by Dr. Paul Craig Roberts
PaulCraigRoberts.org

A Reuters news report under the names of presstitutes Robin Emmott and Sabine Siebold shows how devoid the West is of honest, intelligent and responsible journalists and government officials. http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-nato-summit-idUKKCN0ZN2NN. First we will examine the dishonesty or incompetence of the reporters and then that of Western government officials.

Emmott and Siebold describe NATO as a “Western defense alliance.” Since the Clinton regime NATO has been an alliance for waging offensive war, a war crime under the Nuremberg rules established by the United States. Under the NATO banner a number of countries have been bombed, invaded, and had their governments overthrown by Washington acting under the cover of NATO.

Continue Reading at PaulCraigRoberts.org…

from corbettreport

Alcoa unofficially kicks off earnings season after market close

by Anora Mahmudova and Sara Sjolin
Market Watch

The benchmark S&P 500 index climbed to an intraday record Monday as investors flocked to U.S. equities following a surprisingly strong jobs report last week.

The S&P 500 SPX, +0.49% most recently was trading 6 points, or 0.3%, higher at 2,136.22, surpassing the previous intraday record of 2,134.72 set on May 21, 2015 when the large-cap benchmark scored a record close at 2,130.82. The index traded as high as 2,139. 45 in early Monday trade. Gains were led by technology, energy and industrials stocks, while defensive sectors such as utilities, telecoms and consumer-staples were trading lower.

“It is amazing to see what very low interest rates globally could do for [equities]. Stocks are being driven to new highs in part because of search for yield and in part on anticipation that earnings will start improving this year,” said Eric Wiegand, senior portfolio manager at the Private Client Reserve, U.S. Bank.

Continue Reading at MarketWatch.com…

by Keith Weiner
David Stockman’s Contra Corner

Doubts About Debt

This was a shortened week, due to the American holiday of July 4, celebrating the start of the war that lead to “Amerexit”, 240 years ago.

[…] The prices of the metals were up this week, +$25 in gold and +$0.48 in silver. The gold to silver ratio dropped a fraction of a point, showing that the silver price gain was the greater. This is fairly typical in a market where the prices of the metals are rising (but not guaranteed!)

There is a sense of foreboding among contrarians and central bank skeptics that the other shoe has yet to fall following the “Brexit” referendum. Meanwhile, mainstream commentators are almost gloating that British stocks (to say nothing of US stocks) have recovered their losses since the vote was tallied.

Continue Reading at DavidStockmansContraCorner.com…

from Bill Still

by Jeff Thomas
International Man

It will be no surprise to readers to hear that collectivism is growing in the Western World. It matters little whether we refer to it as socialism, communism, Marxism, Fabianism, totalitarianism or any of its other names—the collectivist ideal is on the rise.

British Conservatives worry over the extreme collectivist speeches of the new Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, who is far more to the left than former leader Ed Miliband was, yet they often fail to notice that Tory leaders are also becoming more collectivist in their rhetoric. Certainly current Prime Minister David Cameron is further to the left than, say, Margaret Thatcher was, yet we Britons often fail to notice that both of the primary parties are moving further to the left.

Across the pond, in America, we witness a similar development.

Continue Reading at InternationalMan.com…

by Bill Bonner
Acting Man

Alphas and Epsilons

BALTIMORE – One of the delights of being an American is that it is so easy to feel superior to your fellow countrymen. All you have to do is stand up straight and smile. Or if you really need an ego boost, just go to a local supermarket. Better yet, go to a supermarket with a Trump poster in the parking lot.

[…] Trigger warning: In the following ramble, we make fun of democracy, Trump, obesity, cripples, baldness, and old people. There should be something here to offend just about everyone. But this is not to say you will find no redeeming social value here. We also explain why the masses are in revolt.

A recent visit to a supermarket left us feeling not just like a superior specimen of our sorry race, but wondering if the race itself might be doomed. Everyone we saw was decrepit… misshapen… or riding in an electric wheelchair.

