Two months ago, we revealed the list of stocks most hated by the buy-side: that increasingly clueless cabal of Hotel California groupies which, unable to do fundamental analysis (thanks to the Fed) is forced into the same trades and then, when a paradigm shift strikes (as happened ever so frequently over the past year) is crushed under their own and their peers' weight leading to the worst hedge fund performance year since 2008. We said to go long these names in advance of hedge fund liquidations and collateral and margin calls.

An Israeli TV reporter was stabbed and wounded while testing out a knife-proof vest. Eitam Lachover an Israeli reporter for Channel 1 news and was doing a segment to help promote a body armor company and agreed to get stabbed on camera, only things went wrong, much to the embarrassment of the manufacturer. RT reports: The experiment failed miserably as the protective body armor could not stop the cold steel blade. Luckily, Lachover suffered only a light injury to his upper back, much to the humiliation of the vest’s creators, who remain certain of the item’s safety features.

Earlier today we reported that when it comes to Saudi Arabia, things are going from bad to abysmal, with the market is clearly aware of it. Saudi riyal forwards hit their highest level in almost two decades as oil plummeted: twelve-month forward contracts for the riyal climbed 260 points, and set for the steepest close since December 1996 on growing speculation the world’s biggest oil exporter may allow its currency to slide against the dollar for the first time since 1986 (incidentally, Bank of America's "Number One Black Swan Event For The Global Oil Market In 2016").

Another day, another fresh all-time record low in The Baltic Dry Index as Deutsche Bank's "perfect storm" appears ever closer on the horizon. Plunging 4.7% overnight to 445 points, this is 20% lower than the previous record low in 1986 and as one strategist warns, "It’s a brutal start of the year, there’s just nowhere to hide on the market."

With a new wave of terrorism, mass shootings and unprecedented social violence around the globe now a part of the daily routine for billions of people across both developed and developing nations, one group wants to be certain there is no chance of "close encounters", violent or otherwise, with the peasantry during its upcoming annual boondoggle at the World Economic Forum in Davos.