Infinite

Citadel Head Bond Trader (And TBAC Member) “Leaves” After Losing $1 Billion

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– Citadel Head Bond Trader (And TBAC Member) “Leaves” After Losing $1 Billion (ZeroHedge, April 16, 2015):

It is almost too coincidental to be a coincidence: on the day Ben Bernanke, who until a year ago was the biggest fixed income portfolio manager in the world courtesy of the Fed’s $4.5 trillion in assets, joins Citadel as an advisor, the massively levered “market-neutral” hedge fund which as we showed earlier has $176 billion in regulatory assets, “loses” its global head of fixed income, senior managing director Derek Kaufman. Well not exactly loses. The reason for his “voluntary” departure: according to Bloomberg Kaufman is leaving Citadel not because he is about to be replaced by the former Fed chairman but because last year he lost $1 billion “in a variety of trades.”

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Russia Is Modernizing Its Fleet Of MiG-31 Interceptor Jets

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MiG-31
MiG-31 is the fastest fighter jet in active service

– Russia Is Modernizing Its Fleet of MiG-31 Interceptor Jets (Russia Insider, April 15, 2015):

The first batch of 24 modernized MiG-31 BM fighter jets enters service

This article originally appeared at Defence Talk

The first 24 modernized MiG-31BM fighter jets have been delivered to the Russian Armed Forces. Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov said more than ten aircraft will be delivered to troops ever year.

“After completing the modernization of the MiG-31, we expect that military forces will have more than 130 updated, outstanding aircraft with key technical parameters available for use,” said Yuri Borisov. According to him, about 12-13 aircraft undergo modernization per year.

Read moreRussia Is Modernizing Its Fleet Of MiG-31 Interceptor Jets

Josephine Witt: Why I Ambushed ECB Chief Mario Draghi

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femen-protest-mario-draghi-ecb
The moment I jumped on the table and showered Draghi with confetti.

– Josephine Witt: Why I ambushed ECB chief Mario Draghi (International Business Times, April 16, 2015):

You may well have seen the coverage of my intervention in the ECB press conference yesterday, during which I jumped on the table and showered Mario Draghi with confetti. Many people have contacted me on social media since then, asking me why I did it, how I got into the ECB’s inner sanctum so easily, and what stunts I plan in future.

Here, I’ll attempt to answer those questions as comprehensively as I can.

First, the inspiration. Four weeks ago I saw the anti-ECB protest by Blockupy in Frankfurt, my home city. The demonstration was greeted with a massive, draconian police response in the form of tear gas, water cannons and riot shields.

I was shocked. I thought: “the ECB doesn’t have any political mandate, it’s never been elected. Why are the police defending them with such brutal force?” I wanted to to try and take the criticism against the ECB’s policies to the very heart of the organisation, inside their buildings.

Read moreJosephine Witt: Why I Ambushed ECB Chief Mario Draghi

Russia Ready To Sue Ukraine Over $3 Billion Debt

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– Russia Ready to Sue Ukraine Over $3 Billion Debt (Russia Insider, April 15, 2015):

In late 2013, Russia bought $3 billion worth of Ukraine’s non-tradable Eurobonds with a coupon of 5 percent and maturity in December 2015. Russia has notified Ukraine that it expects it to honor its obligations

MOSCOW, April 15 (RAPSI) – Russia will turn to courts should Ukraine fail to repay its $3 billion debt on time, RIA Novosti reported, citing Finance Minister Anton Siluanov.

Read moreRussia Ready To Sue Ukraine Over $3 Billion Debt

Bellingcat’s BUK Caught On Video With The Ukrainian Army

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BUK 312
BUK 312

– Bellingcat’s BUK Caught on Video with the Ukrainian Army (Russia Insider, April 15, 2015):

We are waiting for Eliot Higgins, Aric Toler and the rest of the Bellingcat crew to explain this one…

This article originally appeared at Separatists Referendum

British Mi5 social media misinformation site Bellingcat has stated that a BUK number 312 was the BUK missile vehicle that shot down Malaysian Airlines flight MH-17. They have presented still images to attempt to prove their case. There are rumors that the still images they presented are being used by the Dutch Safety Board as evidence in the investigation into the downing of MH-17, however, the very same number BUK 312 was recorded on video in July 2014 in the war zone right before MH-17 was shot down. The US government and media have also used these still images to place blame upon Russia.

Read moreBellingcat’s BUK Caught On Video With The Ukrainian Army

Yemen: Another Failed U.S. Military Intervention

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The Week In Mideast Photos

– Yemen: Another Failed U.S. Military Intervention (Huffington Post, Aprl 13, 2015):

In addition to Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya, yet another U.S. military intervention is in shambles: the U.S. drone war against al Qaeda’s most potent regional affiliate — al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Heretofore, despite the rise of the perhaps even more brutal Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), mainly a threat to the Middle East region, the U.S. government has continued to regard AQAP in Yemen as the most severe terrorist threat to the United States. Although the group hasn’t been very active recently, it was involved in the Paris attacks a while back and in foiled bomb plots against U.S.-bound aircraft, including the underwear bombing, even further back.

