We lightly edited the article for spelling and grammar.