White Shoe Boys

Margin Debt Hits Record High

"Investors ramped up their borrowing against brokerage accounts in April, taking margin debt to its highest-ever level. Investors borrowed $384.4 billion against their investments in April, a 1.3% gain from the previous month, and a 29% rise from the same month last year, according to the New York Stock Exchange. The rising level of debt is seen as a measure of investor confidence, as investors are more willing to take out debt against investments when shares are rising and they have more value in their portfolios to borrow against. The latest rise has been fueled by low interest rates and a 15% year-to-date stock-market rally." Continue reading →

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World Bank Insider Blows Whistle on Corruption, Federal Reserve

"A former insider at the World Bank, ex-Senior Counsel Karen Hudes, says the global financial system is dominated by a small group of corrupt, power-hungry figures centered around the privately owned U.S. Federal Reserve. The network has seized control of the media to cover up its crimes, too, she explained. In an interview withThe New American, Hudes said that when she tried to blow the whistle on multiple problems at the World Bank, she was fired for her efforts. Now, along with a network of fellow whistleblowers, Hudes is determined to expose and end the corruption. And she is confident of success." Continue reading →

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Understanding Gold Market Dynamics

"While the big institutions are driven by momentum into gold, they also relied on fears related to inflation and economic uncertainty. However, many have now abandoned these concerns. In reaching its bearish conclusion on gold, Goldman Sachs cited low global inflation, and surging equity markets in the U.S. and Japan as reasons to believe that the bull run in gold had come and gone. However, their conclusions are hasty." Continue reading →

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Europe Opens $80 Trillion Shadow Banking Pandora’s Box: Will Seek To Collapse Repo “Collateral Chains”

"Banks and brokers face a clampdown on using assets they hold for clients as collateral for their own trades as part of European Union moves to bolster market stability and rein in shadow banking. The handing over of collateral is an integral part of repurchase agreements, or repos -- one of the activities under review by global regulators as part of their efforts to regulate shadow banking. The reuse of clients’ assets poses a potential threat to financial stability should one of a chain of firms that handled the securities go bankrupt, according to the document prepared by commission officials and dated May 15." Continue reading →

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Schizophrenic investors expect slump, bet on boom

"Some 57pc think there will be no escape from the 'twilight' conditions afflicting the western world, and 20pc expect an full-blown global recession. That is a remarkably bearish set of views. Yet the same investors are overwhelmingly bullish on stocks and property. This schizophrenic exuberance seems entirely based on the assumption that QE and central bank largesse will keep the game going, flooding asset markets with liquidity. Indeed, 80pc think the ECB will cut rates again, and half think it will have to swallow its pride and join the QE club in the end. Four fifths think equities will gallop on upwards over the next year. Complacency is rife." Continue reading →

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What If Stocks, Bonds and Housing All Go Down Together?

"In the past, central banks were pleased to inflate one bubble at a time, enabling money both smart and dumb to flee one smoking ruin and get busy inflating the next bubble-ready asset class. But now, thanks to essentially unlimited liquidity and credit, the central banks have inflated three bubbles at the same time: stocks, bonds and housing. That raises an interesting question: what if all these bubbles pop in unison? Will the central banks be able to place a bid under all three markets simultaneously? If so, where will all that freed-up cash go next?" Continue reading →

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Secrets From The Sexist Pitchbook Of One Of Wall Street’s More Notorious Firms

"BuzzFeed has obtained the 'Golden Pitchbook' used by top brokers at John Thomas Financial. In its pages: How cold-calling brokers pressure prospects to buy stocks from the troubled firm. The aggressive pitch tactics in the book and supporting JTF documents, such as what one scenario described by the source as 'Don’t Pitch The Bitch,' have caught the attention of the FBI, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority." Continue reading →

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CME Halted Silver Trading 4 Times Sunday as Prices Slid 9%

"Exchange operator CME Group Inc. (CME) said it halted silver trading four times Sunday evening due to highly volatile markets, a spokesman told Dow Jones Newswires. The trading halts came as silver futures slumped 9.4% to a low of $20.250 a troy ounce in the first few minutes following the open of electronic trading on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Silver trading was stopped for two 20 second intervals at 6:07 p.m. EDT and 6:09 p.m. EDT, and two consecutive 20 second halts at 6:09 p.m. and 6:10 p.m., the spokesman said. CME Group owns and operates both the Nymex and the Comex exchanges." Continue reading →

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Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange closes its doors; investors compensated in cash

"HKMEx chairman Barry Cheung Chun-yuen told the Sunday Morning Post that the decision to surrender the trading licence and not reopen for business tomorrow would have no impact on investors and that client contracts would be honoured. 'There is no question of not getting your money back or anything like that. People absolutely do not have to worry about that and I don't think they are. The only thing they will want to know is what settlement price will be used,' Cheung said." Continue reading →

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Paul Craig Roberts: Assault On Gold Update

"Who has 16 million ounces of gold? At the beginning gold price that day of about $1,550, that comes to $24,800,000,000. Who has that kind of money? What happens when 500 tons of gold sales are dumped on the market at one time or on one day? Correct, it drives the price down. Investors who want to get out of large positions would spread sales out over time so as not to lower their sales proceeds. The sale took gold down by about $73 per ounce. That means the seller or sellers lost up to $73 dollars 16 million times, or $1,168,000,000. Who can afford to lose that kind of money? Only a central bank that can print it." Continue reading →

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