After the 9/11 attacks, George W. Bush expanded his “War on Terror” from the Afghanistan/Pakistan region and started attacking Islamist militants in Yemen from the air. In 2006, AQAP was born after 23 militants escaped from prison in Yemen. Journalists, both locally in Yemen and from the West, have documented that the U.S. drone war under Bush and now Obama has actually increased the numbers of AQAP fighters.

Read moreYemen: Another Failed U.S. Military Intervention

Shocking footage emerges of moment young father is attacked by teenage swarm after helping elderly woman to her car in US

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– Shocking footage emerges of moment young father is attacked by teenage swarm after helping elderly woman to her car in US (Independent, April 15, 2015):

Shocking footage has emerged of the moment a swarm of teenagers brutally attacked a man helping to walk an elderly woman to her car in the US.

Surveillance video from the petrol station in Memphis, Tennessee, shows Orden Williams Jr. escorting Mary Fuller to her car, after she admitted she did not feel safe walking to her car as there was a large number of teenagers outside.

In the footage, obtained by US CBS affiliate WREG, Mr Williams can be seen gesticulating at the group, reportedly telling them to be quiet and to get off the parking lot adjacent to the BP petrol station.

Warning: This video contains scenes of violence

“As we get to the car they are in the parking lot throwing up gang signs and putting up a ruckus,” he told US news stations WREG.

After walking Mrs Fuller to her car, Mr Williams can be seen returning to his own – where his three-month-old daughter was sat – when he was “sucker punched” from behind by one of the group.

Read moreShocking footage emerges of moment young father is attacked by teenage swarm after helping elderly woman to her car in US

Woman Who Attacked Mario Draghi Tweets: “And one more time: End the #ECB Dick-tatorship! Good night, M.#Draghi”

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We own our own lives –

and in the face of the overwhelmingly powerful external
environment of the ECB’s monetary police,
sometimes it’s hard to remember.

We own our own lives –
and they’re not the chips in the ECB’s gambling game,
not to be played with, not to be sold, not to be devastated.

We own our own lives!
-will be the outcry of those who face repression,
when we begin to see our poverty not as personal defeat or unchangeable destiny.

ECB,
master of the universe,
I come to remind you that there is no god,
but there are people, behind those lives,
and if you rule instead of serving,
you will hear our outcries louder, brighter, inside and outside your halls, everywhere, and you shall deserve no rest.

Read moreWoman Who Attacked Mario Draghi Tweets: “And one more time: End the #ECB Dick-tatorship! Good night, M.#Draghi”

Europe Will Be Very Angry When It Learns Greece Is About To Buy Russian Anti-Aircraft Missiles

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S-300

– Europe Will Be Very Angry When It Learns Greece Is About To Buy Russian Anti-Aircraft Missiles (ZeroHedge, April 15, 2015):

Just days after Russia lifted sanctions on providing anti-aircraft missiles to Iran, Reuters reports that The Greeks are in talks with Russia to purchase missiles for the S-300 defense system. Greece, a NATO member, has been in possession of the advanced Russian-made systems since the late 1990s and in a defiant show of independence towards Troika, is now negotiating with Russia for the purchase of additional missiles and for their maintenance.

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The Collapse Of The Petrodollar: Oil Exporters Are Dumping US Assets At A Record Pace

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– The Collapse Of The Petrodollar: Oil Exporters Are Dumping US Assets At A Record Pace (ZeroHedge, April 15, 2015):

Back in November we chronicled the (quiet) death of the Petrodollar, the system that has buttressed USD hegemony for decades by ensuring that oil producers recycled their dollar proceeds into still more USD assets creating a very convenient (if your printing press mints dollars) self-fulfilling prophecy that has effectively underwritten the dollar’s reserve status in the post WWII era. Now, with oil prices still in the doldrums, oil producers are selling off their USD assets in a frenzy threatening the viability of petrocurrency mercantilism and effectively extracting billions in liquidity from the system just as the Fed prepares to hike rates.

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The Ruble is now up almost 22% against the US Dollar year-to-date

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– Russian Ruble Extends Outperformance – Surges To Strongest Since November (ZeroHedge, April 15, 2015):

Isolated Russia continues to see its currency dramatically outperform the US Dollar. Breaking below 50 today, this is the strongest the Ruble has been since Nov 2014… The Ruble is now up almost 22% against the US Dollar year-to-date.

Strongest since November…

20150415_RUB

and best performing currency of the year…

20150415_RUB1

Charts: Bloomberg

Ahead Of Varoufakis’ Meeting With Famous Sovereign Bankruptcy Lawyer S&P Downgrades Greece To CCC+

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– Ahead Of Varoufakis’ Meeting With Famous Sovereign Bankruptcy Lawyer S&P Downgrades Greece To CCC+ (ZeroHedge, April 15, 2015):

To think it was just recently in September of last year when the S&P, seemingly unaware of the tragic reality facing Greece in just a few months (by reality we meen democratic elections which overthrew the previous regime which was merely a group of Troika picked technocrats), upgraded Greece to B and said “The upgrade reflects our view that risks to fiscal consolidation in Greece have abated.” Well, the risks have unabated, and two months after S&P flipflopped and downgraded Greece back to B- on February 6, moments ago it downgraded it again, this time to triple hooks, aka the dreaded CCC+. But, as City AM reports, the biggest news is that the Greek Finance Minister “will on Friday meet with infamous sovereign debt lawyer Lee Buchheit, who has helped numerous countries restructure their debt. Buchheit is a partner at top US law firm Cleary Gottlieb.”

