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What sounded like an ill-fated trip to a foreign business enterprise turned into a perfect foreign policy photo op for Donald Trump. He stood on the shimmering southwest Scottish coast, launched his refurbed Turnberry golf course, and praised the just announced results of the UK referendum on the the European Union. "People want to take their country back," Trump declared, "They want to have At one point, as we trailed the Trump caravan, cameraman Mal James turned to me and said, this is the biggest European story since the fall of the Berlin Wall. And he was right. The majority...

Early this morning we laid out the thoughts of RCB's Charlie McElligott on today's dramatic market action, which discussed not the blow up of "fat tail" quant stategies (something we touched upon later and which is likely to unleash even more quant-driven selling next week) and the "forced out" liquidations across the curve coupled with a rush into safety, but also the biggest question of all for today's trades - which macro funds are quietly blowing up? Now, we follow it up with a second piece by the RBC trader, one which those worried about being caught long risk over...

Megyn Kelly laced into CNN on her show Thursday night, ripping her competitor for hiring Donald Trump's fired campaign manager Corey Lewandowski as a paid contributor. During a segment with media critic Howard Kurtz, Kelly noted that Lewandowski has "threatened more than one journalist in the course of this campaign," including with CNN's Noah Gray last November, when he warned the campaign embed "get back in the pen or he's f------ blacklisted." Lewandowski, Kelly continued before asking Kurtz for his opinion, "has had some very ugly language attributed to him when it comes to women and now he will be...

President Barack Obama, who had warned against Britain quitting the European Union, said Friday that Washington would respect the British voters’ decision to do just that. The US leader said Britain and the European Union would both remain “indispensable partners” of the United States and that the “special relationship” with London would endure. “The people of the United Kingdom have spoken, and we respect their decision,” Obama said, in a statement from his White House office. But, in a nod to Washington’s frustration that its ally has been unwilling to back a European project seen as a cornerstone of Western...

Negative subprime auto data from CarMax's earnings is bad news for regional banks, according to investment firm Piper Jaffray. "CarMax is the largest used car dealer in the country, we believe these developments indicate we will continue to see more pressure on used car prices in the coming months," Piper Jaffray's Kevin Barker wrote in a note to clients Tuesday. He added, "The decline in sales from lower tier borrowers (near-prime to subprime) are a clear signal the market recognizes subprime lending may have been overextended. These developments continue to confirm our thesis that lower used car prices and lower...

What's left unsaid is much of the upper middle class is prospering due to privileged positions that are increasingly at risk of disruption ___ What does it take to be upper middle class? According to one analyst, the answer is: at least $100,000 a year for a family of three. The Growing Size and Incomes of the Upper Middle Class (Urban Institute). http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2016/06/21/not-just-the-1-the-upper-middle-class-is-larger-and-richer-than-ever/ The paper claims the upper middle class has grown from 12.9% of the population in 1979 to 29.4% in 2014--in essence, the shrinkage of the "middle class" is not just from households dropping down the ladder but...

2014 article by author 'Zombie' Pensions: When Accounting Practices Hide the Truth from Taxpayers http://www.governing.com/gov-institute/voices/col-zombie-public-pension-funds-accounting-practices.html

Given that he recently had the embarrassment of having his Twitter and Pinterest accounts hacked, it is really no surprise to learn that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is taking some additional security measures after he accidentally revealed he tapes over the camera and microphone of his laptop. Celebrating Instagram's announcement Tuesday that it had grown to 500 million users, Zuckerberg posted a photo of himself at his desk with a cardboard cutout of the Instagram interface. Here's the photo:

Britain leaving the EU means trouble ahead for Germany — and its hardest task will be convincing the Brits to drop a self-defeating ideology, a leading foreign policy expert told The Local. German business has a lot of vested interest in British markets, explains Josef Janning, head of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) in Berlin. And that means Germany will have its work cut out negotiating a settlement which gives Britain access to the single market after it leaves the European Union. […] Being integrated into the single market will mean the UK will have to “swallow the...

The shocked reactions of many European leaders suggested they had not fully absorbed the possibility of a vote for Brexit. Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, called a crisis meeting of parliamentary leaders and cabinet members. In Rome, the Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi, convened an emergency meeting of ministers and scrapped a scheduled summit of his party’s leaders. France’s president, François Hollande, held a long emergency session at the Elysée. When he emerged his tone was measured (he promised to continue to work closely with Britain), but he added that the EU now needed a “leap forward” to ward off the...

