– WTI Hits $52 Handle As US Rig Count Tumbles To 8-Month Lows (ZeroHedge, Dec 29, 2014):
Just as T. Boone Pickens warned “watch the rig counts” last week, so the Baker Hughes rig countjust collapsed for the 3rd week in a row to 8-month lows. This is the fastest 3-week drop since mid-2009. Crude prices were already weak but the news has flushed WTI to a $52 handle (not seen in the front-month contract since May 2009)
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– Crude Is Tumbling (Again) (ZeroHedge, Dec 29, 2014):
While mainstream media desperately played up the fact that oil prices were ‘off the lows’ this morning as some kind of positive news, that narrative is now dashed to winds of under-demand and over-supply. With WTI Crude prices testing the multi-year cycle lows once again, crashing below $54, we wonder how long before the Yellen effect wears off…
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You can build a house of cards for only so long before it becomes a pile of paper.
The US has done this by nonstop printing of US dollars that are no longer needed by nearly 75% of the world.
Now, the western world is moving into deflation, and that will really hurt everyone. The low prices I am finding for things that always cost 2-3X more than you can now get them….they are great for the consumer, but not for the seller. And, the consumer, on one level or another, is the seller, and as his income drops, so will the prices.
Conversely, mortgage rates for fixed rate 30 year loans, and ARMs continue to rise. For the 90% of property poor Americans, the rising payments on their mortgages are going up 3:1 since January. In a deflationary economy, except for food, it cannot be pleasant.