Fiat Currency Definition, Bubble, and why it is destined to fail?

Posted on January 27, 2021 by Martin Dorman

Fiat Currency: Instruments of Mass Destruction

We are entering a new paradigm; get used to forever QE, though it will be given other names along the journey to make it appear more palatable. The US and by default worldwide debt is set to soar to preposterous levels; if a national debt of almost $22 trillion is shocking to some; imagine how they will feel when the debt soars to $100 trillion. Market Update Feb 28, 2019

If you shook your head vigorously when you read the above statement, print it and put it somewhere, you can easily access and then review it a few years from today. You will be unpleasantly surprised to see how much the situation has changed; the masses are not paying any attention to the national debt.

Central bankers have become very adept at deflating a nation’s currency while maintaining the illusion all is well. This is achieved by subsidising key industries, using a basket of goods that (and the sectors these goods originate from are usually the one’s receiving massive subsidies) paint a false picture regarding inflation and most importantly, they control the media. Let’s briefly look at some of these subjects today.

The press and the crowd effect

Any student of history can spot a pattern that goes back to ancient times; the powers that be knew that the key to controlling the masses was to control the news outlets. In the old days that meant having control of the gossipers, as time passed on, the name gossiper was replaced with the term reporter. Today’s reporters are only concerned with the number of eyeballs they can attract to a given story; it does not help that the people that hire them also encourage this behaviour. The press is the most potent weapon available; it can destroy a person even if he is 100% innocent. Mass media’s sole function is to manipulate the masses; think about it mass media is not for the observer or for the critical thinker; it’s for cows who are begging to be led to the slaughterhouse, hence the term mass media. If you want to have a good idea of what is really going on; you will read several sources that are not widely referenced by the masses and then use that (collective) data to paint a picture.

Elias Canetti’s view on crowd behaviour is spot on:

It is only in a crowd that man can become free of this fear of being touched. That is the only situation in which the fear changes into its opposite. The crowd he needs is the dense crowd, in which body is pressed to body; a crowd, too, whose psychical constitution is also dense, or compact, so that he no longer notices who it is that presses against him. As soon as a man has surrendered himself to the crowd, he ceases to fear its touch.

That is the mass mindset for you, individuals feel great when they all share a common theme and a so-called common goal, but nature clearly states that everyone cannot win and that there has to be a loser or losers for every winner as it depends on how much the winner takes home. 10 losers might be needed to fund one big winner. Teamwork never pays off except for the person that is pushing the concept of teamwork. Misery loves company; how rare it is to find a group that is happily sharing positive stories; bragging does not constitute a positive development, in fact, it is usually a sign of mental instability.

Subsidising goods

The idea here is to keep critical products at prices that appear to be reasonable. If essential items become too expensive to purchase, the crowd will scream. However, if they have access to reasonably priced education via public schools and colleges, access to affordable food and other basic necessities, then one can create the illusion that inflation is not an issue. So when we state that inflation is a non-event, we are using the Fed’s distorted figures to make this point. In reality, inflation is a massive problem. Just look at the cost of housing, which includes buying or renting, one can easily see that inflation is an enormous problem. Another area is medicine; anyone with a brain can see that inflation in the medical sector is alive and thriving.

Getting the mass to believe old newspapers (your paper money) is real money

In this area, they have been incredibly successful; very few of today’s young generation even understands the concept of hard cash or what constitutes real money. They assume fiat is real and they are now embracing digital forms of fiat such as Bitcoin. This means that the central bankers are now in a position to inflate the money supply beyond the wildest dreams of their predecessors. There will be a day of reckoning but those waiting for that day will probably see their day of reckoning first. Until the masses start to doubt Fiat money, nothing will change; the masses are showing no signs of resisting Fiat. So no matter what the hard money expert’s spout, their knowledge is useless for nothing will happen until the masses reject Fiat. Just like the stock market is unlikely to crash until the Masses embrace this bull market.

Emotions govern everything, and if you can identify the emotion driving the masses, you can profit from almost any situation.

