Quite the ugly start to 2016 – which, when all is said and done, may well
yield the most tumultuous, and dangerous, political, economic, and social
developments of our lifetimes. Sure, the PPT “dead ringer’d” and “hail
mary’d” yesterday’s Dow losses to a mere 276 points. And yes, gold’s
gains were held to just 1% – having been stopped at exactly the 10:00
AM “key attack time #1; by a patented “Cartel Herald” algorithm; at exactly
the Cartel’s “ultimate upside limit of 2.0%.” And of course,
silver’s early 2%+ gains were erased by the same prototypical algorithm – at
the exact same time. However, stocks the world round were decimated –
by 7% in China, 4% in Germany, and 2%+ nearly everywhere else, representing
the worst year-opening trading day in 84 years. Moreover, oil’s initial
knee-jerk jump to exploding Middle Eastern tensions unceremoniously reversed;
whilst commodity prices – led by non-monetary base metals like copper
and aluminum – were bombed; Treasury yields – “rate hike” and all – plunged;
junk bond yields surged; and, per the topic of today’s article, global fiat
toilet paper currencies imploded – in many cases, to new all-time lows.
Regarding the former, oil is back down to $36.60/bbl, at nearly 2008’s
spike bottom low, with nothing but massive supply swamping – atop crashing
demand – as far as the eye can see. Base metals plunged 1.5%-3.5%,
whilst gold rose 1% and silver was unchanged. The 10-year yield, at
2.23% as I write Tuesday morning, is barely above the year ago level of
2.17%, “recovery” notwithstanding – whilst the HYG junk bond ETF is on the
verge of re-breaching the key 80 level. And as for yesterday’s economic
data, government fudging notwithstanding, it simply doesn’t get worse.
Actually, I take that back – as it’s about to get so bad, people will long
for the “good old days” of 2008! To wit, yesterday’s December PMI
Manufacturing index fell from 52.8 to 51.2, whilst the ISM Manufacturing
index plunged from 48.6 to 48.2. And for the coup de grace, not
only was November construction spending negative0.4% – versus the expectation
of positive 0.7% – but October’s initially reported 1.0% gain was
revised to just 0.3%. Which, cumulatively, caused the Atlanta Fed’s
“GDP now” tracking program to reduce its estimate of fourth quarter GDP
“growth” from 1.3% to just 0.7%. And this, with most of the December
data yet to be reported, amidst a massive 13% CRB commodity index plunge and
a horrific holiday spending season.
In other words, it’s quite possible that, “double seasonal adjusting” and
all, fourth quarter GDP growth turns out to be negative – i.e., recessionary
– just as the moronic Fed, or as I facetiously deemed them last month, the
“world’s smartest people,” deemed it wise to raise rates. Let alone,
amidst an exploding, earnings-destroying dollar index – whilst all other
Central banks are aggressively easing. Putting the “icing on the cake,”
the career bureaucrat – and from watching him on CNBC yesterday morning,
terrible actor – John Williams of the San Francisco Fed actually had the gall
to claim the “U.S. economy is in great shape,” and “four to five rate hikes
in 2016 sounds about right.” I mean, just how egregiously, and
blatantly, can one lie, before the entire world knows it!
Of course, all this carnage was, for all intents and purposes, a mere sideshow
compared to yesterday’s “main event” of crashing global currencies;
ironically, excluding only the Japanese Yen – i.e., the currency the PPT has
for years, arbitrarily utilized as a “tool” to manipulate stocks
higher. In other words, their algorithms have for some reason been set
to push U.S. and European stocks higher whenever the Yen weakens.
Which, as you can imagine, has been a sure bet for three years, given Abenomics’
world-leading currency debauchery efforts. Which, having miserably
failed, clearly “needs” to be increased further – as Japan is now back in
recession, with nothing but trillions of additional debt, and a 50% weaker
currency to show for it. Which, it most certainly will be.
Likely, in short order, as there’s NO WAY the leaders of the “final
currency war” will allow themselves to “lose,” no matter how much Japan is
destroyed in the process!
Notwithstanding the Yen’s rise, essentially all other currencies plunged
– as they are again this morning, as the “final currency war” is clearly
going thermonuclear before our eyes. That, and the
uncontrollable collapse of dozens of “commodity currencies” the world round,
like the Australian and Canadian dollars; to BRICS currencies like the Real,
Rand, Rupee, and Ruble. And of course, the “granddaddy of them all,”
the Chinese Yuan, which continues to be “fixed” lower each day – amidst the
inevitable, 20%+ devaluation process I last August deemed, mere hours before
it commenced, the “upcoming,
cataclysmic, financial big bang to end all big bangs.” Which, just
one month later, I followed up with “only
one financial event could be as cataclysmic as a significant Yuan devaluation”
– i.e., the suicidal Fed “rate hike” that, too, transpired. In other
words, a perfect storm of commodity and currency destroying events, with
globally horrifying political, economic, and social ramifications for years
to come. In turn, yielding an unprecedented explosion of physical gold
and silver demand. And this, on a day when we learned that U.S. Mint
Silver Eagle demand ended 2015 at a record level (whilst Gold Eagle demand
rose 80%), whilst a whopping 10% of the entire COMEX’s registered silver
inventory was withdrawn. But don’t worry, there’s nothing to see here!
Of course, it wasn’t just the movements of yesterday’s “crashing
currency cornucopia,” but the stories behind them that depicted just
how ugly things are getting. From Angola being the third nation in
three weeks to have its currency devalued overnight – in this case, by 15%;
to derivative “bets” on the Saudi Arabian Riyal “de-pegging” from the dollar
(in and of itself, a potentially cataclysmic event) hitting an
all-time high; to the Swedish Central bank holding an emergency policy
meeting – after which, it essentially vowed to peg the Krona to the
collapsing Euro, exactly one year after the far more powerful Swiss National
bank catastrophically failed trying the exact same currency-debauching
tactic! I mean, wasn’t it Albert Einstein that said the definition of
insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different
results?
A fitting end to this article, as insane is the only adjective that
can properly describe what Central banks, together with their “partners” in
government and the corporate world, have wrought since the gold standard was
abandoned 45 years ago – particularly since said Ponzi scheme peaked in
2000, and broke in 2008. Of which, yesterday’s “crashing
currency cornucopia” – and surging “real money realization” – were just
“jacks for starters.” Regarding which, we can only ask, as passionately
as possible, how you are “storing” your life’s savings, and if you are
prepared for the inevitable result of “Economic Mother Nature’s” unbridled
wrath?
