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When $1.2 Trillion In Foreign Bank Funds In The US Dissipate

It fits the pattern of gratuitous bank enrichment perfectly. This time, the big beneficiaries of the Fed are foreign banks. An unintended consequence, with big impact on the “recovery.”

US on Self-Imposed Sidelines in South China Sea Standoff

Vietnam and China are in a red-hot standoff in the South China Sea over China’s oil rig in Vietnam’s 200-mile exclusive economic zone. But inaction in Congress has boxed the US into a corner.

Explosive Hidden Leverage Threatens To Blow Up the Markets

We don’t know what hedge fund manager Steven Cohen will do with the money he borrowed from Goldman Sachs. We don’t even know how much it is, though it’s a lot; the personal loan is backed by his $1 billion art collection. But we know how he’ll use it: cheap leverage.

Brazil’s Troubled Petrobras Becomes Hot Political Potato

Petrobras is the world’s most indebted and least profitable oil major. It has $114.3 billion in debt. Production stagnates. Its shares have lost half their value since 2010. It’s embroiled in scandals. And President Dilma Rousseff is on the hook.

Banks And Hedge Funds Make Curious Deal On New Structured Toxic-Waste Securities

New regulations force banks to get rid of CLOs. They’re similar to subprime-mortgage-backed CDOs that blew up in 2008. But CLOs are backed by junk corporate loans, including malodorous “leveraged loans.” And they’re booming again. So the banks made a deal.

Biggest Credit Bubble in History Cracks, Trips Up The Smart Money

For years, nothing could slow the tsunami of junk debt. But suddenly, something happened, and investors in leveraged-loan mutual funds, where the crappiest junk debt accumulates, ran scared and started pulling their money out. Consequences were immediate.

Beijing’s Efforts To Slow Credit Bubble Will End in Catastrophic Fail

In 2000, China had $1 trillion of credit market debt outstanding – a figure which has now soared to $25 trillion. No economic system can remain stable and sustainable after undergoing a 25X debt expansion in only 14 years.

Mutiny of the Lab Rats: Europeans Grow Weary of EU Experiment

By Don Quijones: Europeans are pushing back against the EU Super State. Tired of being treated as lab rats in a dysfunctional economic and political experiment, a large minority will vote for euroskeptic parties in the nearing European elections.

The Last Two Times This Happened, The Stock Market Crashed

It happened in 2000 and in 2007. With spectacular consequences. Now, it happened again. And hidden beneath the blue-chip highs, parts of the market are already crashing.