Continue Reading at Acting-Man.com…

by Hubert Moolman
Silver Seek

In my previous silver article, I highlighted a very bullish pattern/fractal on the 100-year silver chart. It was a very big picture view of silver, which is really difficult to perceive within our current reality. However, at some point in time, it will catch up with our current reality. This will likely happen when the monetary system collapses.

Silver, even more than gold, is the opposite of what is considered a monetary asset (debt, like a federal reserve note), today. This is mainly because silver has been completely demonetized, whereas gold is still a part of the current system (think central banks gold reserves). When the illusion of money (value) is exposed for what it is (worthless paper or digits), then people will demand real money (value) like silver and gold.

Continue Reading at SilverSeek.com…

from Bill Still

Trump’s “dark horse” possible VP pick is pretty interesting

by Justin Raimondo
AntiWar

When I first heard that Gen. Michael Flynn, former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) under President Obama, was rumored to be on Donald Trump’s short list for the GOP vice presidential nomination, my ears pricked up. I wrote about Flynn here, and Antiwar.com has covered the controversy surrounding the 2012 DIA report that warned the Obama administration that its policy of regime change in Syria would lead to the rise of a Sunni Islamic “caliphate” in Syria – a warning that fell on deaf ears.

Flynn was forced out of his job as DIA director because, he says, his views “did not fit the narrative.” But what narrative is he talking about? In order to understand this intramural fight within the highest levels of the intelligence and military communities, we have to go back to the Bush administration, and the Iraq war.

Continue Reading at AntiWar.com…

from TRUTHstreammedia

by David Russell
GoldCore

Better than expected employment figures in the US causes gold to take a breather after gaining more than 28% since the beginning of the year.

Bloomberg takes a look at the current competing bullish and bearish forces affecting the outlook for precious metals.

Metal markets are caught between global gloom and renewed U.S. optimism.

A six-week surge by gold, the quintessential haven investment, stalled on Friday as better-than-expected U.S. jobs data blunted global economic concern that has boosted safe-haven demand. Copper, often used as a barometer for the global economy, gained as much as 0.9 percent after the labor report.

Continue Reading at GoldGore.com…

by Ronan Manly
Bullion Star

One of the most notable developments accompanying the gold price rally of 2016 has been the very large additions to the gold bar holdings of the major physically backed gold Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). This is especially true of the SPDR Gold Trust (ticker GLD).

The gold bar holdings of the SPDR Gold Trust peaked at 1353 tonnes on 7 December 2012 before experiencing a precipitous fall in 2013, and additional and continued shrinkage throughout 2014 and 2015. On 17 December 2015, the gold holdings of the SPDR Gold Trust hit a multi-year low of 630 tonnes, a holdings level that had not been seen since September 2008.

Continue Reading at BullionStar.com…

from Learn Liberty

by Greg Guenthner
Daily Reckoning

If you blink you might miss it…

As investors pressed their bearish bets post-Brexit, the world abruptly stopped falling apart.

Stocks halted their skid and turned higher this month. After all the handwringing, the S&P 500 is within spitting distance of its all-time highs. Even the Dow Jones Industrial Average is less than 170 points from smashing through to uncharted territory.

Unless the market encounters a catastrophic failure, we can expect to see the major averages post new highs this week.

That might come as a shock to you.

Continue Reading at DailyReckoning.com…

by Chuck Butler
Daily Pfennig

Good Day… And a Marvelous Monday to you! It’s July 11th… or 7/11… Which when I heard that date on the radio this morning, all I could think of was whether I wanted a Big Gulp or a Little Gulp… HA! After the previous weekend being a complete rain washout, this past weekend was a complete sun washout! YAHOO! And now we’re just 10 days away from my summer vacation! A double YAHOO! Nazareth greets me this morning with their song: Hair of the Dog… 70’s rock personified! An infusion shortened week for me, so I’ve got that going for me this week!