Central bankers have suddenly changed their chant

What is remarkable is the speed at which central bankers changed their tune and how equally fast and without question, the masses accepted this change.

Nobody is objecting to QE, 10 years ago, they made a big noise, but now the populace at large believes it is a necessity. Let’s start off with the quote we posted by Clarida in the last update, for it clearly tells us that the Fed is not going to stop supporting the stock market, but in fact, it will take even more drastic measures to help the markets in the future. Let the contents slowly sink in, and you will understand why Central bankers will not stop deflating the currency until the masses scream bloody murder and by then it will be too late.

Clarida acknowledged no doubts. He said that radical monetary policy has worked, that it will continue to work, and that it may well become more radical. He contended that low-interest rates are here to stay and that new policy “tools” must be sharpened and kept at the ready.

U.S. inflation forecasts decline, supporting rate-hike holiday

The survey of consumer expectations, published on Monday, is one of the Fed’s price gauges as it weighs the need for rate rises. It showed one- and three-year ahead inflation expectations were down 0.2 percentage points to 2.8 percent last month, with sharp declines in expected medical care expenses. Both the one- and three-year gauges had been roughly unchanged since April 2018.

Stable and low inflation is one of the main reasons that the U.S. central bank, having raised interest rates four times last year, is now taking a wait-and-see approach to any more tightening in 2019.

The New York Fed’s survey found that consumers expected tame inflation despite also forecasting their own wages would rise. Average one-year earnings growth expectations increased to 2.5 percent last month, from 2.4 percent the month before. Consumers also forecast a lower likelihood that unemployment will rise. Economists are debating whether rising wages and low unemployment figures still translate into higher inflation as orthodox economic theory assumes. Full Story

ECB holds interest rates steady to curb Eurozone slowdown

Policymakers at the European Central Bank on Thursday announced a new round of cheap loans to banks and said record low-interest rates would remain unchanged “at least through the end of 2019.”

Previously, the bank had indicated that the earliest rate hike would come in the fall. The measures aim to allay fears of a eurozone slowdown spurred by uncertainty over Brexit, a US-China trade war, and threats by Washington to impose tariffs on European auto imports.

“We’re coming out of, and maybe we still are in a period of, continued weakness and pervasive uncertainty,” ECB chief Mario Draghi told reporters in Frankfurt.

“Our decisions certainly increase the resilience of the eurozone economy,” he added. “But can they address the factors that are weighing on the economy in the rest of the word? They cannot.”

Carsten Brzeski, the chief economist at the bank ING Germany, said the measures came surprisingly early.

“It is clearly an attempt to stay ahead of the curve,” he said. “Any next step from here to tackle a severe downswing of the economy would now require unprecedented measure. Full Story

Global economy: Why central bankers blinked

The wariness descending over leading central banks is a jarring contrast to the buoyant mood this time last year. At the gathering of business and political leaders in Davos, Switzerland in January 2018, optimism was simmering, with one survey of bosses putting confidence at its highest for six years. The IMF hailed the broadest synchronised global upsurge since the start of the decade, with 120 economies enjoying a pick-up in growth.

An update from the IMF last month bemoaned the “backdrop of weakening financial market sentiment, trade policy uncertainty, and concerns about China’s outlook”. Growth in advanced economies will slow from an estimated 2.3 per cent in 2018 to 2 per cent in 2019 and 1.7 per cent in 2020, it said. Global manufacturing activity is at a two-and-a-half year low.

“You are getting a much more sober assessment of global growth,” says Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic adviser at Allianz.

What has gone wrong? The sea change reflects, in part, a realisation that policymakers became overly bullish last year, says Mr El-Erian. The Fed, in particular, over-reached by signalling four increases in interest rates for 2018 when the global economy was still fragile, he says. Its new-found caution is providing “air cover” for other central banks to mark down their own rate expectations. Full Story

What do these headlines indicate?

