Tuesday September 20 20916 Housing and Economic stories

TOP STORIES:

Jim Chanos Calls Merged Tesla-SolarCity a ‘Walking Insolvency’ - (www.bloomberg.com) Short-seller Jim Chanos said an announced $2.6 billion merger with SolarCity Corp. will make Tesla Motors Inc. a "walking insolvency." “The synergies are questionable at best," Chanos, who founded hedge fund firm Kynikos Associates, said at the CNBC Institutional Investor Delivering Alpha Conference on Tuesday in New York. He estimated that the combined company, which will depend on access to the capital market, could have a cash burn of roughly $1 billion per quarter.

U.S. Files WTO Trade Case Against Chinese Agricultural Subsidies - (www.bloomberg.com) The U.S. brought a trade complaint to the World Trade Organization alleging China is offering excessive support for the production of corn, rice and wheat, in the process denying American farmers the ability to compete fairly for exports. The value of China’s price support for the commodities last year was an estimated $100 billion more than what it had committed to when the nation joined the WTO, the U.S. Trade Representative which launched the action, said Tuesday in a statement. China’s Ministry of Commerce responded by expressing regret at the U.S. action, saying on its website that it complied with WTO rules and would handle the complaint in accordance with established procedures.

Self-Driving Vehicle Revolution to Wipe Out 4 Million Jobs - (www.wolfstreet.com) Tesla made headlines the other day with the first traffic fatality caused by its “Autopilot” system, which had failed to “see” a big tractor-trailer rig that had pulled right in front of the car. But humans fail to see things too, and gruesome accidents are happening with humans behind the wheel. Last year, 38,300 people were killed in traffic accidents in the US, up 8% from 2014, and 4.4 million were insured enough to require medical attention. Other manufacturers all have similar or better systems than Tesla’s beta version, but they’re more conservative in their hype and what they allow drivers to do. On Tuesday, Ford, touting its plans for self-driving taxis and other autonomous-vehicle services, took reporters on a spin through the neighborhood in its self-driving cars. It will roll out its services in big cities first, such as New York and Detroit, and will initially limit the service to cities.

o    Venezuela's "Death Spiral" - A Dozen Eggs Cost $150 As Hyperinflation Horrors Hit Socialist Utopia - (www.zerohedge.com) A dozen eggs was last reported to cost $150, and the International Monetary Fund "predicts that inflation in Venezuela will hit 720% this year. For many Venezuelans, by every economic, social and political measure, their nation is unravelling at breakneck speed. Severe shortages of food, clean water, electricity, medicines and hospital supplies punctuate a dire scenario of crime-ridden streets in the impoverished neighborhoods of this nearly failed OPEC state, which at one time claimed to be the most prosperous nation in Latin America. Today, a once comfortable middle-class Venezuelan father is scrambling desperately to find his family's next meal -- sometimes hunting through garbage for salvageable food. The unfortunate 75% majority of Venezuelans already suffering extreme poverty are reportedly verging on starvation. Darkness is falling on Hugo Chavez's once-famous "Bolivarian revolution" that some policy experts, only a short time ago, thought would never end.

There’s a $300 Billion Exodus From Money Markets Ahead - (www.bloomberg.com) With a seismic overhaul of the $2.6 trillion money-market industry weeks away from kicking in, money managers are bracing for a last-minute exodus of as much as $300 billion from funds in regulators’ cross hairs. Prime funds, which seek higher yields by buying securities like commercial paper, are at the center of the upheaval. Their assets have already plunged by almost $700 billion since the start of 2015, to $789 billion, Investment Company Institute data show. The outflow has rippled across financial markets, shattering demand for banks’ and other companies’ short-term debt and raising their funding costs.

OTHER STORIES:

Duterte Turns Back On US, Orders Philippines To Buy Weapons From Russia And China - (www.zerohedge.com)

U.S. Stocks, Bonds Sell Off as Market Turmoil Resumes; Oil Drops - (www.bloomberg.com)
Traders Bemoaning Lack of Shock, Awe in Markets Finally Get Some - (www.bloomberg.com)
Bond Market Selloff Deepens as Money Managers Pile Into Cash - (www.bloomberg.com)

Elliott Management founder Singer: Low rates, radical monetary policy have not led to sustainable growth - (www.cnbc.com)
Elliott’s Singer Says Sell Long-Term Bonds, Sees Inflation Risk - (www.bloomberg.com)
Traders watching to see if that's the air beginning to leak from bond bubble - (www.cnbc.com)
U.S. government posts $107 billion deficit in August - (www.reuters.com)
America’s Inequality Problem: Real Income Gains Are Brief and Hard to Find - (www.nytimes.com)