Policy-Makers Will Save Stock Market At All Costs, & More

Is the Stock Market Now 

"Too Big to Fail"?

 Who knows what will trigger Fed intervention; that information is asymmetric, i.e. only known to Fed insiders.

Correspondent Bart D. recently speculated that the U.S. stock market was now "too big to fail," that is, that it was too integral to the global financial system and economy to be allowed to fail, i.e. decline 40+% as in previous bubble bursts.

he U.S. stock market is integral to the global financial system in two ways.Now that investment banks, pension funds, insurers and multitudes of 401K retirement plans are dependent on current equity valuations, a crash would impair virtually the entire spectrum of finance from hedge funds to banks to insurers to pension plans.

A decimation of these sectors would impact the U.S. economy and thus the global economy very negatively.

Asean's biggest companies tempt fate with sixfold debt jump since '98 crisis

Total obligations at Wilmar, which grows oil palms, doubled to US$22.4 billion since 2010, while net debt rose 20 per cent. The jump was partly due to its expansion into the sugar industry, the company said by e-mail on Aug 28, adding that revenue rose ...

 China's Bond-Rating Firms Dole Out Downgrades

“Many corporates' profitability and debt payment ability are definitely hurt,” he ... Still, Sinosteel's two billion yuan ($313 million) domestic bond has held up well.

NPC adopts new measures as local debt problem looms large

29 the State Council's proposal to cap outstanding local debt at 16 trillion (US$2.5 trillion) in 2015, leaving 1 trillionyuan (US$157 billion) for new debt to be ...

REFILE-Fitch warns of downgrade risk in Malaysia's rating outlook

The current account surplus has shrunk from a peak in 2008 to 7.6 billion ringgit in the second quarter this year, down from 10 billion in the previous quarter.

Brazilian Real Falls to 12-Year Low as 

Deficit Projected in 2016

... have lower immediate social costs but could lead to another credit downgrade. ... response to questions from Bloomberg that growth, fiscal and debt dynamics ...

U.S. Stocks Suffer 3rd-Worst Drop Of Year On Weak China Data

Analyst sees little relief for market other than technical support

U.S. stocks suffered their third-worst loss of the year on Tuesday as part of a global rout sparked by a new round of weak Chinese economic data.

China’s official manufacturing purchasing managers index fell to a three-year low, triggering a wide selloff in stocks across Asia and Europe that then spread to the U.S.

The S&P 500 SPX, -2.96%  sank 58.33 points, or 3%, to 1,913, with all of its 10 sectors in the red. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -2.84%  lost 469.68 points, or 2.8%, to 16,058.35. All 30 of its components closed lower.

The Nasdaq Composite COMP, -2.94%  slumped 140.40 points, or 2.9%, to 4,636.10, falling into negative territory for the year.

Tuesday marked the third-biggest daily drop of the year for the S&P 500 and the Dow, while for the Nasdaq, it is the third worst by percentage decline.

“The market is being driven by emotion,” said Robert Pavlik, chief market strategist at Boston Private Wealth LLC.

Disappointing Chinese manufacturing data weigh on global stock markets on Tuesday.

A Passing Thought...

ALERT - 23 Stock Market Crashes Are Now Occurring, & More

23 Nations Around The World Where Stock Market Crashes Are Already Happening

You can stop waiting for a global financial crisis to happen.  The truth is that one is happening right now.  All over the world, stock markets are already crashing.  Most of these stock market crashes are occurring in nations that are known as “emerging markets”.  In recent years, developing countries in Asia, South America and Africa loaded up on lots of cheap loans that were denominated in U.S. dollars.  But now that the U.S. dollar has been surging, those borrowers are finding that it takes much more of their own local currencies to service those loans.  At the same time, prices are crashing for many of the commodities that those countries export.  The exact same kind of double whammy caused the Latin American debt crisis of the 1980s and the Asian financial crisis of the 1990s.

As you read this article, almost every single stock market in the world is down significantly from a record high that was set either earlier this year or late in 2014.  But even though stocks have been sliding in the western world, they haven’t completely collapsed just yet.

Morgan Stanley's Fragile Five Swells To Troubled 10 In Selloff

Forget the “Fragile Five.” These days, strategists at Morgan Stanley are worried about what could be called the “Troubled Ten.”

That’s how many nations they say are particularly at risk since China devalued the yuan. While the analysts haven’t used the term themselves, it’s as good a description as any for the currencies -- from the Brazilian real to Peru’s sol and South Korea’s won -- which have trading ties making them susceptible to a slowdown in the world’s second-biggest economy.

“It’s all about vulnerability,” said Hans Redeker, the London-based global head of foreign-exchange strategy at Morgan Stanley. “Major victims of the policy change this time are currencies of countries with high export exposure and export competitiveness with China.”

Ten Years Later, the “Halliburton Loophole” and America’s Dirty Fracking Boom

Bush explicitly exempted fracking operations from key provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act. These exemptions from a fundamental environmental protection law provided the oil and gas industry the immunity to develop a highly polluting process on a grand national scale.

Cheap solar in India sounds death knell for coal imports, Australia’s included

Solar pricing is now cheaper than new imported thermal coal-fired power plants.  Thus it is irrational to build another power plant fuelled by imported coal. The death knell for the seaborne traded coal industry has sounded.

What We Don’t Know Will Hurt Us: 

Ignorance In The Information Age 

When discussing what makes a difference in the health of

 Canadians, we tend to think first of the health care system. 

Doctors and hospitals, physiotherapists and pharmacies;

 these things are important. But they are far less important 

than other elements of people’s lives. 

Is the Economy Ready for Higher 

Interest Rates? 

Low interest rates act as a boost to the economy; they spur 

lending and encourage spending capital. Higher interest

 rates do the opposite; they suppress lending, and encourage 

saving — both of which slow an economy.

In other words, if rates were to lift off in a fragile economy,

 one like we have, it could cause a greater collapse than the

 financial crisis because the few people who are spending

 now would stop and sock their wealth away in savings to 

enjoy the higher rates.

Looking Back

Why Southeast Asia's Boom Is A Bubble-Driven Illusion

Since the Global Financial Crisis, Southeast Asia has been one of the world’s few bright spots for economic growth and investment returns. With its relatively young population of 600 million and its growing middle class, Southeast Asia has been the scene of a modern-day gold rush as international companies clamor to get a piece of the action. Unfortunately, my research has found that much of this region’s growth in recent years has been driven by ballooning credit and asset bubbles – a pattern that is also occurring in numerous emerging economies across the globe.

In the past few months, I have published reports about the growing bubbles inSingapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia, and I will use this report to explain the region’s economic bubble as a whole. My five Southeast Asian country reports have generated quite a bit of interest and controversy, and were read nearly 1.3 million times, and were publicly denied by the central banks of Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

Learning Success: 

APPLY Tips From The Best

Larry Page,  Google – 


Larry Page is another example of a businessperson who can persevere any challenge. Larry and his company have faced much criticism and received ample praise over the years for his company’s actions. But in the midst of the storm, he has never let what others think sway him from pursuing the course for his company that he considers the best.

Top Weekly Ideas and Insights

An Inconvenient Truth

"Battle For Oil" 

What Happens When Political Interests Get Desperate?

EXISTENTIAL REALITY 

"Coming To The End Of Oil Age"

 - Looking Beyond The Brink -