from TheDollarVigilante
Can Trump Be Trusted With Nukes?
by James Rickards
Daily Reckoning
Joe Scarborough, co-host of “Morning Joe” on MSNBC, recently revealed a conversation with an unnamed foreign policy expert who had met with Donald Trump. Reportedly Trump asked the expert several times about the conditions under which the U.S. might use nuclear weapons.
Trump asked, “Why can’t we use nuclear weapons?” according to Scarborough’s source.
This revelation was done in dark overtones and immediately followed-up with incredulity and tut-tutting from other guests and panelists. Co-host Mika Brzezinski solemnly said, “Be careful America, and be careful Republican leaders, your party is blowing up;” (probably no pun intended). Then she advised Republicans to, “Pull your endorsements.”
Busting the Banksters – The Case for Super Glass-Steagall (Part 1)
[Ed. Note: Part 2.]
by David Stockman
David Stockman’s Contra Corner
The mainstream narrative about “recovery” from the financial crisis is a giant con job. And nowhere does the mendacity run deeper than in the “banks are fixed” meme—an insidious cover story that has been concocted by the crony capitalist cabals that thrive at the intersection of Wall Street and Washington.
That’s not to say that the Wall Street cover story is hiding anything. In recent months even the mainstream media has published stunning evidence of malefactions and abuse at the great megabanks—especially Bank of America (BAC) and Citigroup (C).
Indeed, a recent Wall Street Journal expose about the depredations of Bank of America shows that the latter is in a class all by itself when it comes to bankster abuse and criminality.
Energy Stocks Signaling Higher Oil Prices Ahead
by Dan Norcini
Trader Dan
There is no denying how eager money managers and other large players seem to be in acquiring energy shares in their holdings. Compared to many other asset classes, they are viewed as cheap to own.
Take a look at how strong the XLE is. I should note that there are more than a few select energy shares that have already completed bullish upside breakouts on their individual stock charts. As an overall view of the asset class, the XLE is however a good proxy for sentiment in general towards energy.
What has caught my attention is the level at which the XLE is trading in comparison to the price of crude oil futures.
Bank of Ireland to Charge for Placing Cash on Deposit
Bank which is 14% owned by State to impose unprecedented levy on larger customers
by Ciarán Hancock
Irish Times
Bank of Ireland is set to become the first domestic financial institution to charge customers for placing their money on deposit with the bank.
This unprecedented move comes months after the European Central Bank began charging financial institutions for depositing money with it by charging them 0.4 per cent to hold their cash overnight.
The Irish Times has learned that Bank of Ireland, which is 14 per cent owned by the State, has informed its large corporate and institutional customers that it plans to charge them for deposits of €10 million or more from October.
It is understood that a negative interest rate of 0.1 per cent will be applied to such deposits by Ireland’s biggest bank.
Silver Prices: Tech Sector to Send Silver to $50 an Ounce?
by Michael Lombardi
Profit Confidential
There’s one big factor that continues to be ignored by investors when looking at silver prices: many technology products need silver. Silver is used in smartphones, tablets, laptops, and many other home and business electronics.
This may sound like a bold statement, but the technology sector could take silver prices to $50.00 an ounce.
In 2015, industrial demand for silver reached 588.7 million ounces. Of the 588.7 million, 246.7 million ounces of silver were used for electrical and electronics. (Source: “Supply & Demand,” The Silver Institute, last accessed August 18, 2016.) So we have about 42% of the silver created each year being taken up for tech products. That’s huge.
This Investing Legend Just Doubled His Bet Against U.S. Stocks
by Justin Spittler
Casey Research
George Soros just doubled his bet against U.S. stocks.
You’ve probably heard of Soros. After Warren Buffett, he’s likely the world’s most well-known investor.
Soros is a household name because of his incredible track record. From 1969 to 2011, he generated average annual returns of 20%. He nearly beat the S&P 500 2-to-1 over that stretch.
Soros also famously “broke the Bank of England.” In 1992, he made a giant bet that the pound sterling, Britain’s currency, would crash. When it did, Soros pocketed $1 billion.
