Implode-Explode Heavy Industries news feed

U.S. homeownership at 18-year low in second quarter

Wed, 30 Jul 2014 14:06:16 GMT

``Homeownership in the United States fell again in the second quarter to the lowest level since the third quarter of 1995, suggesting many Americans are becoming renters. The seasonally adjusted homeownership rate fell to a seasonally adjusted 64.8% from 65.0% in the first quarter, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.''

WSJ Reporter, in New Book: "The Entire United States Market Has Become One Vast Dark Pool"

Wed, 30 Jul 2014 14:04:58 GMT

`` I argue in this book that the entire United States stock market has become one vast dark pool. Orders are hidden in every part of the market. And the complex algorithm AI-based trading systems that control the ebb and flow of the market are cloaked in secrecy. Investors -- and our esteemed regulators -- are entirely in the dark because the market is dark." ''

Axel Merk: Fed Won't Be Able To Yank Real Interest Rates Above Zero; Gold Will Benefit

Wed, 30 Jul 2014 14:03:21 GMT

``To make a long story short, yes, nominal rates may be rising. But don't count on real rates moving up, let alone into positive territory, anytime soon. Indeed, I fear inflation may be picking up much faster than interest rates. In that environment, Draghi's predictions of rates becoming more negative over time will very much apply to the greenback as well. ''

More than a third of U.S. adults pursued by collection agencies

Wed, 30 Jul 2014 14:00:28 GMT

``More than a third of U.S. adults have bad debt that has been handed over to a collection agency and their average debt in collections is $5,178, according to a study published on Tuesday by the Urban Institute.''

JPMorgan Paying $650K to Settle CFTC Charges

Wed, 30 Jul 2014 13:54:27 GMT

``JPMorgan Chase will pay $650,000 to settle charges by federal regulators that it filed inaccurate reports on the trading positions of some of its large customers.''

How Argentina's Default May Trigger $29 Billion in Claims

Wed, 30 Jul 2014 13:53:42 GMT

``By defaulting tomorrow, Argentina may trigger bondholder claims of as much as $29 billion -- equal to all its foreign-currency reserves. If the overdue interest on Argentina's dollar-denominated securities due 2033 isn't paid by July 30, provisions in bond indentures known as cross-default clauses would allow the nation's other debt holders to also demand their money back immediately.''

Hong Kong Likely To Have To Abandon Dollar Peg Soon

Wed, 30 Jul 2014 04:29:56 GMT

``Theoretically, Hong Kong's currency should be much stronger than the peg allows. But its purchasing power is being artificially supressed.''

Currency Wars Intensify As Russia Accelerates Gold Acquisitions

Wed, 30 Jul 2014 04:28:41 GMT

``Russia continues to aggressively accumulate gold reserves. Its gold holdings increased again in June as the crisis in the Ukraine and relations with the West deteriorated.''

Gold-for-Bitcoin Trading, Gold-Backed Bitcoins, Explode on the Scene

Tue, 29 Jul 2014 20:48:06 GMT

This topic comes in the form of a pair of articles. The first is Gold for bitcoin new fad as e-currency count nears 500-mark

``According to bitcoin traders, the stabilisation in bitcoin rates is making the case stronger for exchanging them for gold that currently trades at less than USD 1,300 per ounce or about Rs 28,000 per 10 grams in India... Some firms and traders have begun aggressively selling bitcoins in exchange of gold, while new websites and portals are cropping up almost every day to cash in on this new frenzy, according to industry players. ''

The second is Gold Bugs Meet Bitcoin Believers to Supplant the Dollar:

``"A staunch person who believes in the gold standard says bitcoin is valueless and ultimately a Ponzi scheme, and people who didn't dig gold but really got bitcoin would say that this is ridiculous, it's just a dumb metal," Anthem Hayek Blanchard, chief executive officer of Anthem Vault Inc., the company behind the Independence Coin, said in an interview. "We don't need to fight. We can coalesce."

Bullard: Fed could hike interest rates next spring

Tue, 29 Jul 2014 17:45:54 GMT

``The Federal Reserve Bank is close to its goals of stable prices and maximum employment, and the country's central bank may look at increasing short-term interest rates in a "sooner rather than later" time frame, according to James B. Bullard , president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.'' -- Likely jawboning; they will back away/distance themselves from this come spring, almost for sure. Until then, this will serve nicely to keep commodities and precious metals a bit more muted.

