The Powell-Put imploded this morning as The Fed Chair curb-stomped the ‘t’-word (transitory) and warned that “it is appropriate in my view to consider wrapping up the taper of our asset purchases, which we actually announced at the November meeting, perhaps a few months sooner. I expect we will discuss that at our upcoming meeting.” That […]

Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News, University of Oxford Professor Jim Naismith asserts that despite England dropping its mask mandate in July and Scotland keeping its rules in force, official data shows this “has made no meaningful difference” to infection rates. Naismith goes on to argue that new face mask mandates imposed in […]

Update (1130ET): In Germany, Chancellor-in-waiting Olaf Scholz said Tuesday that the Bundestag would vote on whether to back compulsory vaccinations. He blamed the unvaccinated, raising questions about whether the Germans truly see the omicron variant as a threat. If so, will these mandatory vaccinations apply to a new round of omicron-specific vaccines? Elsewhere in Berlin, […]

Chinese regulators announced a new set of guidelines to increase governance over the country’s ride-hailing industry. Stuck in the crosshairs were SoftBank-backed Didi and other Chinese tech companies, according to Bloomberg.   Beijing continues ratcheting up regulations on tech companies to reshape its digital economy. The latest is six regulatory agencies, including antitrust watchdog, transport ministry, and […]

Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times, A labor board official has ordered a revote for Amazon warehouse workers in Alabama regarding forming the company’s first unionized warehouse in the United States. The decision was issued Monday by a regional director of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) after an agency review found that Amazon improperly pressured warehouse staff […]

With so many contradictory comments hitting the wire, investors might be struggling to parse what omicron actually means for the global economy. Will the mutated virus cut through vaccine-induced immunity like butter leading to another global outbreak? Or is the latest variant scare merely a ruse for vaccine-makers to hawk more jabs, while governments from […]

Remember when clueless macrotourists  and worthless econo-hacks who have zero understanding of actual economic dynamics spent miles of digital ink convincing their tiny echochambers that they were right and that inflation was transitory (or rather, desperately scrambled to mask their utter lack of grasp of even the simplest concepts): Team transitory won btw. pic.twitter.com/7CEwdC11h7 — […]

Fed Chair Powell has been more hawkish than many expected during this morning’s hearings, specifically noting the non-transitory nature of inflation and the need to use his tools to address it. “At this point the economy is very strong and inflationary pressures are high and it is therefore appropriate in my view to consider wrapping […]

By Michael Every of Rabobank Brushing up our Greek alphabets After a ‘sell first, ask questions later’ Friday, markets regained some confidence on Monday. News that Omicron may lead to relatively mild symptoms may have helped the mood, though much about the new strain still remains unclear, including how infectious it is compared to other […]

Update (1130ET): Speaking during Tuesday’s CARES Act testimony before the Senate Banking Committee, Powell said he wouldn’t stand in the way of the Fed’s vice chair for supervision, saying he would generally allow the vice chair to pitch any actions to the entire Fed board, even if Powell doesn’t agree with the proposals. Whoever becomes […]

Authored by Victor Davis Hanson via AmGreatness.com, Both Wisconsin towns, Kenosha, and Waukesha, about 50 miles apart by car, were the recent sites of multiple deaths. The violence in both made national news. Yet in contradictory ways both reflected the common themes of America’s current legal, media, and societal corruption.   The relevant public prosecutors in […]

Russia announced on Saturday that it has begun full-scale production of its 6,670 MPH Zircon hypersonic missile which they claim can evade ‘all’ Western defense systems, according to state-sponsored TASS news agency. The Zircon (Tsirkon) hypersonic missile was successfully fired at a ground target on the coast of the Barents Sea on July 19, 2021 via […]

Authored by Charlotte Cuthbertson via The Epoch Times, Jeffrey Epstein molested her and she didn’t tell a soul for 17 years. Teresa Helm was 22, and she had already patched her life back together after being sexually abused by a close family member, starting at age 8. “I really suffered in silence,” Helm told The […]

China’s President Xi Jinping has just wrapped up a multi-day meeting with his top generals across major branches focused on military readiness. One key concern he articulated to the Central Military Commission was the recruitment of top talent toward the creation of a highly professional and skilled PLA military. No doubt military readiness related to Taiwan […]

Authored by Michael Shellenberger via Substack, Why progressives defend and finance open drug scenes… In my new book, San Fransicko, I describe why progressives create and defend what European researchers call “open drug scenes,” which are places in cities where drug dealers and buyers meet, and many addicts live in tents. Progressives call these scenes “homeless encampments,” and […]

It was almost exactly a year ago when just weeks before the first of many epic short squeezes observed in a handful of meme stocks such as GME, AMC and so on, which would eventually consume the retail public with a daytrading, short-squeezing frenzy, that we reminded our readers that the single best alpha-generating strategy […]

