Private Sector Slowdown
‘The heart of the real economy — private-sector consumption and investment — slowed sharply in the first quarter to a 1.3% annual rate, the slowest in nearly six years. Spending on durable goods plunged 5.3%, the worst since 2009.’ https://t.co/EU4DlI71Oh ht @hussmanjp pic.twitter.com/2dB2X53vbN
— Jesse Felder (@jessefelder) April 26, 2019
Tesla
Shares of #Tesla plunge almost 6% to the lowest level since 2017 as investors betting TSLA will soon raise capital. The stock has dropped 15% this week that included worse-than-expected results and a pitch by CEO Elon Musk on autonomous cars that failed to win over investors. pic.twitter.com/9mKYWh5VCc
— Holger Zschaepitz (@Schuldensuehner) April 26, 2019
Tesla Reports Another Doozie. And the ruse that helped shares jump 20%.https://t.co/6b7KCE3m9F pic.twitter.com/Cni07tkoVU
— Wolf Richter (@wolfofwolfst) April 25, 2019
Taxation
The more government spends, the less #wealth it creates. Government provides services at ~2X the cost of the private sector, so it makes the country poorer. Trying to “stimulate” the economy through government spending quite literally chokes it instead. #libertarian #taxes pic.twitter.com/eniEOMA5WD
— Mary J. Ruwart Ph.D. (@MaryRuwart) April 26, 2019
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Savagery: Kingdom Beheads 16-Year-Old For Sending Whatsapp Message https://t.co/drqJbSFtGx
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) April 27, 2019
Russiagate
This “victory lap” language is such bullshit. It’s called holding powerful media factions accountable for their falsehoods. If Mueller had found a vast Trump/Russia conspiracy & arrested Trump Jr & Kushner as predicted, they’d be crowing about it for years & demanding apologies: https://t.co/1eRgYftEy7
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) April 26, 2019
MUELLER REPORT FINDS VAST CONSPIRACY BETWEEN TRUMP AND RUSSIA TO INTERFERE IN 2016 ELECTION. This is the headline huge numbers of journalists both believed and fantasized was coming. OK, fine; we all have wishes. But it’s creepy how they now act like this actually happened. pic.twitter.com/fify13gLlW
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) April 24, 2019
It’s also bizarre how many people continue to speak as though the Mueller Report found a sprawling Trump/Russia conspiracy & therefore those of us who were skeptical about it from the start (as opposed to those who bought into the conspiracy theory) have been shamed.
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) April 24, 2019
Interest Rates
Negative Central Bank Rates since…
Eurozone (ECB): Jun 2014
Switzerland: Dec 2014
Sweden: Feb 2015
Japan: Jan 2016 pic.twitter.com/hgwxnZCoJ9— Charlie Bilello (@charliebilello) April 25, 2019
Italy
#Italy‘s 2019 #GDP ‘growth’ forecast over time. pic.twitter.com/5aDzscrUAE
— jeroen blokland (@jsblokland) April 24, 2019
Japan
Galaxies
Research on disk galaxies sheds light on movement of stars: University of Arkansas astrophysicists have taken an important step toward solving the mystery of how disk galaxies maintain the shape of their spiral arms. Their findings support the theory… https://t.co/soXR9U7pzY pic.twitter.com/tgBc8gedzF
— Electric Universe (@Elec_Universe) April 23, 2019
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
Negative interest rates signal that capital investment in Europe has a negative value. Europe is thoroughly socialist. One cannot seed socialism with fecund cretins who happily subsist on $5/day handouts and expect a positive return on capital investment.
Ruwart’s point about taxation is well taken, but what printing our way to prosperity? A lot of people, not just bankers, seem to believe we can do so. The left and the MAGA crowd have this in common (after all, if easy money was bad, Trump wouldn’t advocate it). The 2008 crash has become a distant memory to many, never mind the many trillions needed to paper over that mess.
Other than that, glad to see Saudi barbarism getting more attention. It’s a travesty that we and others in the West have promoted Wahhabism for decades, really ever since FDR and Abdul Aziz took a ride on an aircraft carrier.
What does the Galaxy have to do with Japan?
Perhaps that there’s a black hole in the center of it?
With so many European countries’ bonds in negative yield, could the FED actually be deleveraging into European investors who are trying to find more yield? Or is someone in big trouble and unloading US treasuries? Something is keeping yields on US treasuries way out of line with those in Europe.
Unloading US Treasuries and buying WHAT? Supposedly “risk-free” Sovereign debt with negative yield?