These stories confirm that we were on the right track when we stated that the Fed had no intention of pushing rates too high for the past 24 months. We pointed to the reaction from the bond markets, Baltic dry index, the world economy, etc.; these indicators showed that this rate hike scheme was nothing but a game of smoke and mirrors. This manipulation of the money supply is going to affect the stock markets dramatically; every single expert that refuses to adapt will be flung under the bus; there will be no exceptions.

The markets will experience many corrections ranging from wild to mild, but almost all of them will prove to be buying opportunities unless the trend changes. If one takes a look at the megatrend (megatrends are ultra-long term trends) then every back-breaking correction has to be embraced; however, by employing human emotion as a timing indicator, we can determine the optimum time to jump in and out of the markets.

Easy Money altering Market Dynamics

Such vast amounts of money sloshing around can alter the picture dramatically; what should happen in most cases does not. Under normal circumstances, precious metals should have soared to the moon, inflation should have been rampant, commodities (in general), should have risen in value. The housing sector should have tanked as rates would have risen in an inflationary environment, hundreds of business should have filed for bankruptcy, the stock market should have experienced another back-breaking correction, and the list of woes goes on. But almost none of the above has occurred, which clearly indicates that the old tools economists and financial experts are relying on are practically useless.

Random Quotes About Fiat Currency

“Growth for the sake of growth,” says Edward Abbey, “is the ideology of the cancer cell.”

“Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist.” economist Kenneth, Boulding

“If corporations are indeed ‘persons,’,” David Niose writes in Psychology Today, “their mental condition can accurately be described as pathologic

Interesting article on how Fiat destroys cultures

https://mises.org/wire/how-fiat-money-destroys-culture

Fiat Currency Helps Foster Chaos

Be prepared for the unprepared and remember everything can change but human emotions never do; 90% of humans are wired to do the exactly the same thing at precisely the wrong moment, ensuring that the maximum amount of damage will be inflicted by their ill-planned actions. If you can identify the emotion driving the masses, it is not too hard to find a way to stay out of harm’s way.

However, every problem ranging from declining moral standards, corrupt politicians, surge in wars, political polarisation, and a host of other terrible factors, can in some way be attributed to FIAT Money. As the money supply increases, the situation will continue to deteriorate. Freedom levels have to be curtailed the more a nation debases its currency and nowhere will this been seen more clearly in the US. Think about how much freedom we have lost since 911 and how the national debt soared after it.

Taking things are a step further

This 2-hour movie is an excellent starting point as to why the Top Players go out of their way to control the masses. The idea has always been to target the next generation at the earliest age possible, and with the passage of time, these guys are getting better and better at this game. This video covers a lot more than this concept, hence the length, it definitely makes for an interesting watch.

Final Parting Thoughts on Fiat Currency

Never wear your emotions on your sleeves; observe and use the data to formulate a plan. If one is part of the emotional chaos, one cannot see or hear anything other than the picture they are being directed to examine. Only a calm mind can see what is going on. You have a millisecond to question the emotion that is about to take over; will you examine it and in doing so open a new door, or will you allow it to take over and lead you astray. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and hoping for a new outcome. New outcomes come from new actions, not hope; change the angle of perception and in doing so change the outcome.

Courtesy of Tactical Investor

Retirement is a lie

Posted on January 26, 2021 by Martin Dorman

Tell Me Sweet Little Lies

And that is how the Retirement lie was conceived; continue reading to find out the details:

The world is going to end, the US dollar is going to crash, Gold will soar to the Moon, and Pigs will fly over it. Well, we added the last bit to throw in some humour. Are you not sick of the stories talking about how things are only set to worsen? If you add all the proclamations made by these so-called wise men for the past 100 years, the world as we know should have ended several times over.

The fact that it has not points out that all those wise pundits were wise only when compared to the reliable donkey. Life is very short, and most people spend a vast amount of their time focussing on what was, what should be and what could be. How about trying a new approach; enjoy the moment, for that, is all you have. If you have a decent roof over your head, money in the bank and food, you are infinitely better off than over 50% of the world. Let that sink in for a moment. Anything more than that pushes you, even further up the rung of wellbeing.