The Latest Updates from Mike ‘Mish’ Shedlock – 2016.08.19
RBS’ Biggest Trading Customers Face Negative Rates
RBS, headed by Ross McEwan, is imposing negative rates on some customers
by Tim Wallace
Telegraph.co.uk
Royal Bank of Scotland will impose negative interest rates on some of its biggest customers from Monday, as central banks’ sub-zero policies start to bite.
The 70 largest companies which are heavily involved in financial trading, including other banks and pension funds, will face the charge when trading options and futures.
Traders have to post collateral with clearing houses – funds which cover the cost of transactions if the trader is unable to pay the bills.
If the institutions put cash on deposit as collateral, they will now face a negative charge.
Shocking Government Report Finds $6.5 Trillion in Taxpayer Funds “Unaccounted For”
from Zero Hedge
Last week, we first touched on a topic which, in any non-banana republic, would be a far greater scandal than what Ryan Lochte may or may not have been doing in a Rio bathroom: namely, government corruption, falsification and potential fraud and embezzlement, which has resulted in the Pentagon being unable to account for up to $8.5 trillion in taxpayer funding.
Today, Reuters follows up on this disturbing issue, and reveals that the Army’s finances are so jumbled it had to make trillions of dollars of improper accounting adjustments to create an illusion that its books are balanced. The Defense Department’s Inspector General, in a June report, said the Army made $2.8 trillion in wrongful adjustments to accounting entries in one quarter alone in 2015, and $6.5 trillion for the year. Yet the Army lacked receipts and invoices to support those numbers or simply made them up.
Is the Growing Military Tension Between Russia, China and the US For Real?
by Daily Bell Staff
The Daily Bell
China to play greater role in Syria while US ‘left out’ … Are we seeing the start of a new anti-Islamic State coalition with Russia, Iran and China’s involvement in Syria? How could it influence the balance of power in the region? What reaction could be expected from the West, particularly from the countries involved in Syria? – RT
The organization of a larger war continues to become apparent. It takes a while to organize something like this but it does happen over time if people want it to. And people obviously do.
It’s one reason we remain suspicious about the Turkey coup. Yes, it may have been a failed CIA coup but the result has driven Turkey closer to Russia and apparently to China too.
There’s little doubt Western forces want to create the appearance of a larger potential war. Whether such a war will actually take place is at least questionable, but the groundwork is certainly being laid.
Here is an Important Update on the War in the Gold & Silver Markets
from King World News
Below is an update on the war that is raging in the gold and silver markets.
The following charts are from Jason Goepfert at SentimenTrader.
There were very little changes in the COT reports this week. What they showed was a bit of short covering on the part of the commercial hedgers (see gold and silver COT charts below).
“Saving Social Security” May End in Dollar Devaluation
by Monty Guild with Tony Danaher
Financial Sense
As the US presidential election nears, we are doing a series of reports on the differences and agreements of major parties on various economic and financial topics. Last week, we noted one area where the major-party candidates are in agreement: trade. In different ways, the candidates have challenged the free-trade status quo. US multinationals will face an environment in which established free-trade treaties are renegotiated, and treaties that are currently in the works (such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership) are scrapped or drastically revamped, potentially disrupting long-settled plans.
Yellen to Say ‘Ready’ for Another Rate Hike in Jackson Hole
Fed chairwoman to be optimistic and open to move this year
by Greg Robb
Market Watch
Like a field judge in the Olympic track and field events, Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen may use her speech in Jackson Hole to start the race for a rate hike as soon as September.
Yellen will speak Friday from the Fed’s summer retreat at 10 a.m. Eastern. The subject of her remarks is “The Federal Reserve’s Monetary Policy Toolkit.”
“We see Jackson Hole as the ‘ready’ warning and look for Chair Yellen to err on looking at the optimistic side” of the outlook,” said Drew Matus, senior U.S. economist at UBS.
To be fair, Matus thinks the U.S. central bank won’t issue the “set” warning until its September meeting policy statement and then “go” at the December meeting.