AUSTIN, Texas— In response to a notice of intent to sue filed by the Center for Biological Diversity and Save Our Springs Alliance in May, the Texas Department of Transportation changed course on a major highway project in Austin, withdrawing its finding that the highway would have no impact on three federally protected species (two salamanders and a bird). The state’s transportation agency said in a letter that it has initiated consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on the three species.The construction of the MoPac Intersections Project across the environmentally sensitive Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone, in...

Madison— Faced with delays and inflation over the past five years, four major state highway projects — including a Madison artery — have accumulated overruns in excess of $700 million. While some of these increases come from faulty cost estimates or unavoidable inflation, the new figures underline the obvious: Delays can be costly for Wisconsin taxpayers. When projects are paused because of financial challenges in the state's road fund, the price of materials, labor and real estate can rise. The numbers compiled by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel underline the urgency of a divisive issue for Wisconsin's Republican leaders: finding a...

Full title: How Brexit Will Affect Americans: Cheaper travel to the UK and Europe, lower mortgage rates - but a very bumpy stock market ride • Americans can expect an extremely bumpy stock market ride • They can also look forward to cheaper travel to Europe and Britain • Experts are concerned that counterterrorism efforts in Europe will [wane] The first noticeable difference the vote made was to plunge the British pound to a 30-year low. Currently, it will only cost $1.34 to get one pound. And the U.S. dollar could continue to strengthen. That's good news for Americans looking...

Full title: 'Brexit is proof that Trump will be the next president': 'Anti-immigration' message and shift to the Right that led to UK's seismic break with Europe draws parallels with rise of The Donald • The UK voted to leave the European Union in an historic referendum • Many on Twitter believe the result is a sign Trump will win in November • They compared the leave campaign's 'divisive' message with Trump's • Others showed concern it will lend credence to Trump's nationalist agenda ...today, he promised close ties between the U.S. and UK if he becomes President, saying: 'A...

BRUSSELS: EU chiefs on Friday told Britain to start negotiations to quit the bloc "as soon as possible", after outgoing Prime Minister David Cameron said he would leave the negotiations to his successor. "We now expect the United Kingdom government to give effect to this decision of the British people as soon as possible, however painful that process may be," said a joint statement after Britons voted for a Brexit . "Any delay would unnecessarily prolong uncertainty." The statement was issued by EU president Donald Tusk, European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker, EU Parliament leader Martin Schulz and Dutch premier Mark...

Brad Thor dropped a major bomb-shell on Glenn’s radio program Thursday, saying he’s committed to running for president of the United States. Glenn introduced his friend by reminding listeners about the author’s courage in the face of controversy. “I believe Brad is one of the most courageous people out there. Because — he is in business. You’re selling a book. And what you said — I shouldn’t say what you said — because what you said was not controversial,” Glenn said. Some may recall the flak Glenn received following Thor’s fiery remarks about Donald Trump in his previous interview on...

George Soros may be getting rich on an implosion in British markets—again. The landmark vote in the U.K. to leave the European Union has rocked global markets, sending the British pound GBPUSD, -7.3484% to its lowest level in more than 30 years. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -2.27% plunged as much as 700 points at one point and Europe’s benchmark stock-index SXXP, -6.10% was facing its worst one-day plunge since 1987. It is precisely the scenario Soros, writing in Britain’s Guardian newspaper last week, warned of. The global financial carnage and Friday’s carnage could be adding to...

Voters in France, Italy and the Netherlands are demanding their own votes on European Union membership and the euro, as the continent faces a “contagion” of referendums. EU leaders fear a string of copycat polls could tear the organisation apart, as leaders come under pressure to emulate David Cameron and hold votes. It came as German business leaders handed a considerable boost to the Leave campaign by saying it would be “very, very foolish” to deny the UK a free trade deal after Brexit. Markus Kerber, the head of the BDI, which represents German industry, said that 1970s-style trade barriers...

Emotions are running high in this campaign. And that—not any candidate’s policies—is the real threat to your portfolio. Here’s how to drown out the noise. Stocks will plunge if Donald Trump is elected President. And the bond market could capsize if Trump goes ahead with plans to renegotiate the national debt. Yeah, but if Hillary Clinton wins the White House, she’ll cripple the economy by hiking taxes by $1 trillion. And oh, by the way, her foreign policy will end up destroying the world. As these are actual statements made by famous investors—like billionaire Mark Cuban and Swiss investment adviser...

UK voters shocked just about everyone when they voted Thursday to leave the European Union. The Brexit shows the weakness not only of the EU and globalization — but also of polling. And doesn’t Donald Trump love that! Wall Street too was caught completely off guard because it appeared that firms did independent polling that they believed showed the "remain" votes would win, traded the pound sterling up on that notion and then got crushed when the news came out the other way. It really was a rejection of the British establishment by the voters, with a great deal of...