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NY Fed’s “Plunge Protection Team” Starts Chicago Trading Floor “In Case Of Disaster Or Other Eventuality”

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– NY Fed’s “Plunge Protection Team” Starts Chicago Trading Floor “In Case Of Disaster Or Other Eventuality” (ZeroHedge, April 15, 2015):

We have known for quite some time now that the NY Fed’s market group, aka the Plunge Protection Team, is opening a second office in HFT-capital Chicago. What was not known is what is the official reasoning behind the Fed’s move to be even closer to its Citadel executions arm. Overnight, courtesy of Reuters we found that the “The New York branch of the U.S. Federal Reserve, wary that a natural disaster or other eventuality could shut down its market operations as it approaches an interest rate hike, has added staff and bulked up its satellite office in Chicago.”

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“Staggering” Student Loan Defaults On Deck: 27% Of Students Are A Month Behind On Their Payments

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– “Staggering” Student Loan Defaults On Deck: 27% Of Students Are A Month Behind On Their Payments (ZeroHedge, April 15, 2015):

A new St. Louis Fed study finds that the delinquency rate for student borrowers in repayment is 27.3%, meaning nearly one in three of the Americans laboring under a debt load that has now swelled to $1.3 trillion are more than a month behind on their payments. Ackman says there’s “no way they are going to pay it back.” We can hear the “cancel the debt” cries now. 

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Flashback: Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton Supports Monsanto

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Hillary:

“I stand in favor of using seeds and products that have a proven track record …There is a big gap between what the facts are, and what the perceptions are.”

Fact is that (NON-GMO) wheat & barley seeds have a ‘proven track record’ that is thousands of years old and have been found in the great pyramids …

.. aaaand those seeds were still sprouting (!!!) …

… unlike GMO seeds.

Speaking of track records …

Hillary-corrupt

– Flashback: Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton Supports Monsanto (Infowars, April 13, 2015)

As Hillary Clinton gears up to enter the 2016 presidential race as announced today by her beyond viral Twitter post, we are reminded of her 2014 public appearance – in which she announced public support of Monsanto’s GMO seeds and chemicals. Chemicals that have recently been confirmed by the WHO to be causing cancer.

In the 65-minute keynote appearance at the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) convention in San Diego, Clinton conversed with Jim Greenwood, BIO president, on a wide range of topics including GMOs. She said:

“I stand in favor of using seeds and products that have a proven track record …There is a big gap between what the facts are, and what the perceptions are.”

Clinton also remarked that the “benefits” of GMOs should be better explained in order to counteract the massive grassroots tide against the lab-created crops, saying that “Frankensteinish” depictions should be met with a stronger, more positive spin from GMO companies.

US Industrial Production Plunges By Most Since Aug 2012, Utility Output Drops Most In 9 Years

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– US Industrial Production Plunges By Most Since Aug 2012, Utility Output Drops Most In 9 Years (ZeroHedge, April 15, 2015):

Mortgage Apps tumble, Empire Fed slumps, and now Industrial Production plunges… Against expectations of a 0.3% drop MoM, US Factory Output was twice as bad at -0.6% – the worst since August 2012 (and lamost worst since June 2009). This is the 4th miss in a row. What is even more stunning is that despite the coldest of cold winters that crashed the US economy, Utilities saw their output crash 5.9% – the most in 9 years (explained as follows – largely reversing a similarly-sized increase in February, which was related to unseasonably cold temperatures). Motor Vehicles saved the data from being a catastrophe with a 3.2% rise (following a 3.6% drop In Feb).

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Weakest Chinese Economy In 6 Years Sends WTI Crude Surging To Highest Since Dec 2014

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– Weakest Chinese Economy In 6 Years Sends WTI Crude Surging To Highest Since Dec 2014 (ZeroHedge, April 15, 2015):

So the Chinese economy is weakest in 6 years, there is a record inventory, near-record production, and record drop in rig count… and now WTI Crude has surged to its highest since Dec 2014 (running stops above last week’s highs).

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German FinMin Schaeuble Sees ‘No Contagion’ From Grexit, … Don’t Show Him THIS CHART

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schauble stare

– German FinMin Schaeuble Sees “No Contagion” From Grexit, Don’t Show Him This Chart (ZeroHedge, April 15, 2015):

Because all that matters is what some elite says, we are sure the following propaganda from German FinMin Schaeuble will be regurgitated by the mainstream media:

  • *SCHAEUBLE SAYS “YOU CAN’T SEE ANY CONTAGION”

However, if one actually looks at the data – European peripheral bond risk premia have soared in the last week as Grexit fears resurge.

20150415_cont

Charts: Bloomberg