As I was signing off on Friday, I gave you the headline number for jobs created by the BLS, I mean the U.S. economy In June of 287,000… Now that number sure blows the doors off doesn’t it?

Continue Reading at DailyPfennig.com…

from FutureMoneyTrends

by Dr. Paul Craig Roberts
PaulCraigRoberts.org

In response to my request for information on US police training (http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2016/07/08/why-dallas-happened-paul-craig-roberts/), readers have sent in a variety of information that seems to fit together. I am going to assemble it as best I can as a working hypothesis or provisional account. Perhaps a former or current police officer concerned about the change in the behavior of US police, or an expert on police training and practices, will come forward and verify or correct this provisional account.

First, we know that the police have been, or are being, militarized. They are armed with weapons of war that hitherto have been used only on battlefields. We don’t know why police are armed in this way, as such weapons are not necessary for policing the American public and are not used in police work anywhere except in Israeli-occupied Palestine.

Continue Reading at PaulCraigRoberts.org…

Business leaders need to be reassured so they’ll invest in the future

by Tim Mullaney
Market Watch

Now that the jobs number is in, this is what we know: It’s time for the Federal Reserve to de-wussify itself.

The economy added 287,000 jobs in June, with the unemployment rate at a pretty-much-full-employment 4.9%, laying to rest the fiction sowed by May’s jobs report that the U.S. economy is stalling. In fact, recent data on housing, auto sales, personal incomes and employment has been nearly uniformly positive, if sometimes weakly so.

“Faltering labor market, what faltering labor market?” said Naroff Economic Advisers’ Joel Naroff. “As it is said about the weather, so it should be said about some of the economic data: If you don’t like it, wait a minute (or a month). “

Continue Reading at MarketWatch.com…

Gerald Celente – Panic of 2016 at the Doorstep

by Greg Hunter
USA Watchdog

Trends researcher Gerald Celente says Hillary Clinton not being charged by the FBI for having a private unprotected email server is just a small part of an ongoing major trend. Celente explains, “It’s bigger than Clinton. It’s a trend, and anybody can see it if they open their minds and add up the facts. What we have now is a neo-feudal society. It’s all connected. It’s, as we call it, ‘global-nomic.’ Since Obama became President, and these are the facts, 95% of the wealth since 2009 has gone to the 1%. Now, let’s take a trip around the world. 62 people have more dough than half of the world’s population combined. In the United States, 400 people are worth $2.5 trillion. What I am saying is the word ‘justice’ is being misspelled. It’s J U S T U S—Just Us. . . . You have separate laws for the political nobility and the economic elite.”

Celente goes on to say, “Let’s go back to Obama. He’s the greatest liar and traitor that America has ever known. George Bush was a war criminal for lying us into wars. Just to make it clear, I am not pro or anti Democrat or Republican. I am a political atheist. I don’t like the Bloods and Crypts, murderers and thieves. Back to Obama, the liar and chief and his campaign in 2008, he promised to bring those Wall Street criminals to justice. Six banks were convicted of felonies, not charged, convicted, did you see any heads roll? NO.”

Continue Reading at USAWatchdog.com…

by Charles Hugh Smith
Of Two Minds

These trends cannot be reversed with yet another rate cut or another “whatever it takes” announcement.

In the conventional investment perspective, risk-on assets (i.e. investments with higher risks and higher potential returns) such as stocks are on a see-saw with risk-off assets (investments with lower returns and lower risk, such as Treasury bonds). When risk appetites are high, institutional managers and speculators move money into stocks and high-yield junk bonds, and move money out of safe-haven assets such as gold and U.S. Treasuries.

But recently, markets are no longer following this convention. Safe haven assets such as precious metals and Treasuries are soaring at the same time that stock markets bounced strongly off the post-Brexit lows.