Seeking Wealth Is not Bad, But

At least seek it with a smile and not a frown. Enjoy the day as a child would. Have you seen how children can have so much fun with so little and how when they grow up they can’t even have half the fun despite having 10 times more? We seek things that we are not even sure we need; the seeds were incepted starting from your first trip to the brainwashing centre (otherwise known as school), and if allowed to grow, these fears turn into gigantic monsters.

For example, each year, the experts keep stating a person needs more and more money to retire; here is the sad fact, by the time the average person retires, he/she will be a living zombie. Free thought will be a thing of the past; worse yet, you work until you are 65, but the average life expectancy in the USA is 78.6 years.

So let’s get this straight, give up the best years of your life, worry throughout that time if you will have enough to retire, and you only have 13 years to enjoy it. Well, it sounds perfectly sane, doesn’t it? Waste the best years of your life, worrying about the worst years of your life. What could possibly go wrong with such a scenario? Keep in mind that the average life expectancy has been dropping in the USA for the third year in a row.

One needs significantly less than the experts claim

The sad fact is you don’t even need half of the ridiculous figures experts are pushing because even at ¼ of the stated figures which are surpassing one million, most of the world’s population stands no chance of achieving the stated goal. The stated goal like everything mass media and the experts push is to get the masses to buy into the lie they are selling and sow the seeds of doubt. Doubt then gives way to fear and paranoia and the rest, as they say, is history.

How do people get their info? Don’t they see the world through a prism? What is this prism for most individuals; TV, and Mass Media? What if the intention were to provide the masses with the wrong image or ideas, therefore no matter how hard they tried to solve the problem, they would fail, as they would be analyzing the wrong data. Think of Pluto’s allegory of the caves.

What is worse fear or the frightened? To be continued subtly in future updates

Courtesy of Tactical Investor

Random Views on Retirement Lies

Retirement is a big fat lie

Today, most people in the world can expect to live 60-70 years; in highly developed countries about 70 to 80 years, and in a few rich countries, more than 80 years. But, for most of human history, human beings have had a life expectancy from birth of only 30 to 40 years. It wasn’t until the mid-20th century that human life expectancy moved to 50 to 60 years.

So, the concept of Retirement is a relatively new phenomenon. In my work, I talk to a lot of people over age 50. Some people say “Yes, retirement is a lie because I haven’t saved enough for retirement, so I guess I’ll work forever”. Others tell me “No. I’ve saved money for many years for my retirement – of course I’m going to retire”.

If we’re going to live until our 70s, 80s or more, what are we living for? What are we saving all this money for anyway? What are we working towards?

Three Retirement Stories

Jane worked in retail for a number of years after the kids were grown. She liked to get out of the house, make a little money and socialize with co-workers. When her husband retired after 40 years with “the phone company”, he started to nag her to quit working so they could travel, and so she quit. Full Story

One Big Retirement Lie… And What You Need To Know About It

Over the last few decades, retirement planning, and even the very essence of what it means to be “retired,” has dramatically changed. And while some of the “old” rules of retirement still apply, those looking to enjoy a comfortable retirement in today’s world often need to buck old trends.

Case in point… in the past, the old adage was that, in general, during your working years you should put as much money as possible into your 401(k) and tax-deductible IRA to save for retirement and lower your tax bill. The idea was to get a deduction during your working years, when your tax rate was higher, and to later take that money out of your tax-deferred accounts in retirement, when your tax rate was lower. For some, that’s certainly still true today, but for many others, the reality is that retirement will bring with it a higher tax rate. In such situations, old-school tax-deferral strategies are less effective, and may even be detrimental to your long-term retirement success.

There are a number of reasons your tax rate might be higher in retirement than it is today. Take, for instance, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, passed last December, which temporarily lowers taxes for most Americans through 2025. If no changes occur before then, however, we’ll see a reversal of that trend, and many Americans will see higher taxes in 2026, even if their income remains the same.

RETIREMENT IS A LIE!

The concept of retirement you have been taught is a lie!

Billions of dollars of marketing, and hundreds of thousands of financial advisors & so-called “experts” will tell you saving 10-20% of your income for 40 years will make you financially independent.

