US Federal Reserve

As the end of Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen’s first term approaches, financial markets are beginning to digest the increased likelihood that US President Donald Trump will opt to appoint a more hawkish individual to the position.  Even though the Federal Reserve is largely expected to continue tightening monetary policy over the coming months as it pares down the balance sheet and contemplates a dovish hike, Trump’s appointment could send shockwaves through the housing market. 

Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

Even though the nations of the world are very deeply divided on almost everything else, somehow virtually all of them have been convinced that central banking is the way to go. 

In the latest update on Trump's search for the next Fed Chair, Reuters reported that the search has narrowed down to 5 finalists - Yellen, Warsh, Taylor, Powell and Cohn (condolences to Jeff Gundlach: his dark horse candidate, Neel Kashkari did not make the cut) - and that after meeting Yellen on Thursday, Trump will have discussed the Fed job with all five candidates. More importantly was the news that Trump is expected to announce his decision for next Fed Chair in the next 2 weeks, before he leaves for his Asian trip on November 3.

By the SRSrocco Report,

The world's largest oil companies are in serious trouble as their balance sheets deteriorate from higher costs, falling profits and skyrocketing debt.  The glory days of the highly profitable global oil companies have come to an end.  All that remains now is a mere shadow of the once mighty oil industry that will be forced to continue cannibalizing itself to produce the last bit of valuable oil.

In his latest weekend note, One River CIO Eric Peters discussed, among other topics, what he thought would be the nightmare scenario if not for the current, then certainly next Fed chairman: a world in which despite the Fed's best intentions (and we use the term loosely), the Fed continued to hike rates without any perceptible increase in wages and thus, long-term inflation expectations.