Risk-on assets (stocks) rising at the same time as safe-haven assets is akin to dogs marrying cats and living happily ever after.

Continue Reading at OfTwoMinds.com…

Swiss wealth managers are among those quietly buying equities, betting on global stimulus

by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Telegraph.co.uk

Elite funds and banks are quietly amassing global equities and emerging market assets, betting that precautionary stimulus around the world will overwhelm any local damage in Britain and drive one last leg of this ageing financial cycle.

It is a risky strategy at a time when the world economy is so precariously balanced, with almost $12 trillion (£9.26 trillion) of debt trading at negative yields and the international system disturbingly out of kilter.

The hypothesis is that the authorities have overreacted from an inchoate fear of contagion from Brexit, without knowing quite what the risk is.

Continue Reading at Telegraph.co.uk…

by Dan Norcini
Trader Dan

This one will be brief…

Let’s stat with the overall NET POSITIONS chart:

[…] As you can see the Battle Royale between the titans of the Silver pit, aka, the Hedge funds versus the Swap Dealers ( and Commercials) continues unabated.

Once again another new all-time record high for the hedge funds against a new all-time record high for the Swap Dealers in their Net Short positions. Commercials remain well off their peak net short position scored some seven years ago.

Continue Reading at TraderDan.com…

from TheDollarVigilante

by Martin Armstrong
Armstrong Economics

The Political End is Very Near & Markets Know It

Australia Creates Domestic Violence Tax

Continue Reading at ArmstrongEconomics.com…

by Daily Bell Staff
The Daily Bell

Italy’s Matteo Renzi buffeted on all fronts … Matteo Renzi is facing months of domestic challenges, including a referendum that could bring him down Matteo Renzi’s nickname is Il Rottamatore – the Demolition Man. Italy’s prime minister wears the name proudly, advertising his desire to tear through the mouldering institutions of the Italian state. But this year, his main target for demolition may, by accident, be himself. – BBC

The BBC is portraying Matteo Renzi as being “buffeted” but it is George Soros who is doing a lot of the buffeting.

Behind the scenes he is affiliated with the “Five Star Movement” that is now Italy’s most popular party, according to opinion polls.

The movement, founded in 2009 by comedian Beppe Grillo, has won support for its anti-establishment, populist views. Its critics accuse it of being an ad hoc protest movement which has yet to present a coherent plan for government.

Continue Reading at TheDailyBell.com…

from CrushTheStreet

by John Rubino
Dollar Collapse

Our good friend Michael Pollaro just sent a chart from the St. Louis Fed that shows the US drifting back into yet another banking crisis.

[…] The green line tracks fluctuations in the US yield curve, defined as the difference in yield between 10-year and 2-year Treasuries. When the yield curve is steeply positive, banks are able to borrow short at low rates and lend long at higher rates, earning a nice return and in the process driving economic growth. When the yield curve flattens the opposite occurs, with banks unable to make money and becoming reluctant to lend. So a flattening yield curve implies a slowing economy. Note the similarity between the past few years’ spread contraction and the one that began in 2004 and culminated in the Great Recession.

Now check out the red and blue lines representing different measures of credit quality. The lower they are, the fewer loans are in various categories of “non-performance,” and vice versa. What’s happening now is similar to the spike in bad loans that started in 2005.

Continue Reading at DollarCollapse.com…

by Monty Pelerin
Monty Pelerin’s World

Some readers may remember the phrase –“Trading to Armageddon.” Trading to Armageddon described a simple momentum-based ETF selection strategy focused on short-term performance in dangerous markets. The system was profitable and generally outperformed the S&P 500. It was two years ago. Then it was judged the returns were not commensurate with the risks associated with a possible market crash.

It was stated at the time:

I am increasingly uncomfortable providing a service which, at least for the time being, no longer provides value for subscribers. Therefore, I am discontinuing the Preferred Membership.

Continue Reading at EconomicNoise.com…

from Marc Faber Blog