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Europe faces threat of full-fledged depression - (www.marketwatch.com) “Depression” isn’t the word usually used to describe the euro-zone
economy, but it may become increasingly appropriate as hopes for a recovery
give way to fears of an extended and destructive downturn that policy makers
seem unable to halt. “Unemployment is at a record high, credit is going down,
banks are failing…what do you call an economy like that?” said Carl Weinberg,
chief economist at Valhalla, N.Y.-based High Frequency Economics and an
unabashed user of the ”D-word” to describe Europe’s economic situation. There
is no uniformly accepted definition of a depression, but economists generally
agree that depressions last two or more years and are accompanied by a big jump
in unemployment, falling credit, and a massive slump in economic output. That’s
certainly been the case for parts if not all of Europe. The Greek unemployment
rate hit a once unfathomable 27.2% in January. In Spain, 26% of workers are
jobless. Across the euro area as a whole, more than 19 million people are out
of work while the unemployment rate stands at a record 12%.
The Market Is
Flashing Signs Of 'Deep Instability' - (www.businessinsider.com)
The big market
story this morning is the selloff in Germany, which
happened in a flash, and without an obvious explanation. Sebastien Galy of
SocGen sees this as a sign of rising jitters and instability. It took only some
speculation of a German downgrade to send the DAX plunging sharply lower, before
it partially recovered. The sensitivity of different markets to negative
surprises seems to have risen sharply recently, particularly in Europe and the
broad EM spectrum. It suggests that the period of consolidation is continuing.
Until now, sharp corrections were met by sharp recoveries as they were in 2006
and 2007 typical of liquidity fuelled rallies. This is the second period of
deep instability this year, the last one was end of February (“instability
cubed”).
Gold Wipes $560 Billion From Central Banks - (www.bloomberg.com) Investors are dumping gold funds at the fastest pace in two years in
favor of equities, compounding a slump that has wiped $560 billion from the
value of central bank reserves. Exchange-traded products linked to gold dropped
$37.2 billion in 2013 as the metal reached a two-year low yesterday. Gold funds
suffered net outflows of $11.2 billion this year through April 10, the most
since 2011, while global and U.S. equity funds had net inflows of $21.25
billion, according to Cambridge, Massachusetts-based EPFR Global. Central banks
are among the biggest losers because they own 31,694.8 metric tons, or 19
percent of all the gold mined, according to the World Gold Council in London.
After rallying for 12 straight years, the metal has tumbled 28 percent from its
September 2011 record of $1,923.70 an ounce. Growing economies and corporate
profits, along with slowing inflation, boosted global equities by
$2.28 trillion this year at the expense of the traditional store of value,
according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Jim Rogers: The One Lie That Will Bring Down America - (www.moneymorning.com) Despite the current stock market rally, legendary investor Jim Rogers
say the U.S economy is poised for a major crash and is warning investors to
protect themselves immediately. In a riveting interview on Fox Business,
Rogers warned Americans not to trust any of the positive economic news coming
from world governments. "I don't trust the data from any government,
including the U.S., Rogers said. "We know that governments lie to us.
Everybody's printing money, but it cannot go on. This is all artificial." Rogers,
who for years has been an outspoken critic of the Feds policies of
"Quantitative Easing" says all the money printing is creating false
hope that we are in the middle of some kind of super bull market. But in reality,
he says, "we're living in a fool's paradise." "The Bank of Japan
says it's going to print unlimited amounts of money... Then Mr. Bernanke said
I'll match that... I'll print that money too. The Europeans are catching on.
You've got money printing going on everywhere and that has never been good for
anybody," Rogers said. Currently, Bernanke and company at the U.S. Fed is
buying $1 trillion of Treasury and housing agency bonds each year. That's about
$85 billion per month against a budget deficit that is about the same level. The
real risk right now is an all-out 1930s-style currency war that could devastate
an entire class of investors who have put their faith in the current economic
dogma of endless bailouts and money printing
Oregon
Woman Wins 3-Year Fight Against Wells Fargo Foreclosure (gma.yahoo.com) A woman in Tualatin, Ore., is breathing a sigh of relief after a
three-year battle to prove Wells Fargo had wrongfully moved to foreclose on her
home, saying she had missed mortgage payments. A judge ruled Wednesday that
Wells Fargo failed to prove she was actually behind in her payments, which
Delores Dingman, 80, attributes to the bank's simple "accounting
errors." "I just praise God for it all because I kept praying so many
times about this, because I knew I had made the payments, but their accounting
errors made it hard," she said. The judge heard six hours of testimony and
then ruled to cancel the judicial foreclosure. Dingman and her late husband
moved into their four-bedroom home in 1967, 46 years ago. After her husband,
Leland, died in March 2008, Dingman took out a new mortgage with Wachovia while
she paid off his medical bills, never missing a payment. Court records show she
promised to pay $308,000 plus interest June 16, 2008. The next year, after Wells
Fargo's acquisition of Wachovia was completed in Jan. 2009, Dingman began
receiving foreclosure notices. She believes the bank did not correctly process
her payment since around October 2009.
Lurching Gold ETF Veers From Metal by Most in Year Amid Selloff
- (www.bloomberg.com)
Riksbank Delays Rate Rise Until Late 2014 Amid Krona Surge - (www.bloomberg.com)
Riksbank Delays Rate Rise Until Late 2014 Amid Krona Surge - (www.bloomberg.com)
WTI Crude Trades Near Four-Month Low Before Supply Data - (www.bloomberg.com)
Emerging Stocks Fall, Erasing Gains as Poland, Russia Decline - (www.bloomberg.com)
Emerging Stocks Fall, Erasing Gains as Poland, Russia Decline - (www.bloomberg.com)
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