US Federal Reserve

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.

JPMorgan shifts to the dark-side...

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

Authored by Mark St.Cyr,

The morning routine for many over the last few weeks suddenly has had a peculiar fly in the ointment added to the day’s ensuing narrative. First: how is it that “everything is awesome” has suddenly turned many a 401K balance into WTF status. And second: why is it when they return home the TV no-longer seems to shout how the mornings plunge in stock prices was met with a near immediate BTFD (buy the dip) rally erasing any and all previous losses with gains? Suddenly it seems things are quite different.

Submitted by Alasdair Macleod via GoldMoney.com,

Well, well: who would have believed it. First the Bank for International Settlements comes out with a paper that links credit booms to the boom-bust business cycle, then Britain's Adam Smith Institute publishes a paper by Anthony Evans that recommends the Bank of England should ditch its powers over monetary policy and move towards free banking.

Submitted by Chris Martenson via PeakProsperity.com,

As we’ve been warning for quite a while (too long for my taste): the world’s grand experiment with debt has come to an end. And it’s now unraveling.

Just in the two weeks since the start of 2016, the US equity markets are down almost 10%. Their worst start to the year in history. Many other markets across the world are suffering worse.