WRONG!

(Don’t worry. I have an answer at the end of this.)

Let me explain why….

Figures Don’t Lie, But Liars Figure

I read an article from Ben Stein, actor and economist, shared an experience he had as a boy in the 1950’s. He told his father (an economist at Harvard) that he learned the world would run out of food in the following 10 years. His father assured him it wouldn’t happen. Ben insisted that “figures don’t lie.” His father’s response was, “Figures don’t lie, but liars figure.”

Most of us would say, “It must be true.” However, if you use an online calculator, you’ll see that his math is wrong. You would have $979,000! Almost $200,000 less! He can’t even get that number right. And that’s not adding to the fact that the market DOES NOT get 12% returns consistently. Although the S&P 500 index “averages” more than 10% a year, actual yields are less than 8% a year. And those numbers don’t include fees or inflation. Full Story

Germany vows to take tougher stance on migrant deportations

Posted on January 17, 2021 by Imogen Durant

Hundreds of German police officers raided a refugee shelter in the southern town of Ellwangen on Thursday, days after an angry mob of migrants prevented authorities from deporting a 23-year-old man from Togo.

The massive police operation came as Germany’s top security official presented a new “master plan on migration.”

Interior Minister Horst Seehofer vowed he would do everything he could to clamp down on illegal immigration, speed up asylum procedures and deport rejected asylum-seekers as quickly as possible.

“What happened (in Ellwangen) was a slap in the face of the law-abiding population,” Seehofer — who is well-known for his law-and-order stance — told reporters in Berlin.

“The right to hospitality cannot be trampled on like that,” he added, promising that security authorities would “use all their force and determination” to prosecute those asylum-seekers who blocked police from executing the deportation Monday in Ellwangen.

Bernhard Weber, deputy police chief in the town of Aalen near Ellwangen, said the big police operation was necessary because of the “unprecedented” situation officers had faced when they arrived to pick up the Togolese man.

“They were massively prevented from doing so, violently, by about 150 to 200 African refugees,” Weber told reporters.

Weber said a decision was taken to return early Thursday to enforce the deportation of the man to Italy, which he passed through on his way to Germany. Under European Union rules, people have to apply for asylum in the first EU nation they enter.

Seehofer said he also wants the German government to declare several nations — including Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria as well as Georgia — as “secure home countries,” lessening the chances that applicants from there will be granted asylum. Full Story

US household debt rising again to 13.21 Trillion dollars

Posted on January 16, 2021 by Martin Dorman

NEW YORK, May 17 (Reuters) – U.S. household debt grew by $63 billion, or 0.5 percent, to $13.21 trillion in the first quarter, driven largely by the increase in mortgage balances, a New York Federal Reserve quarterly report released on Thursday showed.

The amount of mortgage balances rose by $57 billion in the first three months of 2018 to $8.94 trillion. Families, however, paid down their home equity loans, which fell by $8 billion to $436 billion, according to the report.

“Although household debt has been growing for five years, its growth has been slow relative to earlier periods, as mortgage debt has continued to be relatively flat,” N.Y. Fed analysts wrote about the report’s findings.

Overall tight lending standards have likely contributed to the modest increase in mortgage debt, they said.

Meanwhile, the U.S. housing sector has continued to its recovery since the global credit crisis a decade ago, according to N.Y. Fed analysts. Full Story

All is well until it’s not but before the party ends we expect debt levels to soar 2X to 3X higher and the ensuing stock market bailout will probably amount to $5-$7 trillion. I know it sounds insane and the first reaction is to say you have lost your mind. Ah but go back in time, the national debt was once less than one million dollars, and it took almost 100 years to get to one trillion, and now we add one trillion every year. It’s all a matter of perspective; the masses believe that paper is fine and will believe it fine until the system implodes. A system only implodes because the masses have lost faith in it and the current players are masters in the Art of Mass psychology. If you understand the concepts of mass psychology well and have the money, you can make almost anyone believe that they are doing things out of their free will, when in fact, they are not.