Socialism: The World’s Greatest Generator of Poverty
by Allen Mendenhall
Mises.org
If you’re looking for a short introduction to socialism that rewards rereading, Thomas DiLorenzo’s The Problem With Socialism is it.
Perhaps your son or daughter has returned from college talking about collective control of the means of production and sporting Bernie Sanders t-shirts. Perhaps you’re a political novice looking for informed guidance.
Perhaps you’re frustrated with America’s economic decline and deplorable unemployment rates. Perhaps you listened with bewilderment as some pundit this election season distinguished democratic socialism from pure socialism in an attempt to justify the former.
Whoever you are, and whatever your occasion for curiosity, you’re likely to find insight and answers from DiLorenzo.
Weekend Reading: Valuation Challenged
by Lance Roberts
Real Investment Advice
As another week comes to a close, we continue to wrestle with a market that remains detached from underlying economic data and clings to recent levels of over overbought, overextended and low reward/risk outcomes. Of course, in the final stages of a bull market, this is what has historically been the case.
[…] As I stated last week:
“The problem for individual investors is the ‘trap’ that is currently being laid between the appearance of strong market dynamics against the backdrop of weak economic and market fundamentals. Ignoring the last two to chase the former has historically not worked out well.”
There was an excellent article by John Authers for the Financial Times on Friday to this very point:
The Upgrade Your Smartphone is Craving
by Gerald Celente
Daily Reckoning
The synergy of many advancing technologies, from artificial intelligence to 3-D or hologram viewing, is increasingly being controlled and managed from the palm of your hand.
Consider your phone’s camera…
It isn’t just for snapping memories of Aunt Martha’s birthday party or the kids at Six Flags any more.
Pros use smartphone cameras on assignment. Artists use them to create gallery works.
Market Talk – August 19, 2016
by Martin Armstrong
Armstrong Economics
The Nikkei did manage a positive close for the end of the week but finished down just over 2% on the week. The JPY continues to play around the par level until the stock markets decide their direction. Shanghai and Hang Seng closed mixed in thin summer trading in what can only be described as lethargic trade. With very little in the way of data to get excited about in either Europe or the US markets were content to drift into the weekend.
European morning was a follow-on to the lethargy seen in Asia and so it was not until an afternoon announcement by the UK did the market show any signs of life. Mid afternoon in Europe the media announced UK PM (Theresa May) wants to trigger Article 50 by next spring. GBP fell over 1% upon this announcement.
Election 2016 – Why Defeating Trump Won’t Make Trump Go Away
by Michael Krieger
Liberty Blitzkrieg
In the wake of Trump’s recent hiring of Breitbart’s Stephen Bannon to campaign CEO, a June article published in Vanity Fair is now receiving a lot of attention.
Here are a few excerpts from the article, Is Donald Trump’s Endgame the Launch of Trump News?
The breakout media star of 2016 is, inarguably, Donald Trump, who has masterfully—and horrifyingly—demonstrated an aptitude for manipulating the news cycle, gaining billions of dollars worth of free airtime, and dominating coverage on every screen. Now, several people around him are looking for a way to leverage his supporters into a new media platform and cable channel.
Trump is indeed considering creating his own media business, built on the audience that has supported him thus far in his bid to become the next president of the United States.
Gold Miners’ Q2’16 Fundamentals
by Adam Hamilton
Zeal LLC
The gold miners’ stocks have skyrocketed this year as investors started returning to this long-abandoned sector. Many have tripled, quadrupled, or even quintupled since mid-January alone! But are such epic gains fundamentally justified? Much insight into this crucial question for investors can be gleaned from the gold miners’ latest quarterly financial and operational results. Their Q2 reports just finished coming in.
Companies trading on the US stock markets are required by the Securities and Exchange Commission to file quarterly earnings reports four times a year. For normal quarters that don’t end fiscal years, these 10-Q reports are due 45 calendar days after quarter-ends. They are a great boon to financial-market transparency and investors seeking to understand companies, yielding a treasure trove of information.