Former US Mint Director: Audits of US Gold Since 1953 Have Been Of The "Peek Through The Vault Door" Variety

Tue, 29 Jul 2014 17:39:15 GMT

Apparently, assays (say, to check for tungsten-replaced gold) -- even random ones of some small percentage of the bars -- have not been performed since 1953. And of course, even performing such an assay would not prove that the gold has not been rehypothecate, on some second set of books....

"London Fix" Gold Rigging By Bullion Bank Exposed In Class Action Lawsuit: The Complete Charts

Tue, 29 Jul 2014 17:24:27 GMT

``If the five previous examples of anomalous volatility around the London Fix mere statistical outliers and not evidence of manipulation, then it would be expected that this volatility would disappear when looking at an average of all the trading days during the class period. To the contrary, the price manipulation actually becomes clearer when viewed over the past fifteen years''

The Typical Household, Now Worth a Third Less

Tue, 29 Jul 2014 14:01:41 GMT

The inflation-adjusted net worth for the typical household was $87,992 in 2003. Ten years later, it was only $56,335, or a 36 percent decline, according to a study financed by the Russell Sage Foundation. Those are the figures for a household at the median point in the wealth distribution -- the level at which there are an equal number of households whose worth is higher and lower. But during the same period, the net worth of wealthy households increased substantially.
...
"The housing bubble basically hid a trend of declining financial wealth at the median that began in 2001," said Fabian T. Pfeffer, the University of Michigan professor who is lead author of the Russell Sage Foundation study.

Financial Times deleted gold manipulation story because it was too 'sensitive'

Tue, 29 Jul 2014 13:59:11 GMT

``My persistence for nearly five months was then partly rewarded when I was told by the Customer Services office in a telephone call that the article had been withdrawn from the FT's Internet site because its subject was "a sensitive matter" but that the editorial team could provide no further details.''

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE FED'S RELATIONSHIP WITH BUBBLES

Tue, 29 Jul 2014 00:42:40 GMT

Many commentators have previously argued that the Fed is too dumb or too inept to identify of categorize asset bubbles.
By focusing on the Fed's mental acuity, these commentators are overlooking a key factor: the Fed WANTS to asset bubbles.

The reason for this?

"Reprehensible" Lloyds Bank Agrees To $105 Million Wristslap For Manipulating LIBOR

Mon, 28 Jul 2014 14:43:57 GMT

``Having received full credit for for co-operation and suspending some individuals, Lloyds Bank has been fined by the CFTC the staggeringly wrist-slap-like sum of $105 million for the "manipulation, attempted manipulation, and false reporting of Libor." Total fines will amount to around $370 million across all UK and US regulators and all Llloyds divisions. ''

Argentine Default Drama Nears Critical Stage

Mon, 28 Jul 2014 14:43:07 GMT

``Mired in recession, Argentina already suffers from hard-currency shortages and annual inflation some economists estimate at 40%. A default could pressure the peso by undermining confidence, fuel inflation by making imports more expensive and worsen unemployment. It also could reduce Argentina's foreign-currency reserves, already among the lowest in the region at $29.7 billion.''

The BRICS Bank Is Born Out of Politics - Forbes

Mon, 28 Jul 2014 14:40:11 GMT

``Jim O'Neill, the economist who coined the term "BRIC" and a former colleague of mine at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, believes that the BRICS Bank is really "a permanent sign that global governance is a mess"... Not to mention, the BRICS countries, with their own development bank now in hand, may begin to function in many respects as its own trade bloc.''

Yellen "Watching What She Eats" Would Help Track Prices

Mon, 28 Jul 2014 14:31:24 GMT

``Menu prices don't change as often as those for many other goods and services. When they do increase, the move has to count, and it's a sign restaurant owners see inflation bubbling, according to Michael Bryan, a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta... "We think sticky prices give you a much better idea" of where inflation may be headed, the Atlanta Fed's Bryan said. "If I'm only going to change my price once a year, I'm going to be thinking about what's going to happen over the next 12 months''... Research by the Cleveland Fed has found that a simple measure of the median price change of all items tallied by the Bureau of Labor Statistics allows for a better reading on underlying inflation than either the CPI's group of all items or its core measure, which excludes food and energy prices.''

Pending Home Sales Unexpectedly Fall

Mon, 28 Jul 2014 14:28:45 GMT

``Pending home sales activity fell 1.1% in June, missing expectations for a 0.5% increase.''