To do this one needs boatloads of money and complete access to the press. So here is one technique that is used almost all the time with deadly precision. You give the masses two choices, both equally different and both of which are backed up a lot of so-called experts. Unbeknownst to the masses is a simple fact; both choices are wrong. Look at how brilliant this plan is; you introduce the illusion of choice while knowing both choices will lead to the same outcome. Its treachery on steroids and if one wants to take things up a notch, you introduce a third party that comes out with fringe based ideas; this creates the illusion of freedom as the idea is to make it look like even nut jobs have say.

Even in this area, the financial arena leads the way in deception; they treacherously use mass psychology to whip the masses into a frenzy.

Trump Tells NATO Members pay up or face consequences

Posted on January 15, 2021 by Imogen Durant

Donald Trump singled out Germany in renewing his criticism of Nato members he accuses of not contributing enough, saying laggards would be “dealt with”.

Speaking alongside Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, at the White House, Mr Trump reiterated a longstanding charge that America bears a disproportionate share of supporting the military alliance’s activities.

Germany “has not contributed what it should be contributing and it’s a very big beneficiary”, said the president, who has long had a frosty relationship with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel.

The president’s worldview is rooted in a belief the US has consistently been taken advantage of by international pacts and organisations – a scepticism that fuels his unilaterally focused “America First” stance.During the presidential campaign, he suggested America might only defend Nato allies if they had “fulfilled their obligations to us”.

Despite Mr Trump’s wariness, Mr Stoltenberg praised the president for impelling other nations to augment defence spending, saying “it is impacting allies because now all allies are increasing defence spending”.

The president echoed that comment by saying his relationship with Nato was “really good”. Full Story

The America first battle gains traction, but the underlying theme is to polarise and conquer. Division is achieved via polarisation and today’s masses are one of the most gullible in history. The top players are having a field day as it so very easy to manipulate the crowd today.

Trump administration ends practice that gave some immigrants reprieves from deportation

Posted on January 14, 2021 by Imogen Durant

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Thursday barred immigration judges from a once-common practice of shelving deportation cases involving some immigrants with deep ties to the United States.

The practice known as administrative closure allowed judges to clear low-priority cases off their dockets, effectively letting some immigrants remain indefinitely in the United States despite their lack of legal status.

Under President Barack Obama there had been an effort to administratively close certain cases as a way of allowing judges to focus on higher-priority matters and reduce the immigration court backlog. More than 200,000 cases were closed during the last six years of his presidency.

The closures were routinely used for people without criminal backgrounds who had lived for many years in the United States, often with U.S. citizen children or spouses. In many cases, the immigrants became eligible for work permits.

The administration of President Donald Trump has taken a sharply different tack on immigration, declaring that all those in the country illegally, whether or not they pose a threat to public safety, are subject to deportation.

Since immigration courts fall under the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice, the attorney general can issue opinions in immigration cases to establish legal precedent for judges across the country and the Board of Immigration Appeals.

On Thursday, Sessions issued such an order in a case in which a judge had granted administrative closure for an unaccompanied minor from Guatemala. Full Story

When we first stated that the stance towards immigration would suddenly turn negative in late 2015 to early 2016 many thought, we were jumping the gun. Trends don’t lie, and a Trend in motion is unstoppable; it can be delayed for a bit, but it can never be stopped. Delays only make the underlining trend stronger. This trend is still in the early stages, and while most think America is leading the fight, in the months and years to come, Europe’s action will make all of America’s actions seem like a walk in the park. Europeans were one of the most welcoming and the law of balancing states that the equation must always balance and remember that the pendulum swings in both directions. To get an idea of how intense this battle will become imagine the extreme opposite of easy-going welcoming Europeans.

We recently stated that we expect this “Alt right” or trend of extreme polarisation to last at least 15 years and during this period the attitude towards immigrants that don’t integrate will move from indignation to extreme hostility.

Be calm and watch the show through the eyes of an observer; the idea is to polarise the masses, and as we have repeatedly stated a polarised person is the easiest person to fleece.