Submitted by Ronan Manly, BullionStar.com It has just come to light that Singapore’s central bank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), added 26.35 tonnes of gold to its official monetary gold reserves over a 2 month period between May and June this year, in the process boosting its strategic gold holdings by 20% to a […]

The United States is preparing to expel over two dozen more Russian diplomats by January, as part of  ongoing tit-for-tat punitive efforts which previously saw the Russian government forbit its citizens from serving as local staff for the US Embassy in Russia, greatly reducing its ability to process visas and other actions in a timely […]

Authored by Susan Crabtree via RealClearPolitics.com, Over the last year, school board meetings have become ground zero for the country’s culture wars as irate parents have showed up in droves to decry school COVID closures, mask mandates, and critical race theory, as well as transgender policies. After political analysts credited a parental uprising with helping […]

Last week WaPo cited multiple officials within the Biden administration who said President Biden would soon declare a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics. Before the White House could even announce a formal boycott for U.S. leaders – including Congressional members, Communist Party-backed Global Times said Monday that Beijing has no intentions to ask U.S. politicians […]

Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News, The media has responded to the recent spate of high profile football players suddenly collapsing with heart problems in the middle of games by concluding that it is just a “coincidence.” Yes, really. Over recent weeks and months, innumerable soccer stars, as well as other athletes, have […]

And just like that, it was gone… Nasdaq has roared back from its Omicron-triggered losses after President Biden said – despite some fearmongering over the need for vaccines (“cause for concern but not for panic”) for the “omNicron” variant (that he just could not say correctly) – “…US won’t need shutdowns, lockdowns this winter.” Biden […]

Update (1215ET): Asked by a reporter if the latest US travel restrictions on southern African countries might be premature, President Biden completely dodged the question, choosing instead to babble on about the US’s program for sharing (ie selling) jabs to other countries, including South Africa, which Biden said is actually having trouble finding willing arms […]

Having set off the latest global COVID panic, this time focusing on the omicron strain, which was hastily labeled a variant of concern by the WHO over the long holiday weekend in the US, South Africa’s top epidemiologists now find themselves in the awkward position of having to walk back all – or at least […]

Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com, Could the Fed trigger the next “financial crisis” as they begin to hike interest rates? Such is certainly a question worth asking as we look back at the Fed’s history of previous monetary actions. Such was a topic I discussed in “Investors Push Risk Bets.” To wit: “With the entirety of the […]

Goldman Sachs is out with a comprehensive look at four scenarios for the new Covid-19 ‘Omicron’ strain, which at present appears to be less severe, yet possibly more virulent than previous strains. On Friday, the World Health Organization declared Omicron as a ‘variant of concern’ after several confirmed cases in South Africa and elsewhere, causing […]

Via SchiffGold.com, Last Friday was Black Friday and it was a black and blue Friday for investors. Just about everything was down and markets panicked over a new COVID variant. Peter Schiff talked about the market reaction in his podcast. Did the markets overreact? And what would happen if we did go into another global […]

While Nasdaq continues to hold rebound gains, The Dow and Small Caps have erased all the weekend’s “Omicron’s not all that bad” gains since the US cash equity open… Interestingly, there is some building anxiety under the hood as VIX calls expiring on Dec. 22 are among the most active options contracts in early Monday […]

Update (1052ET): Dorsey has now unlocked his account and published a resignation later, ending a brief but notably news blackout on the platform about Dorsey, one of the company’s founders, leaving the top job for the second time. not sure anyone has heard but, I resigned from Twitter pic.twitter.com/G5tUkSSxkl — jack⚡️ (@jack) November 29, 2021 […]

Speaking on CNBC Monday morning following a holiday weekend in the US marked by rising hysteria over the new “Omicron” variant, Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel warned that any country that has received flights from southern Africa over the last two weeks very likely has already imported this new, highly infectious variant – even as others […]

Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News, Responding to Anthony Fauci again declaring that he represents science, Senators Ted Cruz and Rand Paul blasted the “hubris” of ” an unelected technocrat,” warning that he has “distorted science” in order to exert “authoritarian control.” Fauci appeared on CBS News’ Face The Nation, and declared that “Anybody who […]

After surprising to the downside in September, October’s pending home sales soared 7.5% MoM, for greater than the +1% expected (from a downwardly revised 2.4% MoM drop). However, despite the jump, sales are down on a YoY basis for the 5th straight month… Source: Bloomberg The pending home sale index is back near post-COVID highs… […]

As we head into December this week, there’s an incredibly eventful period ahead on the market calendar even outside of Omicron. As DB’s Jim Reid notes, we have payrolls on Friday which could still have a big impact on what the Fed do at their important December 15 FOMC and especially on whether they accelerate […]

