Monthly Archives: February 2018

China’s Largest Conglomerate Is On The Verge Of Bankruptcy

"Despite being one of China’s largest conglomerates, HNA has been shut out of stock and bond markets as lenders worry about its outsized debt load, forcing the company to pledge some of its core holdings as collateral for short-term loans, as the Wall Street Journal reported last month. And yet, even as the company resorted to loaning out shares and entering into arcane derivative financing agreements to finance its debt-service payments, it quickly found out that traditional avenues of financing are disappearing or becoming too costly."

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401(k) millionaires are bragging and posting their balances to social media

"In what many will see as the latest sign of investor euphoria — and of our society’s oversharing epidemic — sharing your 401(k) balance on social media seems to have become a thing. With the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 index hitting record after record since President Trump’s election in November 2016, the question, 'How’s your 401(k) doing?' has become a staple in his speeches at campaign-style rallies and fundraisers. And 401(k) balance shoutouts have become a staple among his supporters — and detractors — on Twitter."

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Yellen Says Prices `High’ for Stocks, Commercial Real Estate

"Outgoing Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said U.S. stocks and commercial real estate prices are elevated but stopped short of saying those markets are in a bubble. 'What we look at is, if stock prices or asset prices more generally were to fall, what would that mean for the economy as a whole?' Yellen said. 'And I think our overall judgment is that, if there were to be a decline in asset valuations, it would not damage unduly the core of our financial system.'"

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Bank of Japan Panics At Surging Rates, Offers To Buy Unlimited Debt

"As global bond yields break ever higher, it appears The Bank of Japan is realizing it is losing control of its yield curve and today unleashed a double-whammy to stifle the bond bears... Whammy 1 - BoJ offers to buy unlimited 10Y notes at 11bps. Result - a 0.5bps drop in the JGB yield!!"

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Yellen’s Final Act Is To Ban Wells Fargo From Growing

"Until Wells Fargo addresses shortcomings in areas including internal oversight, it can’t take any action that would boost total assets beyond their level at the end of 2017, without the Fed’s permission. The bank said after-tax profit in 2018 would be reduced by $300 million to $400 million and its stock slumped in late trading Friday."

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YouTube Is Serving Covert Cryptocurrency Mining Ads

"It’s like someone figured out how to monetize the awful Flash ads everyone used to hate for eating CPU cycles. A true win-win! And now it’s even hitting YouTube. TrendMicro has released an updated report, showing a sharp rise in ads served by Google’s DoubleClick service being infested with mining software. Like other attacks, this one uses a Javascript miner to mine Monero via Coinhive."

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Making a Crypto Utopia in Puerto Rico

"Dozens of entrepreneurs, made newly wealthy by blockchain and cryptocurrencies, are heading en masse to Puerto Rico this winter. They are selling their homes and cars in California and establishing residency on the Caribbean island in hopes of avoiding what they see as onerous state and federal taxes on their growing fortunes, some of which now reach into the billions of dollars. They want to build a crypto utopia, a new city where the money is virtual and the contracts are all public, to show the rest of the world what a crypto future could look like. Blockchain, a digital ledger that forms the basis of virtual currencies, has the potential to reinvent society — and the Puertopians want to prove it."

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Vegas Coroner Would Rather Pay $32,000 Than Release Shooter Autopsy

"Clark County Nevada Coroner John Fudenberg is defying a court order to release the full autopsy report of Stephen Paddock, the shooter who caused the deadliest mass murder in the nation, killing 58 and wounding close to 700 people at a concert in Las Vegas. A judge ordered the coroner Jan. 11 to pay about $32,000 in legal costs to the Review-Journal for refusing to release public records to the newspaper."

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Michigan Action Alert: Help Pass HB4430, No Resources for Warrantless Surveillance

The same week that Congress reauthorized and expanded NSA spying, the Michigan House passed HB4430 by a vote of 107-1, a bill to ban “material support or resources” for warrantless federal surveillance programs. (learn more here).  The bill is now in the Senate Judiciary committee where it needs to pass to move forward. Please take the following…

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Massachusetts Committee Holds Hearing on Bills to Limit ALPR use, Help Block National License Plate Tracking Program

BOSTON, Mass. (Feb. 2, 2018) – Last week, a Massachusetts committee held a hearing on three bills that would put strict limitations on the use of automated license plate reader systems (ALPRs) by the state. Passage into law would also place significant roadblocks in the way of a federal program using states to help track the…

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