Ardern Must Win Over Economists – Ackman exits Herbalife short bet – Coinbase CEO discusses his company’s new service

Posted on January 13, 2021 by Imogen Durant

After New Zealand Victory, Ardern Must Win Over Economists

After her stunning rise to power, New Zealand’s incoming leader Jacinda Ardern faces a pressing challenge: delivering economic change with a team that lacks credentials.Investors used to the steady hand of former Prime Minister Bill English are nervous as the new government hints at central bank reform, immigration cuts and increased social spending that will hit just as the economy is losing some gloss. New Zealand’s dollar slumped and the stock market opened lower after Ardern’s elevation was confirmed late Thursday.

“The new coalition government is likely to be more interventionist in the economy than any government New Zealand has seen in decades,” said Dominick Stephens, chief New Zealand economist at Westpac Banking Corp. in Auckland. “Both Labour and New Zealand First’s rhetoric often sounds more mistrustful of markets than the previous government.” Full Story

The new players in the Alt-right camp are savvier and they understand that you can’t move too far to the right in one shot until you control all the pieces on the board. As we stated in the interim update, we expect this trend to last 12-15 years and that’s our conservative estimate. On the extreme end, this trend could last as long as 30 years.

Ackman exits years-long Herbalife short bet, turns to options

(Reuters) – Activist investor William Ackman, who placed a $1 billion (£754.5 million) bet in 2012 that Herbalife Ltd’s (HLF.N) stock price would tumble to zero, said on Wednesday his firm has capped losses by recently closing out its short position in the nutrition and supplements company.

For years, Ackman has said that the company would eventually crumble under regulatory scrutiny for operating what he has called a pyramid scheme, a claim Herbalife denies. He said on Wednesday he has opened a separate bet that Herbalife shares would fall in the form of put options.

Herbalife has been buying back shares and its stock price has soared some 50 percent this year, piling pressure on Ackman’s $10 billion hedge fund as paper losses mounted and the cost to borrow the shares rose.

“We covered the shorts and replaced them with outright put positions,” Ackman told Reuters, adding that potential losses on Herbalife will now be limited to 3 percent of the firm’s capital. “We can still lose money but the loss is capped.”

Ackman did not disclose how much his firm, Pershing Square Capital Management, had lost by buying shares to cover its short position. Full Story

The 1st rule of thumb is to never go against the main market trend. This is the reason we have not shorted anything for awhile, and if we do short a market, the pattern would have to be incredibly strong. It’s amazing how much money Penguins like Ackman get paid for losing other people’s money. However, their time is coming to an end for two reasonsMillennial don’t want to deal with high priced idiots like this, and more importantly, AI can work ten times better than guys like this.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong discusses his company’s new service for purchasing digital currencies

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Major world equity markets rallied and government bond yields fell on Tuesday as strong corporate profits, steady global growth and low inflation provide scant alternatives for investors outside of stocks.

Equity markets from Asia to Europe to the Americas rose, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq surged to fresh closing highs, lifted by technology shares. The Dow set a new intra-day high.

In Asia, the main Hang Seng index <.HSI> in Hong Kong and China’s H-shares index <.HSCE> posted their best day in seven weeks, while stocks in Tokyo <.N225> also rose.

In Europe, Germany’s benchmark DAX index <.GDAXI> jumped more than 1 percent before paring gains. MSCI’s emerging markets index <.MSCIEF> rose 1.44 percent and its gauge of stocks across the globe <.MIWD00000PUS> gained 0.71 percent.

“It’s incredible,” said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank in Chicago. “Certainly sentiment is pretty strong and it’s widespread, both from the business community and consumers. Any economic concerns are pretty much falling by the wayside,” he said.

Corporate earnings and expanding growth have propelled the stock rally while investors shrug off political risk. Wall Street trading volumes were low in a week marked by the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday.

Full Story

Everyone is Code word for Bubble. So Bitcoin could experience its first big pop in the near future. Remember we stated that we expected this market to become a super bubble, so this is just one of many bubbles that will pop before this market experiences a full blown meltdown.

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