While futures are sharply higher this morning – in line with Goldman’s reco not to panic and not to make portfolio changes – not everyone is as sanguine following the Friday puke, and this morning Mizuho’s head of Multi-Asset Strategy, Peter Chatwell, finds himself scratching his head, writing that he admits to “being somewhat surprised […]

By Michael Msika and Jan-Patrick Barnert, Bloomberg Markets Live commentators A lot of investors finally have what they wished for: a chance to buy the dip. The problem is uncertainty is much higher now. Friday’s selloff, fueled by the emergence of a new Covid-19 variant, brought a firm halt to the market’s exuberance of recent weeks. The […]

Oil prices had rebounded strongly overnight from the “panic” Omicron variant depths as the fearmongering from officials was beaten back by reality from science. WTI had held steady for a few hours until headlines hit as US-Iran nuclear talks resumed in Vienna. While there were already low expectations for progress, comments from the Iran Foreign […]

Authored by Bill Blain via MorningPorridge.com, “When all around are losing their heads..” The Omicron Variant dominates the headlines, but will likely prove a short-term market factor. No doubt a renewed round of panicked responses, lockdowns, travel bans and Christmas threats will occur, but markets should take these in their stride – the biggest risk […]

Is there another giant Epstein bomb about to drop? With the way social media blew up this weekend about the Ghislaine Maxwell trial coverage, one might think so. Over the last few days, messages on Facebook and Twitter have expressed disgust and skepticism about the fact that the Maxwell trial will not be livestreamed, similar […]

Authored by Jim Quinn via The Burning Platform blog, The Wall Was Too High, As You Can See Hey you, out there in the coldGetting lonely, getting oldCan you feel me?Hey you, standing in the aislesWith itchy feet and fading smilesCan you feel me?Hey you, don’t help them to bury the lightDon’t give in without […]

On Friday Australia’s Defense Minister Peter Dutton called out China for its disconnect between presenting itself as committed to peace versus the reality. “We’re all familiar with the frequent claims of the Chinese government that it is committed to peace, cooperation and development,” Dutton began in a speech in Canberra. “And yet we bear witness to […]

Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com, The US is refusing to engage with the Marshall Islands on compensation for environmental and health damage caused by the dozens of US nuclear weapons tests carried out in the 1940s and 50s, The Associated Press reported Thursday. The Marshall Islands are home to a major US military base and are […]

Canada’s top expert on indigenous health issues has been fired from her job and lost her professorship after suspicious colleagues revealed that her claims of Native American heritage were complete bullshit. Public health expert Carrie Bourassa, a total fraud, was the scientific director of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s Institute of Indigenous Peoples’ Health, […]

Authored by Michael Shellenberger via Substack, San Franciscans get what they voted for with Chesa Boudin… When Chesa Boudin ran for San Francisco district attorney in 2019, he said crime was caused by poverty, wealth inequality and inadequate government spending on social programs. He called prostitution, open drug use and drug dealing “victimless crimes” and […]

The criminal trial of former actor Jussie Smollett on charges that he staged a hate crime against himself is set to begin in Monday, after three years of delays into how the Chicago District Attorney handled the case. He has been charged with six counts of disorderly conduct for making false reports to the police. […]

Authored by Jonathan Turley, President Joe Biden and media figures are not the only persons who are “angry” after a jury acquitted Kyle Rittenhouse on all charges. Despite a jury with the same racial makeup convicting the defendants in Georgia in the Arbery case, many have denounced the entire legal system as racist. It does that matter that […]

Despite the best efforts by South African doctors to temper the panic sparked by the emergence of the Omicron strain, it appears that western politicians and their media and “science” lackeys won’t let go so fast, and one of the potential casualties is China, which will either be forced to engage in more lockdowns, depressing […]

While last week’s Black (or rather red) Friday’s illiquid market meltdown was one for the post-Thanksgiving ages, and the collapse for oil bulls was one of the worst daily drops in history, we expect much of the selloff to reverse in the coming hours as the narrative that (C)omicron is the second coming of the […]

Inflation never mattered much for crypto… until about a year ago. As UBS notes in its latest Crypto Keys note last week, forward-looking measures of US consumer prices today rank among the most prominent correlations for digital assets… …. something we first pointed out a month ago. Sensitivity to actual data prints is also mounting […]

Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Brownstone Institute, I’m a voracious reader of Covid books but nothing could have prepared me for Scott Atlas’s A Plague Upon Our House, a full and mind-blowing account of the famed scientist’s personal experience with the Covid era and a luridly detailed account of his time at the White House. […]

Graphic video surfaced this weekend of what appears to be a Tesla traveling at a high rate of speed on a highway in Dubai before smashing into a camel that had made its way onto the highway. The video, posted on Twitter by @anasalhajji with the caption “Tesla could not see the camel…”, is shot […]